A new Middle East, or Rice's fantasy ride?

[Inuyasha]

A new Middle East, or Rice's fantasy ride?

By Rami G. Khouri
Daily Star staff
Monday, July 24, 2006
American officials are very good at vernacular descriptions, but lousy at history and political reality in the Middle East. As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sets off Sunday on her short trip to a Middle East that is increasingly engulfed in violent confrontations and political turmoil, she has described the massive destruction, dislocation and human suffering in Lebanon as an inevitable part of the "birth pangs of a new Middle East."

Rice declared that Israel should ignore calls for a cease-fire, saying: "This is a different Middle East. It's a new Middle East. It's hard, We're going through a very violent time."

If Rice pursues contacts in the coming five days that increase Washington's bias toward Israel, tighten its links with isolated, increasingly impotent Arab governments, and further alienate the masses of Arab public opinion, she will exacerbate the very problem she claims she wants to fix: the spread of violence and terror, practiced simultaneously by the armies of states like the US and Israel, by police-state governments in the Middle East who live by violence as a rule, and by non-state actors like Hizbullah and others like it.
On her long flight from Washington to Palestine-Israel Sunday night, someone should give Condoleezza Rice a modern history book of the Middle East, so that she can cut through the haze of her long political drunken stupor, and finally see more clearly from where the problems of this region emanate, where the solutions come from, and how her country can become a constructive rather than a destructive force.
complete text at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=74184 .

 

[talloulou]

That whole article was biased and absurd. What would the author have the US do? Stop favoring Israel and force them to cease fire while Hezbollah remains intact and continues to lob missles at Israel while frothing rabidly at the mouth over and over that Israel must be destroyed? :roll:

If he thinks the US is biased then Rami G. Khouri should take a good long hard look at his own pro-palestine views. As the author of such dandies entitled:

George Bush’s Foul Smelling Irony Machine

Stubborn or Stupid, Israel Repeats Old Failures

http://www.agenceglobal.com/author.asp?type=2&id=7

One can hardly take him seriously.

 

[talloulou]

To further put this author in perspective take a look at this:

"I have carefully read and considered George W. Bush's words to British Prime Minister Tony Blair that were inadvertently caught on an open microphone during the G-8 Summit in Russia last week: “See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbullah to stop doing this **** and it's over."

And I respectfully conclude that George Bush doesn't know **** about ****."

Then he goes on to support Hezbollah (you know the people that started this recent shite).....

The first and most important problem with Bush's thoughts is to characterize Hizbullah's actions as "this ****." Many people, myself included, criticize Hizbullah for certain aspects of its policies. But history will no doubt record that its actions before this month to liberate south Lebanon from Israeli occupation have largely been supported by most Lebanese and Arabs, and have been seen as legitimate by most of the world.

What a bunch of dribbe. The only thing his editorials are worthy of is toilet paper.

http://www.agenceglobal.com/article.asp?id=975

 

[oldreliable67]

In another paragraph in the article cited, Khouri writes:

The way to a truly new and stable Middle East is to apply policies that deliver equal rights to all concerned, not to favor Israel as having greater rights than Arabs.

That is actually true. But, it is impossible to accomplish when all the while Hezbollah and other Islamists organizations have dedicated themselves to destroying Israel. "Rights for all concerned" is a two-way street, isn't it - or is it just for those that oppose Israel?

Khouri also wrote:

But history will no doubt record that its actions before this month to liberate south Lebanon from Israeli occupation have largely been supported by most Lebanese and Arabs, and have been seen as legitimate by most of the world.

Yessir, those Iranian-dictated attacks by Hezbollah targeting Jews in Argentina and Paris are "seen as legitimate by most of the [Islamists] world". And therein lies the crux of the problem.

Source.http://www.agenceglobal.com/article.asp?id=975