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| International | ||||
| Coughing Annan sounds off. | ||||
| 2003-10-16 | ||||
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warned of rising hostility between Islam and the West, describing it as "ugly, dangerous and wrong".
Sorry, the Cubbies were eliminated. "Yet there is, in too many places, a feeling of rising hostility between Islam and the West. This is ugly, dangerous and wrong," said the statement delivered by the UN special representative to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi. "We must unite our efforts to address the extremism that is, alas, on the rise, not only in Islam but among many faiths," said Annan, who withdrew from the summit after the Iraq issue was taken back to the UN Security Council. He said Western governments must match their rhetoric of respect for human freedom with action to promote development, including a fair world trading system. People have differing definitions of fair. But he told the Muslim leaders — who represent 1.3 billion people — they also had to play their part. Muslims are dismayed by the apparent inability of Islamic states to do much about problems such as weak government systems, a lack of democracy and poor human rights, especially for women, he said. Extremist dogmas are gaining ground, impeding the progress of the Muslim community and threatening the security of people all over the world, he said. Only when Muslims enjoy fundamental rights will the Islamic world be able to assert its influence. "The Muslim peoples are capable of much greater things and they know it," Annan said.
"But they must be rewarded anyway." "These acts of terrorism, abhorred and rejected by all of you, defile and damage even the most legitimate cause."
The next part is what he would have said had his lips stayed on. The roadmap envisages a Palestinian state being created by 2005 with security guarantees for Israel. Which the Palis won’t keep until there is a generation raised to not be evil. "If it fails, I fear the region will recede even further into violence and misery," Annan said, appealing for support for the peace plan from Muslim states. They support the obligations of the West but have no desire to fulfill their obligations. The | ||||
| Posted by:Atrus |
| #6 Muslims are dismayed by the apparent inability of Islamic states to do much about...a lack of democracy and poor human rights, especially for women, he said. Extremist dogmas are gaining ground... These two statements are contradictory. If Muslims really want democracy and more human rights, why are they turning to groups which consider democracy to be inimical to Islam, and have little demonstrated regard for human rights, especially for women? This is typical for the Western (or in this case, Westernized) bien-pensant: "If I were going to fly a planeload of screaming passengers into an office building, I'd be doing it for democracy and human rights. Therefore, this is the goal of the so-called "terrorists"." They don't seem to realize that the brave "freedom fighters" have different goals. Or maybe they do realize it, but lie anyway. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2003-10-16 12:34:46 PM |
| #5 Don't see many Methodists exploding, do ya Koffie? Don't se many Sufis either. Maybe they have something in common? Like, fer instance, NOT BEING INTOLERANT MANIACS? Who'da thunk it... |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-10-16 11:42:26 AM |
| #4 In a statement to the opening of a summit of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Annan said Western governments must address the grievances of Muslims, while Islamic states needed to make greater efforts to overcome their problems. Oooooh, the "grievances of Muslims". Anyone prepared to read a very long list? He said he hoped to see Christians and Muslims reconciling in Sudan and perhaps Cyprus. What about Egypt? What about Saudi Arabia? What about Pakistan? What about Indonesia? He said Western governments must match their rhetoric of respect for human freedom with action to promote development, including a fair world trading system. What is this idiot talking about? Someone sells something, and they get paid for it at a mutually agreeable price. How much more "fair" can that get? The roadmap envisages a Palestinian state being created by 2005 with security guarantees for Israel. Funny, but I never thought of this particular problem as an Islam-against-the-West type of thing, so I don't see why it's being brought up. I had it figured as some sort of uniquely Palestinian malady, but if Kofi wants this to be classified as part of some Islam-against-the-West clash, I can live with that. Makes things a lot easier. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-16 11:24:45 AM |
| #3 Maybe the mooselimbs could take this opportunity to look deep within themselves and ask the question, "Why does everybody hate us?" |
| Posted by: BH 2003-10-16 10:57:51 AM |
| #2 Among the many problems here is that Kofi may actually believe that "These acts of terrorism, abhorred and rejected by all of you [you being the attending Islamic delegates],...." That is incorrect. In fact, most of the delegates don't even consider suicide bombings against Israelis to be terrorism. |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-10-16 10:04:52 AM |
| #1 Oops, meant to file this under "International" |
| Posted by: Atrus 2003-10-16 9:59:30 AM |