#1
Yes, there is an Osama bin Laden. He exists as certainly as hatred and evil and cruelty exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest meaning and fear. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Osama!
[Asharq al-Aswat] Within a few days the southerners in Sudan will probably be voting for secession from the north, and then a state will be established and one of its aspects is that it will be the first Christian country in the region.
Tearing away a piece of Dar al Islam? The Israelis tried, and look at what happened to... Oh wait -- they're still there. Perhaps it can be done, after all.
Bear in mind that the Christians are not the majority of the population of the south, because the majority is a collection of subscribers to other beliefs, but the southern Christians are more numerous than the Mohammedans, and this makes the south a state of Christian character in its shape, and probably in its government.
The independence comes at the same time when some 14 million "Arab" Christians are facing a crisis, which is the most dangerous for their existence in a region in which they are historically the oldest inhabitants. They consider that they face particular discrimination and siege by the ideological and armed Islamist snuffy groups. The Christians in Iraq today celebrate Christmas under armed protection that has been imposed on their churches after the latest massacre carried out by Al-Qaeda. The Christian Copts in Egypt recently went through a bloody confrontation, the Christians in Leb are in a continuous state of shrinking that increases with the rise in sectarian tension, and in Paleostine; the numerical shrinking of the Christians is even more acute.
The Christians in Jordan and Syria are less exposed to problems.
Despite the fact that the encroachment upon, and in some cases the deliberate terrorism against the Arab Christians is real, it is only a part of the dilemma of the entire region. This is because the Islamist extremism directed against the Mohammedans themselves is greater and more programmed by these groups. The fact is that the magnitude of the targeting of the Christians, whether in Iraq, Egypt, or Sudan, is limited, whether in the address or in the practice of the snuffy groups.
True. It's just that some of the Muslims in the neighborhood also target the Christians, despite otherwise not being extremist at all. There's a cumulative effect.
Indeed there is a campaign against the Arab Christians, but they certainly are the victims of the comprehensive violence led by the snuffys; the campaign targets first and second the other schools of thinking such as the Sunnis and the Shiites, and targets the Mohammedan majority that disagrees with these groups on everything.
The problem of the Arab Christian citizen is the same problem as that of the other citizen in his individual rights and unknown future. This is a general situation, and not one peculiar to a sect or group. The cure for this problem is not through building states or returning to the time of the ghetto. Also it is regrettable that there is a project of semi-collective emigration, which has become the dream of the persecuted Christian, and also the dream of many of the persecuted, poor, and youths among the Arab Mohammedans, who share the queues for emigration visas every morning in front of foreign consulates hoping to escape to a better world.
The Christians are a minority that is getting smaller. They live, the same as the majority, between the jaws of a pincer of oppressive regimes and terrorist organizations. In this general climate the Christians are deprived of the same things of which the rest of the citizens are deprived; it does not seem that in the near future this will be transformed into a world over which the respect of individual rights and constitutionally-protected equal citizenship prevail. This is the crisis of all and not only of the minorities.
The talk about singling the Christians out for persecution and terrorism, apart from being not true,
Umm... actually, Mr. Al-Rashid, several paragraphs previously you said the were singled out for persecution. You just said others are being terrorized too, for various reasons.
includes a spirit of capitulation to and serving of the aims of the snuffy groups by getting rid of the Arab Christians, and removing a sector that shares the land, has rights, and is a fundamental constituent of the Arab culture.
Nice of you to see that, Mr. Al-Rashid. Too many of your co-religionists vehemently and actively disagree.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Asharq al-Aswat translates apprx to "middle of the east".
The paper is owned by a Saudi with close ties to the Royal family. FWIW, they frequently print Tom Friedman's NYT column in their paper.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/27/2010 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
Who is against Christians more in the Middle East Sunni or Shia Islam?
Posted by: Paul D ||
12/27/2010 15:40 Comments ||
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#3
Kind of hard to say on that one, Paul D. The Kurds are Sunni but they protect Christians and other religious minorities in their part of Iraq; the Shia in locations than Iran tend to look out for the Christians since the Shia are picked on by the Sunni as well. And the Druze swing between good and bad on the issue, depending on the political leanings of the head Druze in the area.
The Human Rights Act is protecting the rights of minority groups while encouraging judges and politicians to discriminate against Christians, a senior bishop said yesterday.
"The Mufti was one of the initiators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry and had been a collaborator and adviser of Eichmann and Himmler in the execution of this plan. ... He was one of Eichmann's best friends and had constantly incited him to accelerate the extermination measures. I heard him say, accompanied by Eichmann, he had visited incognito the gas chamber of Auschwitz.
Western aid and reduced sanctions keep Hamas in power and give it a strong support base by helping it deliver goods and services. Western policy encourages Israel's enemies not to become more moderate and not to make peace. Even worse, Western misunderstandings and misreporting make the world a more dangerous place.
Because, Ryuge, we don't have the courage to bomb them back beyond the Stone Age, which is the only thing that they can understand. If they had the power the US military has, they'd use it to forward their own goals, regardless of any other fact. Since we don't, we must be cowards that can be saved to attack later. Stupid on both our parts.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/27/2010 14:14 Comments ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] The bickering between former Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad and his followers is ongoing; with each side accusing the other of lies. This bickering is, of course, enjoyable to those outside of Iran, because it helps us to discover the truth of the struggle that is taking place between the elites there.
Mottaki, the man whose job it was to polish the image of the Iranian regime, issued a statement last week in which he denied that he had been informed of his dismissal before he left Iran for Senegal and called on the government to "stop lying" saying that "dismissing a Minister during a [diplomatic] mission is un-Islamic, undiplomatic, and offensive." On this topic, a reliable Iranian source informed me that during his meeting with the Senegalese, Mottaki was talking about Iranian policies when in the middle of his explanation his [Senegalese] host interrupted him saying that whilst Senegal respects and appreciates him, he no longer represented Iran; after the announcement of Mottaki's dismissal had been made. The Iranian source told me that "this was embarrassing for Mottaki, and harsh."
The Iranian source also mentioned another famous story that is similar to this, and he said that: on 25 December 2001, during the visit paid by Mehdi Karroubi -- who was the Iranian Speaker of Parliament at the time -- to Soddy Arabia to meet with King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz -- who at this time was the Saudi Crown Prince -- Karroubi began to speak about the freedom and openness being seen in Iran, however his Saudi host then asked "what about the arrest of the MP for Hamadan, Hossein Loghmanian, which took place not a few hours ago?" According to the source, Karroubi was shocked, for the Soddy Arabians were more aware of the latest news from Iran than the Iranian Speaker of Parliament himself!
However the Iranian source said that he believed that the major reason behind Mottaki's dismissal was a letter he had sent to the Supreme Leader of Iran, protesting against Ahmadinejad's appointment of special envoys with close ties to him. [In his letter to the Supreme Leader] Mottaki said that this weakened his own position, as well as the Foreign Ministry itself. This was after Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's own chief of staff, paid a visit to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II. According to the source, this letter [which was sent following this meeting] led to Mottaki's dismissal, and also revealed his anger [at the situation] which drove him to send such a letter to the Supreme Leader, which included a complaint against the Iranian President himself.
Of course, what immediately springs to the mind of the reader and any observer are questions such as: is the [Iranian] president stronger than the Supreme Leader, and the [Iranian] parliament? Has the Iranian president begun to wield true influence, as some of the reports seem to indicate? Of course, nobody knows the answer to these questions. However the Iranian sources do not believe so, rather they believe that Ahmadinejad is a man who is unconcerned with the repercussions of his decisions, and that what is taking place in Iran today is an indication that something bigger is happening there.
Therefore, this bickering between Mottaki and Ahmadinejad helps us to understand the nature of the conflict that is taking place between the elites in Iran. For history, as do our present experiences, tells us that it is difficult to predict anything in Iran. On this issue, I recall that one of Iran's revolutionary figures once told me that "before the fall of the Shah's regime we thought that the revolution would take place in a few years, but it took place within months!" Therefore, as we mentioned before, this bickering helps us to decipher what is really going on in Tehran.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Western aid and reduced sanctions keep Hamas in power and give it a strong support base by helping it deliver goods and services. Western policy encourages Israel's enemies not to become more moderate and not to make peace. Even worse, Western misunderstandings and misreporting make the world a more dangerous place.
