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MER FlashBack 5 Years
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/_/ /_/ /___/ /_/ \\ THE STATE OF THE ARAB WORLD
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"There is not a single Arab regime that
has authentic political legitimacy.
All are kept in power by soldiers and
secret police... From Morocco to Iraq,
the Mideast's political vista is bleak
and depressing."
SYRIA: HAIL TO THE NEW SULTAN
By Eric S. Margolis
LONDON - 25 June 2000: The idea that in our 21st Century one person could
inherit an entire country and its people seems absurdly medieval. But that
is what has recently happened in four nations: North Korea, Morocco,
Jordan, and, most lately, Syria.
Hafez al-Asad, who ruled Syria's 16.4 million people with an iron first for
three decades, died suddenly on 10 June. His mild-mannered son, Bashar, a
34-year old eye doctor, seemed an unlikely candidate to succeed the
brilliant, crafty, ruthless Asad senior, who crushed all internal
opposition, faced down the United States, and, in Lebanon, became the first
Arab leader to defeat Israel in war.
But Syria's ruling circles rushed to rally behind the inexperienced Bashar.
The reason was not so much love of his father, but very real fear that a
post-Assad power struggle would plunge Syria into civil war. So Bashar was
summarily `elected' president of Syria. Sultan would be a more accurate
title.
The Assads and their main supporters are Alawis, a highly secretive
religious sect from the northern coastal mountains that is an offshoot of
Shia Islam. Alawis believe in the divinity of Ali, the son-in-law of
Prophet Mohammed. This is anathema to mainstream Sunni Muslims, who regard
Alawis, and their cousins, the Druze, as heretics. Alawis are Syria's
largest minority, about 11-12% of the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation.
Under Assad, who seized power in a 1971 military coup, Alawis gained
control of the government, ruling Baath Party, and security forces. A
third of all senior Baath members, 21% of cabinet ministers, and 18 of 25
top military or intelligence commands were held by Alawis.
During the 1980's, and again recently, Sunni Muslims led by the underground
Muslim Brotherhood, rebelled against Alawi rule and the Baath Party's
socialism. All revolts were crushed. In 1982, Assad's brutal brother,
Rifaat, led the Presidential Guard against Sunni Islamist rebels in Hama,
killing some 10,000 people. Mass arrests and torture by Syria's eight
overlapping security agencies is common. The unloved Rifaat's threats to
return from European exile and bid for power contributed to the rush to
support his nephew, Bashar.
A power struggle could easily have sparked civil war between Alawis and
Sunnis, between the four main Alawi clans(like the feuding Kurds of Iraq),
between factions in the 316,00-man armed forces and the feared security
services, and dragged in Syria's important Christian, Palestinian(250,000)
and Armenian minorities. If Syria did dissolve into internal warfare, its
hostile neighbors - Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq - might be tempted to
intervene.
In Damascus, the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, Baath Party
leaders remain committed to their ambition of reuniting historical Syria.
During the highly decentralized Ottoman Empire, what is today Lebanon,
Jordan, Palestine and Israel, were part of Syria. France carved Lebanon
out of Syria as a beachhead for French influence in the Levant, a strategy
Paris pursues to this day. British imperialists created the mini-states of
Jordan and Palestine from historical Syria, then promised Palestine to
European Jews, the Arab Emir Faisal, and to its Arab inhabitants.
In our era, the colliding ambitions of Greater Syria and Greater Israel led
to 30 years of conflict over Lebanon and Jordan between the two regional
powers. Bashar Assad and his backers may conclude Syria's feeble economy -
only a third that of Israel - cannot afford continued confrontation.
Syria, the breadbasket of Ancient Rome, still exports wheat and some oil,
but its infrastructure and military forces are increasingly outdated. Half
of Syrians are under 15 years old. Syria's sputtering socialist economy
won't make jobs, education, or housing for this oncoming demographic wave.
>From Morocco to Iraq, the Mideast's political vista is bleak and
depressing. Israel is the region's only democracy(for Jews, though not
Arabs); Iran is half-way to becoming a democracy - if a
counter-revolution does not set back the clock. But everywhere else across
the Mideast , oil sheiks, dictators, or generals rule and wield power of
life and death over their subjects. Most of these autocrats and oligarchs -
`rogue' Iraq, Libya, and Sudan excepted - are protected by the United
States and Britain, under the banner of `maintaining regional stability.'
Syria, however repressive internally, at least retained its national pride
and independence by refusing to take marching orders from Washington.
This column had hoped the new generation of Arab leaders would rise above
the Mideast's squalid tribal politics by modernizing and democratizing
their nations. Alas, not so. Morocco's new, 34-year old King Mohammed
continues the medieval autocracy inherited from his father. Jordan's
smart, likeable young King Abdullah seems unfortunately disinclined to
lead Jordan to democracy.
There is not a single Arab regime that has authentic political legitimacy.
All are kept in power by soldiers and secret police. As a basic first
step, one would like to see Bashar Asad and King Abdullah hold fair
national referendums to at least legitimize their continued rule. But the
only time this experiment was tried - in Algeria - its military regime
overwhelmingly lost the vote to Islamists and promptly imposed martial law.
Perhaps Dr. Bashar will surprise us. We wish him well. But running
difficult countries like Syria tends to turn rulers nasty. Recall another
young, promising, mild-mannered doctor, Francois Duvalier, who became
Haiti's president - and soon turned into that legendary monster, Papa Doc.
-------
War at the Top of the World - The struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir and
Tibet - by Eric Margolis is available at major book outlets. From a
recently review in The Economist: "His account of recent warfare in
Asia's highest mountains is both gripping and instructive."
MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org
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June 2005
Bush Speak - Deceitful, Dishonest, Distasteful
(June 30, 2005)
Following are two very interesting articles about the latest Bush Speech and what it's really all about - both published yesterday, the day after the speech. The first comes from Australia where the World Socialist organization has a very active and outspoken organization; the second from Professor Juan Cole who has his own blog/commentary that is often of considerable interest.
the Mideast's political vista is bleak and depressing - MER FlashBack 5 Years
(June 29, 2005)
"There is not a single Arab regime that has authentic political legitimacy. All are kept in power by soldiers and secret police... From Morocco to Iraq, the Mideast's political vista is bleak and depressing."
Bush, Condi, Rummie, and the Generals all Speaketh Safely and Carefully
(June 29, 2005)
"...the applause appeared to have een 'triggered by members of the president's advance team' and once they began clapping, the soldiers joined in."
TOTAL WAR Preached by Washington Extremists
(June 28, 2005)
"On no issue is the JINSA/CSP hard line more evident than in its relentless campaign for war--not just with Iraq, but "total war".... For this crew, "regime change" by any means necessary in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority is an urgent imperative. Anyone who dissents...is committing heresy against articles of faith that effectively hold there is no difference between US and Israeli national security interests, and that the only way to assure continued safety and prosperity for both countries is through hegemony in the Middle East.
WAR For ISRAEL
(June 27, 2005)
"The lack of public discussion about the role
of Israel in the thinking of 'President Bush' is
easier to understand, but weird nevertheless.
It is the proverbial elephant in the room:
Everybody sees it, no one mentions it."
- Michael Kinsley - 24 Oct 2002(Today Editorial Page Editor, LATimes)
Hitler and Nazi Germany compared to Bush and Evangelical/Neocon America? By whom did you say?
(June 25, 2005)
"They (neo cons) are making such fatalistic mistakes and are about as insane as Hitler and the Nazi Party when they invaded Russia in the dead of the winter... It’s like the Nazis removing dissent without using the Gestapo."
- former Senior Reagan Admin official with impressive credentials
THE MOTHER OF ALL HOAXES?
(June 15, 2005)
MER has never before published this story, this 'conspiracy theory' if you will. Though under much pressure over the years to do so we always held back and never published anything about this 'possibility'...until today that is. But now the fact that a ranking former Bush Administration official, in fact the man who was the top government economist in the Labor Department on 11 September 2001, has now gone public saying 9/11 may have been a historic hoax and the World Trade Towers were 'most likely' destroyed by a 'controlled demolition', causes us to reconsider.
Avi Shlaim and 'Liberal' Jewish Israeli Apologetica
(June 24, 2005)
"For when it comes to pointing fingers in their own direction for so many awful mistakes for so long, for such Israeli apologetica that at the very least played into the crafty and bloody designs of those they claim to so oppose, there is such a deafening silence from the likes of Avi Shlaim, Henry Siegman, Joel Beinin, Aaron Miller and the chicanerous Peace Now-B'rit Tzedek 'peace' propagandists."
Letter to MER from Israel...and Reply
(June 23, 2005)
"Truly informing people of the often tragic and enraging realities in which we are all now interwoven in today's 'modern' world is indeed what MER is all about. It is a daunting difficult sometimes distasteful task. But it is oh-so-important whether we be discussing the realities in the U.S., the Arab countries, today's United Nations, the Palestinian Authority, or Israel. Indeed, we badly and urgently need a new kind of worldwide alliance among dedicated and knowledgeable and independent people of conscience and conviction, whether they be Israelis or Arabs or Americans, Jews or Muslims or Christians."
Fingers Pointing At Israeli Complicity
(June 22, 2005)
As for the crucial charge that Israel was at least partly behind it all coming from such a ranking former CIA official who use to brief non other than George Bush the Senior at the White House -- well...that is buried in the story and not presented in a very serious way as it surely deserves to be.
IRAN War Already Underway
(June 21, 2005)
The Secretary of State's crafty remarks in Cairo yesterday actually denouncing U.S. policies since World War II in the region were in reality part of the carefully conceived rhetorical facade, a thinly disguised veneer of 'freedom' and 'democracy' sound-bites, all actually designed to obfuscate and smoke-screen these larger realities.
Controlling the Middle East in the 21st Century
(June 20, 2005)
"...the Secretary of State attempted to articulate a simplistic sound-bite veneer to the crusading neocon/Evangelical/Zionist vision of the new Middle East the U.S... is using the Pentagon and the CIA to force into being against considerable resistance and at tremendous cost."
'Death Camp' and 'Gulag' Charges Finally Ring Out in Washington
(June 17, 2005)
The Senate's No. 2 Democrat has compared the U.S. military's treatment of a suspected al Qaeda terrorist at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay with the regimes of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Pol Pot, three of history's most heinous dictators, whose regimes killed millions.
KILLING IRAQ - MER FlashBack 5 Long Years Ago
(June 8, 2005)
America's Little Gulag - MER FlashBack
(June 6, 2005)
MER Has Been Suspended
(June 2, 2005)
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