Iraqis’ Humanity Lives on despite Conflict: New Age Islam’s Selection, 21 June 2016
New Age
Islam Edit Bureau
21 June 2016
• Iraqis’ Humanity Lives On Despite Conflict
By Turki Aldakhil
• What Do The Saudis Want From America?
By Faisal J. Abbas
• White People Not Designated Terrorist
By Linda S. Heard
• The Syrians Are Waiting For November
By Eyad Abu Shakra
Compiled By New Age Islam Edit Bureau
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Iraqis’ Humanity Lives On Despite Conflict
By Turki Aldakhil
20 June 2016
As Iraq goes through its bloodiest days, and as sects fight and people are displaced, the humanity of the country’s men shines through.
People’s reaction to a social experiment carried out by the MBC show “The Shock” was very humane. The show’s idea is to act out a certain incident and await people’s reactions. The recent episode from Iraq showed deep humane reactions despite the country’s wounds.
In the episode, a man plays the role of a husband who is beating his wife in a restaurant. Both men and women reacted to put an end to his violence, and many cried over this abusive scene.
Compassion
After people learnt that this was only a social experiment, one of the men was asked why he intervened. He said: “He was hitting another human being, and even if I don’t know her, she’s after all an Iraqi.” Another man said: “I was aiding someone in distress. Do you want me to ask him or her what his or her sect is?”
Iraq has lived through centuries of harmony among its different ethnic and religious components
Iraq has lived through centuries of harmony among its different ethnic and religious components. “The Shock” showed how politics has corrupted reality but failed to corrupt the humanity in people’s hearts. When Iraq collapses, the region collapses. The US invasion in 2003 damaged the Iraqi fabric, exhausted the country and fuelled sectarian war.
“The Shock” shocks us because it discovers whatever is left of our humanity, as we humans are all brothers and sisters. There is a huge difference between the innocent Iraq as seen on the show, and the Iraq that Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani roams.
Source: english.alarabiya.net/en/views/2016/06/20/Iraqis-humanity-lives-on-despite-conflict.html
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What Do The Saudis Want From America?
By Faisal J. Abbas
21 June 2016
Much has been said about Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ongoing visit to the United States. However, regardless of the intense speculation by some analysts about the tour’s agenda; I think the trip should be seen as an insight into the new ‘business as usual’ in Saudi Arabia.
Indeed, for anyone who is well-informed about the kingdom, almost everything about this visit seems unconventional. To start with, given that the tour - which so far has included Washington DC, San Francisco and is yet to be concluded in New York - falls within the holy month of Ramadan, some expected it to have a light agenda.
However, a new scheme of thinking seems to favor the idea that if fasting didn’t prevent our ancestors from building a great Muslim empire, where religion encouraged progress and scientific achievement, then why should we allow it to be exploited by a few to justify their inefficiency?
Then, there is the element of the work ethic and deep personal involvement displayed by Prince Mohammed himself. Apart from being the Deputy Crown Prince and the architect of Vision 2030, he is also the kingdom’s defence minister, the second deputy prime minister and head of the country’s Council of Economic and Developmental Affairs.
On that front, the thirty-something MbS (as he is referred to among the Saudi youth, who form the majority of the population) is redefining how Saudi government officials are portrayed. A recent Bloomberg interview described his work-day as an intense 16-hour routine; something which was first noted by New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman.
“I spent an evening with Mohammed bin Salman at his office, and he wore me out … Ministers tell you: Since Mohammed arrived, big decisions that took two years to make now happen in two weeks." Mr. Friedman wrote in a column titled ‘Letter from Saudi Arabia’ in November 2015.
Nevertheless, several observers remain sceptical of Vision 2030. Now, to be realistic, not even the most ambitious among us expects such a massive plan to be flawlessly – or even fully - implemented. However, some Saudi-sceptics have brushed it away as a giant publicity stunt.
It is far-fetched to assume that the sweeping reforms being introduced by Riyadh are intended to benefit anyone other than the Saudi citizen
Such simplistic - and irrational - arguments, disregard important facts on the grounds, such as the Saudi government setting self-imposed deliverables, KPIs and deadlines for itself. Furthermore, those who assume that the Vision or the National Transformation Program is only intended to create noise, are neglecting a crucial question: for whom the bell tolls?
Yes, the US is an important - if not the most important - of the kingdom’s global allies. However, it is far-fetched to assume that the sweeping reforms being introduced by Riyadh are intended to benefit anyone other than the Saudi citizen.
Creating a Win/Win Situation
To achieve ambitious goals such as raising non-oil revenues to $141 billion and creating more than 450,000 new jobs by 2020, the Saudi government understands it needs more than just words, it needs work, it needs reforms, it needs to open up… and all of this has to happen quickly.
Since this is the case, who could be a better ally than the kingdom’s closest of allies, particularly countries like the US, that have the know-how and ability to create a win/win situation?
As such, Dow Chemical was granted, during MbS’s visit, the first-ever license for a foreign company to operate independently in the kingdom (without the requirement of having a local Saudi partner). Furthermore, Saudi sources say two similar licenses are to be granted to 3M and Pfizer. Also, allowing a company like Six Flags to build and operate theme parks will take the kingdom’s entertainment sector to whole new level, creating jobs and joy at the same time.
Given the intensity of the visit, some announcements may have gone unnoticed, but nevertheless are equally significant. For instance, the White House’s read-out of the Deputy Crown Prince’s meeting with President Obama contained an interesting part relating to a strong Saudi support of the Paris climate deal and cooperation with the US on clean energy issues.
The Saudi energy minister says the kingdom needs to adapt to modern times and that work is underway not just to commit to clean energy, but to export and benefit from it financially too
I had the opportunity to chat about this point with the newly-appointed energy minister, Khaled al-Faleh, who is part of the visiting Saudi delegation. Mr. al-Faleh says the Kingdom needs to adapt to modern times and that work is underway not just to commit to clean energy, but to export and benefit from it financially too.
Could the kingdom eventually become the ‘Saudi Arabia of clean energy?’ Well, that might be an ambitious goal to achieve. But then again, a few years ago, nobody would have thought they would see foreign companies being allowed to independently operate in the kingdom!
Source: english.alarabiya.net/en/views/2016/06/21/What-do-the-Saudis-want-from-America-.html
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White People Not Designated Terrorist
By Linda S. Heard
21 June 2016
The definition of “terrorism” is “the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.”
Yet over and over again when mass attacks against civilians are perpetrated by white westerners the media avoids the terrorist label, which is almost exclusively reserved for Muslims. The recent brutal murder of the British Member of Parliament Jo Cox, a wife and mother of two little girls, by 52-year-old Thomas Mair has not been characterized as a terrorist attack by the media in spite of the fact a witness heard him yelling “Britain First” (the name of a right-wing fascist anti-Islamic group) while he was engaged in the horrific deed.
The police discovered “Nazi regalia” in the killer’s home and it has been revealed that he had links to neo-Nazi organizations for decades. But he is being billed, or should we say excused, as being mentally ill. If Mair had been a Muslim and, say, Daesh paraphernalia was found, his deranged state of mind would have hardly been worth mentioning.
The murder was clearly politically-motivated and, therefore, an act of terrorism. Jo Cox campaigned to remain in the European Union and spoke passionately in support of the migrants and refugees heading to Europe’s shores. Mair on the other hand subscribed to a South African pro-white magazine. By all accounts, the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen had mental issues as well but they’ve been downplayed.
Mateen’s former wife said this lone wolf, who the police say had no ties to terrorist organizations, was mentally ill, but America was quick to judge him as a terrorist! And worse, the presumptive Republican candidate, Donald Trump, is bent on barring Muslim immigrants and monitoring American-Muslims based on the actions of this sick individual who at one time or another boasted his allegiance to terrorist groups with diametrically opposed ideologies.
You may be surprised to learn that white Americans have killed more innocents on American soil since the 9/11 attacks than Muslim extremists. A study by the New American Foundation think tank found that whites committed 18 attacks during the period 2004-2015 as opposed to nine committed by radicalized Muslims.
The list of white mass killers is long and includes the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh who robbed 168 of their lives, the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Jared Loughner who killed six people during his attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killer of five police officers, white supremacist Richard Poplawski.
The Norwegian Islamophobe, Anders Behring Breivik, who went on a shooting spree killing 93, according to most media outlets, was not a “terrorist” but a mentally ill “gunman” or “mass-murderer” even though he held to a far right-wing political agenda. He wasn’t caged in a Guantanamo-type gulag without access to legal representation as so many Muslims officially declared innocent of all charges have experienced.
On the contrary, he was secured in a three-cell suite, complete with a TV, a laptop, video games and his own exercise equipment. His insanity didn’t prevent him from attending court earlier this year where he made a Nazi salute to argue convincingly that solitary confinement breaches his human rights. Insane or not, the judge agreed with him and ordered the Norwegian government to pay the terrorist’s legal fees.
The double standard here is glaring when white mass murderers are considered to be suffering from insanity and Muslims are automatically treated as terrorists whatever their mental issues. A terrorist should not be defined by religion, nationality of skin color but by the act itself together with his affiliations, regardless of whether he was disturbed or had a troubled childhood or acted under the influence of substances.
Note too that Christians and Jews who commit acts of terrorism are rarely, if ever, referred to as Christian terrorists or Jewish terrorists even when their crimes are religiously or racially motivated.
Finally, it should be remembered that the lives of many more Muslims have been cut short by terrorism than those of westerners. We see so many banners on social media reading “We are all French” or “We are all Belgians” and there was rightly a worldwide outpouring of grief for the Orlando victims with minute silences held in European capitals. But when Iraqis, Syrians or Palestinians are being shot or bombed almost weekly, how many times do we see “We are all Arabs”?
Source: arabnews.com/node/942666/columns
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The Syrians Are Waiting For November
By Eyad Abu Shakra
20 June 2016
Last Saturday, Asharq Al-Awsat mentioned that it had been informed by “Western diplomatic sources” that Staffan de Mistura, the UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, was coming under Russo-American pressure aimed at holding a new round of negotiations in Geneva.
Under normal circumstances there would have been no reasons for pressures, but what the Syrian crisis is going through has exceeded all limits. The mere fact that the UN has to plead with Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and its ‘henchmen on the ground’ just to allow food and medicines into besieged areas – some that have been besieged since 2012 – is enough proof.
Here one may ask why ‘The International Crisis Group for Syria’ exists. Which ‘Syria’ is it dealing with? How cohesive is this Group? And, what is the significance about this group being ‘international’ when one of its pillars, i.e. Russia, is now an ‘intervention and occupation force’, enjoying an American carte blanche to do what it likes, and interpret and execute UN resolutions as it pleased.
Indeed, as time passed by and red lines disappeared, the Friends of Syria Group was also proving to be a lie as it became obvious that there was only a handful of such friends. Today, as Washington and Moscow’s positions vis-à-vis Syria have become almost indistinguishable, Beijing has adopted Moscow’s policies without hesitation, and the clear frustration and inability of the European powers to do anything about Washington’s Syria policy, we are witnessing the collapse of ‘The International Crisis Group for Syria’ which is rapidly following the lip-service ‘friends’ to the scrapheap.
During the last couple of years a lot of blame was levelled at Mr. de Mistura. However, it is obvious now that he was working under tight constraints that render his efforts fruitless. Moscow is clearly unwilling to surrender a political and military ‘advantage’ gained in a strategic region that was for it a “no go” area.
So, thanks to American negativity and international disability, the only hope left for the Syrians now is to wait for early November
Unwilling To Jeopardize
As for Washington, it is surely unwilling to jeopardize its agreements with the Iranian leadership during what is left of Barack Obama’s second term in the White House, even at the expense of the Middle East’s stability and the territorial integrity of its countries.
Finally, Tehran, controlled by the hubris of the Mullahs and blood lust of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), and benefitting from its accords with both Washington and Moscow, is not going to miss a historical chance of avenging its old defeats against the Arabs and challenging the Turks for the leadership of the Muslim world.
Given all the above, could a murderous regime – like the Al-Assad regime – be blamed if it did not exploit such a regional and global climate to continue its carnage? In addition to what has been mentioned, there in the background, is the curiously ‘pragmatic’ Israeli position. It is actually based on the following smart considerations.
Firstly, Israel has always been relaxed in its dealings with the Syrian regimes under the two Al-Assads, father and son; noting that the day before yesterday marked the 16th anniversary of the death of the father, Hafez al-Assad, who invented the concept of co-existence with Israel under the mask of rejecting it since 1973. The Israeli leadership, in turn and out of experience, knows only too well how to differentiate between talks and actions, especially, when coming from loud out-bidders who are only happy to co-exist with it.
Secondly, Syria today is virtually a ‘condominium’. The al-Assad regime would not survive without the direct support of Iran and Russia, of course, with Washington’s and even Tel Aviv’s blessings. The recurring visits by the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Moscow against the deafening silence of the Damascus rejectionists and Beirut ‘resistors’ is a clear proof of the lines that are defining the prohibited areas as well as the margins of manoeuvres.
Thirdly, Iran was never far from outbidding and bluffing as regard resisting (USA and Israel); and since the 1979 Khomeini Islamic Revolution and then the Iran-Contra scandal, Iran has been much more interested in bringing drown Arab regimes through “exporting the revolution” than fighting Israel. This has been proven time and time again, from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen to the heart of Palestine itself, where Iran has sponsored the tearing apart of the Palestinian social fabric from within in order to undermine any possibility that a viable Palestinian entity could emerge.
Fourthly, a regional Muslim “civil war” between Sunnis and Shiites does not worry the Israeli Right; the reason being is that such a war serves its interest in more than one way. It diverts attention away from its policies of annexation, settlements, and the eventual transfer of Palestinians. It also weakens and fragments a likely enemy that threatens these policies.
Thus, the Israeli Right, led by Netanyahu and his Likud Party, see no benefits in the collapse of a regime it knows well and has never ever feared. In fact, what this Israeli Right desires now is nothing more than having a say in how regional influence is distributed through firmly deciding Iran’s share, or agreeing a ceiling for its ambitions, under the watchful eyes of Washington and Moscow.
Pessimism
Back to De Mistura, the “Western diplomatic sources” quoted by Asharq Al-Awsat sound pessimistic about any effective international move in the light of what they regard as “toothless” Washington policy while Moscow handles most of the cards in Syria. They go as far as saying that the Secretary of State John Kerry has handed over the Syrian portfolio to the Russians and that Kerry, along with President Barack Obama and the CIA, are of the view that ISIS is the only threat there.
Subsequently, they believe that all efforts must serve this objective alone even if it meant cooperating with Moscow, and further still, even if it meant keeping Al-Assad regime if it was the price of Moscow’s cooperation. On the other hand, as the diplomatic sources add, the Pentagon represents the opposite argument, as it distrusts both the White House’s approach and the Kremlin’s intentions. Indeed, the Pentagon firmly believes that the ‘Moscow – Tehran – Damascus’ axis is hell-bent on a military solution in Syria and is striving to achieve it.
Thus, the Syrians’ suffering is expected to increase, since any change in Obama’s position seems unlikely during the countdown of his presidency, and the virtual partition of Syria and the intentional rundown of moderation within the “Opposition” are underway.
So, thanks to American negativity and international disability, the only hope left for the Syrians now is to wait for early November.
Source: english.alarabiya.net/en/views/2016/06/20/The-Syrians-are-waiting-for-November.html
URL: https://newageislam.com/middle-east-press/iraqis’-humanity-lives-despite-conflict/d/107709