Friday, October 31, 2003
Ahhhhhh... so that's how you post. You think that once you've pressed one button you've pressed 'em all, but no.
Everything is ok with me, anyway. Today I read this on the university radio, at about 1 and 2/3 the pace of Alistair Cook:
--strains of Dalida's "Helwe Ya Baladi".. sing along...
Next in the firing line
The peripatetic war on terror could soon be coming in the direction of Iran and Syria.. These two countries, which have been linked in the headlines since well before the recent Iraq war, are often presented as choice targets, as nations running amok under the influence of inscrutable fanatics, sponsoring mass murder and sheltering mass murderers.
But what about the people of these countries?
We all know a reasonable American who can convince us that their country’s raging imperialist stance does not represent all of its people.
But we don’t generally have the advantage of similar exposure to reasonable Syrians and Iranians.
With the visa regulations being as they are, we’re much less likely to meet up with a native Syrian or Iranian. Although we may in the near future be rubbing shoulders with them in the intimacy of war – by which I mean sitting and watching guiltily on TV whilst they get bombed - we know very little about them.
This is a shame, because if we could hear past the belligerent political shouting going on above our heads, we might even get on.
So for the next few weeks, turn to this slot for the lowdown about what our counterparts in Syria and Iran are getting up to. I’ll be concentrating on some of the quirkier ways that the humanity of ordinary people in Syrian and Iranian cultures shows itself, from a young girl in Iran who’s changed her name to “Michael Owen” to a Granny in Syria who wrestles visiting Americans into the sea.
As for this week, it’s time to get in a bit of groundwork.
First, Syria. Syria’s president, the young, British-educated Bashar al-Assad, came to power following his father’s death in 2000. He looked promising at the time, and there was a period of comparative freedom of expression. People began to demand an end to military rule, corruption, and the setting up of a genuine democratic process. However, freedom diminished, and the flickering light of democracy was dimmed.
But after his fellow Ba’thist, Sadaam Hussein in Iraq, was unable to motivate his people to take part in full scale defence of the regime against American attack, the big question for Assad is whether his current, low-profile program of government reforms will be sufficient to bring his people behind him, and to convince the world that an attack on Syria would not mean the overthrow of a despot, but rather a representative government.
So why pick on Syria now?
Well, the Assad government sponsors groups on the USA’s terrorist list. Organisations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whose militias undertake attacks on Israeli civilians, have occupied offices in Damascus for some time.
Many have now been closed in response to US demands, but the additional demand of expulsion for members of these groups has not been met.
And of course it’s now suggested that Syria has its own horde of forbidden weapons, leading to (or being used to justify) the threat of US economic sanctions.
Syria is still influential in Lebanon, and supports the Hizbollah guerillas who fire missiles at Israeli settlements near the Lebanese border. These Hizbollahis were largely responsible for causing Israel to withdraw from its 18-year occupation of Southern Lebanon in 2000.
But what about Iran, and how did it get connected to Syria?
It’s not even an Arab country – Iranians are Persians.
Perhaps the link has been made because it funds Hizbollah. Why does it do this? Partly through zeal for Islam, partly because Israel and the US are so close – Israel is seen as a sort of American colony on Islamic lands.
Even besides that, the US and Iranian governments revile each other.
(Iran’s people, at least, are on the whole in favour of a rapprochement, but nobody listens to them).
The Islamic Revolution came about as the result of popular resistance against the US-backed regime of the Shahs, and in the aftermath some Iranian students took American embassy staff hostage. The US felt the humiliation of this badly.
On the other hand, a trigger-happy US warship shot down an Iranian passenger plane full of people; and the sorry list goes on through the kidnapping of journalists and others in Lebanon and far beyond.
There is also the matter of Iran’s nuclear reactors, which the Americans claim are for military purposes – inspections are under way, but there’s no guarantee that they will meet with US approval. Which doesn’t comfort the average Iranian, scanning the horizon for a stray B52.
It’s just too easy to think that the Middle East sprang into existence yesterday, with a horde of Kalashnikov -toting dictators at the head of an anonymous brainwashed mass. These lands have long histories, going back before Islam to great Persian and Assyrian civilizations, and then later as regions of the enormous Islamic empire which once spanned across North Africa and reached the borders of China.
This Islamic empire was composing sophisticated poetry and pushing forward the bounds of Philosophy, Medicine and Science even as Europeans were still digging around in their ears and wondering if the result would be nice to eat.
When we look at places like Iran and Syria perhaps we need to take a step back.
So next week at this time, I’ll switch from international politics to an individual tale of love and fear in the streets of Damascus…
---Dalida re-emerges and then succumbs to an interview with an animal rights campaigner.
Can't be bothered to go out, not even with the chance of meeting a ghost. I'm broke, my student loan doesnt get here until 3 days. I'm trying to get a few hours a week in the college library, or being a waitress at Newnham. Newnham is a scary college, with many doors, but none which seem to lead to the exit.
Kay then. Now I know what to do.
Everything is ok with me, anyway. Today I read this on the university radio, at about 1 and 2/3 the pace of Alistair Cook:
--strains of Dalida's "Helwe Ya Baladi".. sing along...
Next in the firing line
The peripatetic war on terror could soon be coming in the direction of Iran and Syria.. These two countries, which have been linked in the headlines since well before the recent Iraq war, are often presented as choice targets, as nations running amok under the influence of inscrutable fanatics, sponsoring mass murder and sheltering mass murderers.
But what about the people of these countries?
We all know a reasonable American who can convince us that their country’s raging imperialist stance does not represent all of its people.
But we don’t generally have the advantage of similar exposure to reasonable Syrians and Iranians.
With the visa regulations being as they are, we’re much less likely to meet up with a native Syrian or Iranian. Although we may in the near future be rubbing shoulders with them in the intimacy of war – by which I mean sitting and watching guiltily on TV whilst they get bombed - we know very little about them.
This is a shame, because if we could hear past the belligerent political shouting going on above our heads, we might even get on.
So for the next few weeks, turn to this slot for the lowdown about what our counterparts in Syria and Iran are getting up to. I’ll be concentrating on some of the quirkier ways that the humanity of ordinary people in Syrian and Iranian cultures shows itself, from a young girl in Iran who’s changed her name to “Michael Owen” to a Granny in Syria who wrestles visiting Americans into the sea.
As for this week, it’s time to get in a bit of groundwork.
First, Syria. Syria’s president, the young, British-educated Bashar al-Assad, came to power following his father’s death in 2000. He looked promising at the time, and there was a period of comparative freedom of expression. People began to demand an end to military rule, corruption, and the setting up of a genuine democratic process. However, freedom diminished, and the flickering light of democracy was dimmed.
But after his fellow Ba’thist, Sadaam Hussein in Iraq, was unable to motivate his people to take part in full scale defence of the regime against American attack, the big question for Assad is whether his current, low-profile program of government reforms will be sufficient to bring his people behind him, and to convince the world that an attack on Syria would not mean the overthrow of a despot, but rather a representative government.
So why pick on Syria now?
Well, the Assad government sponsors groups on the USA’s terrorist list. Organisations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whose militias undertake attacks on Israeli civilians, have occupied offices in Damascus for some time.
Many have now been closed in response to US demands, but the additional demand of expulsion for members of these groups has not been met.
And of course it’s now suggested that Syria has its own horde of forbidden weapons, leading to (or being used to justify) the threat of US economic sanctions.
Syria is still influential in Lebanon, and supports the Hizbollah guerillas who fire missiles at Israeli settlements near the Lebanese border. These Hizbollahis were largely responsible for causing Israel to withdraw from its 18-year occupation of Southern Lebanon in 2000.
But what about Iran, and how did it get connected to Syria?
It’s not even an Arab country – Iranians are Persians.
Perhaps the link has been made because it funds Hizbollah. Why does it do this? Partly through zeal for Islam, partly because Israel and the US are so close – Israel is seen as a sort of American colony on Islamic lands.
Even besides that, the US and Iranian governments revile each other.
(Iran’s people, at least, are on the whole in favour of a rapprochement, but nobody listens to them).
The Islamic Revolution came about as the result of popular resistance against the US-backed regime of the Shahs, and in the aftermath some Iranian students took American embassy staff hostage. The US felt the humiliation of this badly.
On the other hand, a trigger-happy US warship shot down an Iranian passenger plane full of people; and the sorry list goes on through the kidnapping of journalists and others in Lebanon and far beyond.
There is also the matter of Iran’s nuclear reactors, which the Americans claim are for military purposes – inspections are under way, but there’s no guarantee that they will meet with US approval. Which doesn’t comfort the average Iranian, scanning the horizon for a stray B52.
It’s just too easy to think that the Middle East sprang into existence yesterday, with a horde of Kalashnikov -toting dictators at the head of an anonymous brainwashed mass. These lands have long histories, going back before Islam to great Persian and Assyrian civilizations, and then later as regions of the enormous Islamic empire which once spanned across North Africa and reached the borders of China.
This Islamic empire was composing sophisticated poetry and pushing forward the bounds of Philosophy, Medicine and Science even as Europeans were still digging around in their ears and wondering if the result would be nice to eat.
When we look at places like Iran and Syria perhaps we need to take a step back.
So next week at this time, I’ll switch from international politics to an individual tale of love and fear in the streets of Damascus…
---Dalida re-emerges and then succumbs to an interview with an animal rights campaigner.
Can't be bothered to go out, not even with the chance of meeting a ghost. I'm broke, my student loan doesnt get here until 3 days. I'm trying to get a few hours a week in the college library, or being a waitress at Newnham. Newnham is a scary college, with many doors, but none which seem to lead to the exit.
Kay then. Now I know what to do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)