Some Objective Commentary On America’s Foreign Policy In The Middle East

One of the best sources of objective information on the Middle East is the Middle East Forum. The Middle East Forum posted an article last week entitled, “America‘s Problems in the Middle East are Just Beginning.” The article is not particularly encouraging, but it is frank and objective.

The opening paragraphs of the article state:

It’s 2015, and there is a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas), financed by Iran, wins an election on a platform demanding the expulsion of the Jews from Israel. Iran meanwhile smuggles shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to terrorist cells in Palestine that can take down civilian airlines at Ben-Gurion airport. With backing from the Egyptian military, Fatah throws out the elected Hamas government and kills larger number of Hamas supporters. What will Washington do? Given the track record of both the Obama administration and the Republican mainstream, one would expect America to denounce the use of violence against a democratically-elected government.

Such is the absurdity of both parties’ stance towards Egypt: the Egyptian military is doing America’s dirty work, suppressing a virulently anti-modern, anti-Semitic and anti-Western Islamist movement whose leader, Mohammed Morsi, famously referred to Israelis as “apes and pigs.” It did so with the enthusiastic support of tens of millions of Egyptians who rallied in the streets in support of the military. And the American mainstream reacted with an ideological knee jerk. America’s presence in the Middle East has imploded.

It is obvious to even the most casual observer that America’s Middle East policy is a disaster. It has been so dictated by our dependence on oil and by our lack of understanding of the civilizations and organizations we are dealing with that we have absolutely no moral authority or solid ground to stand on. Our government has been infiltrated and influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1990’s (see government exhibit 3-85.pdf–as it was called during the first part of the Holy Land Foundation Trial). The first half of the exhibit is in Arabic, you have to scroll about halfway through it to find the English translation. The document explains how to present Islam as a civilization alternative with the goal of bringing America into a world-wide caliphate.

The article at the Middle East Forum concludes:

America cannot bear to think about its own Civil War because the wounds are too painful; in order to reunite the country after 1865, we concocted a myth of tragic fratricide. Wilsonian idealism was born of the South’s attempt to suppress its guilt for the war, I have argued in the past. That is an academic consideration now. America’s credibility in the Middle East, thanks to the delusions of both parties, is broken, and it cannot be repaired within the time frame required to forestall the next stage of violence. Egypt’s military and its Saudi backers are aghast at American stupidity. Israel is frustrated by America’s inability to understand that Egypt’s military is committed to upholding the peace treaty with Israel while the Muslim Brotherhood wants war. Both Israel and the Gulf States observe the utter fecklessness of Washington’s efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

The events of the past week have demonstrated that America’s allies in the Middle East from Israel to the Persian Gulf can trust no-one in Washington–neither Barack Obama nor John McCain. Those of us in America who try to analyze events in the region will be the last to hear the news, and the value of our work will diminish over time.

I don’t know if democracy is possible in the Arab world. Turkey did a reasonable job of it for a while, but the Islamists are in the process of taking over Turkey, and democracy and Sharia Law are not compatible. Western civilization promotes freedom, property rights, and individual achievement. Those values are not part of Sharia Law. Until we acknowledge that there is such a thing as a superior civilization, we will continue attempting to negotiate with people who simply want us dead or under their control.

Please follow the link above to the Middle East Forum and read the entire article. It is not encouraging, but it is honest.

 

 

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