KUDOS TO QATAR. OR: SOME ARAB POLITICIANS ARE SMART!

s e c o n d d r a f t

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(Update, 8/3:

The strain of Lebanon's devastation is showing on Qatari and Saudi politicians.

Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, lashed out at Qatar for its Foreign Minister's insinuation, outlined below, that Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt, still were egging on Israel in its assault on Lebanon. Prince Saud reminded Qatar that it has commercial relations with Israel, which it had established without consulting with other Arab coutries. Qatar responded by asserting that it would be willing to put an end to these relations in the context of a pan-Arab initiative.

In fairness to Saud al-Faisal, the Qatari position is disingeneous: Qatar had establlished these commercial relations without a coordinated pan-Arab initiative. Accordingly, Qatar is not being candid when it uses as excuse a (fictional) need for a pan-Arab initiative ("context") to interrupt these relations for the sake of Lebanon.

Frankly, the Saudi-Qatari rift is getting old. In the face of the horrific assault on the Arab nation, the least the politicians of these two countries can do is to agree on a moratarium on verbal mudslinging, to be followed, one would hope, by solid relations. SaudiPolitics suggests that they both build on issues that bring them together, however small these issues might be.
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The mediocrity of the politicians of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan is spellbinding. Nothing brought it out better than a statement by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jabr Aal Thani.

In his statement, made on or about July 31, 2006, Shaikh Hamad expressed bewilderment at the complicity of some Arab governments in the Israeli indiscriminate and disproportionate assault on Lebanon’s civilians–to disarm Hezbollah; that these governments were still in complicity with the Israeli/American war on Lebanon, trying to establish a fait accompli on the ground before a multinational force arrives.

Shaikh Hamad wondered about the absurdity of Arab governments aligning themselves with an Israeli policy without getting anything in return. The Israelis, he said, wanted everything without giving back anything in return. I guess these shrewd Arab politicians will give up everything and, ingeniously, will accept nothing in return!

Shaikh Hamad had an ominous warning: That the Arab street can bear so much, and that the Arab leaders’ support for Israel’s assault on Lebanon will only breed terrorists. SaudiPolitics couldn’t agree more.

SaudiPolitics will go further:

The assault on Lebanon already has failed. It was bound to. Strategically, it didn’t make sense. Not to mention that no one could control the Israeli bully once it had unleashed its American fire power on Lebanon. Ominously, this fire power is bound to intensify the more America’s bully finds no acceptable way out of failure.


(I will not delve into the details, since the Israeli press itself now is awaking to the fact that the idea didn’t make sense and is outlining the reasons.)

I’m convinced the idea for clipping Iran’s wings in Lebanon had come from the Israel-centric right-wing sophomores--harmful idiots--who carry so much influence in the Bush Administration. (Remember the number of times Vice President Cheney had threatened Iran with Israel?) . That these sophomores can order the Israelis to conduct an operation which didn’t make strategic sense is, but for the innocent bloodshed spilt and the devastation of Lebanon, nothing short of hilarious.

It looks as if Mr. Olmert wanted to play up to the outgoing administration and to its Arab stooges. Now he himself is a stooge–for idiots!

In contrast to America’s Arab stooges, Qatar and Shaikh Hamad can be proud. Their smart Arab stand is refreshing. Here are at last smart Arab politicians who know that the Arab nation, even when dependent on the United States, can nonetheless tell the harmful idiots that they are...well, harmful, hateful, and bloodthirsty idiots!