generalspeaking

Elusive Solutions

"These things can be mobilized on the spur of the moment, set off by a spark.  When you get rid of authoritarian regimes, there's little or no institutional framework left...  That's why there's disorder and chaos."  retired U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, former director of U.S. national intelligence

Disorder and chaos, one can be certain, simply happens to be the usual state of affairs in the Middle East, as one can be assured former Ambassador Negroponte well knows.  He is generous to a fault in ascribing these outbreaks to an unaccustomed lack of firm control as a result of autocratic heads of government having been set aside from office as a result of a social/political revolution.

Formerly it did not always suit the purposes of those now-defunct dictators - clouding their alliances with Western interests which have a tendency to become distressed understandably when it begins to appear that their investments may be in peril - to permit unfettered chaotic mob action.  Now, those same investments look increasingly shaky; little wonder there are second thoughts and withdrawals.

The new "democratically elected" powers which have taken their place, claiming to now represent 'the will of the people', don't as much concern themselves about placating the nervousness of non-Muslims, for in fact they are in the business of advancing the interests of the new, more muscular Islam, a 'purer' version held to be more authentic and reflective of the distant Bedouin-sourced past.

Their ownership of vast energy resources gives them the confidence to do as they will, which may have been lacking previously; they are no longer intimidated by the technology, skills and entrepreneurship of the West, they have assumed their own.  Their version of entrepreneurship has an element of forceful threats. 

Culture and heritage have proven it to be a resourceful method of intimidation of those who would counter their interests; they are no longer prepared to be silent and acquiescent in the face of Western
arrogance.  For one thing, their powerfully persuasive voting bloc at the United Nations has become another extremely useful tool. 

So the many-faceted face of Islamist power has countless resources.  On the other hand, if majority Muslim countries do eventually become interested in civilizing themselves, foregoing their love affair with bellicose diplomacy, they could, if they really tried and saw the advantage in so doing, become a responsible part of the world community, trusted and respected; earned conditions.

A good start would be for them to listen to those among them, ordinary Muslims who straddle the divide between extreme and moderate, to reasonableness; those who are capable of uttering their dismay as this shopkeeper whose store is located adjacent to the U.S. embassy in Sanaa did:

"The film is an insult to the Prophet, but this is unbelievable.  We're really struggling to understand how something like this could get so out of hand."

Ah, good man: look no further than the Salafists, the Wahhabists, the al-Qaeda delegates among you all.  Then take firm, deliberate - albeit stressful in every sense - steps to disabuse them of their vibrantly vicious hostility toward all but those who express and live their hate-filled ideology.

Labels: Conflict, Human Relations, Islamism, Middle East, Political Realities

posted by Pieface @ Friday, September 14, 2012