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| Middle East |
| Egypt bitches about U.S. pro-democracy intiative... |
| 2002-12-13 |
| Arabs gave mixed reactions Friday, December 13, to Washington's 29-million-dollar initiative to foster democracy in the Middle East. Egypt, one of Washington's closest allies, leveled the harshest criticism against the plan unveiled Thursday, December 12, amid heavy fanfare by Secretary of State Colin Powell, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. "Democracy? We don't need no steenkin' democracy! We got a president, and he has a son, so the succession's assured..." If Washington really wanted to promote a stable, prosperous Middle East it should tackle the Palestinian issue before offering any program to bolster democracy, stressed Egypt. "Despite certain positive points in the U.S. program, we observe that it does not deal with the main problem which is at the root of all other problems in the region," said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. But if the Paleos were to suddenly become a democratic — or more properly, a libertarian — entity, their problems would kind of solve themselves... Naw. That can't be right. It was time "to settle the conflict, put an end to the Israeli occupation, and give a chance to the people of the region to live in peace and security," he underlined, in a jibe at Washington's hands-off approach to the 26-month-old Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation. Guess they'll have to stop killing people at random, stop the gang warfare, and adhere to the agreements they make... Announcing the plan, Powell claimed transforming Palestinian leadership was the cornerstone for Middle East peace, reinforcing the U.S. administration's desire for a "fresh leader" to replace elected Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Y'see, Yasser's kind of the turd in the punchbowl of peace... Meanwhile, Qatar, an emirate with close alley to the U.S. which Powell also singled out for praise while unveiling the initiative, reiterated support for the new U.S. plan. "Qatar receives favorably the American initiative for a partnership between the United States and the Middle East," said a Qatari foreign ministry spokesman. "Qatar hopes that this initiative succeeds in increasing the possibilities of political, economic and social development and the opportunity for popular participation in the Middle East region," the spokesman said in a statement carried by the official news agency, QNA. The emirate hopes that the U.S. initiative "will guarantee a propitious atmosphere to install an equitable and comprehensive peace and bring security and stability to the Middle East." "We're more concerned with having something come out of all this yak-yak than we are with making it." The plan also received a warm reception in Jordan, although the Jordanian media took a wait-and-see approach. On the eve of Powell's speech, Jordanian King Abdullah II gave the thumbs up to the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative, during a video conference with businessmen and officials in Washington and five Arab countries. "It is an important initiative and it is a measure of the close friendship and positive future we both see," said the king, whose country has embarked on a social-economic reforms package with foreign donor assistance, including U.S. The Jordanian pro-government daily Al-Rai stressed it "is high time for the U.S. administration to implement its 'vision' and translate into concrete steps the figures and numbers contained in its partnership initiative." The obstructionist bloc, where Egypt is sitting at the moment, is more concerned with keeping the verbiage flowing. If real reforms are actually initiated in Jordan, and Qatar keeps going the way it has been, ten years from now the other Arab states can be bitching and moaning about them grabbing off all the non-oil wealth for themselves. The Bush team, meanwhile, is nibbling at the edges of Arab solidarity to divide and, hopefully, conquer. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |