Arab Spring : Egypt

Fate of democracy in Egypt

Author: NAzrul Basher

Egypt is an ancient country with its olden civilization. Pyramid of Egypt is known to all, is a vivid enchanting, wonderful and mysterious establishment calling upon the people to visit, discover and research  finding out more and more secret history of them. Millions of people are visiting her enriching knowledge and mental power. With the heritage and glories history, the people of the country were deprived of the real democracy. This is the reason that the rulers of Egypt were either far less far sighted vision or the callous to the people's welfare and desire and less interested to make the country self-reliant in all sectors. The people of Egypt had been seared in the flames with withering injustice, discrimination and unspeakable police brutality and battered with unemployment, without leeway, high price of staple food, and lack of habitat places. The general people might have thought that they had been the citizen of the developed countries like as United States and Europe if their country was democratic. They wish to get rid of the situation. The real chance had come   when the Arab Spring stemmed from Tunisia showed up afore the people. Over a lot of sacrifices of lives and properties, the people of Tunisia won the battle of democracy driving out the autocratic ruler rule over the country for long lime in a row boosted Egyptian much from its development. Arab Spring came as a beacon light of hope to the millions of people of Egypt and they wanted a joyous day break to the long waited horrible night captivity. Demonstration and protest of all walks of people brought the President Hosni Mubarak stepped down and transferred the state power to the Egyptian military.

Dream of the peoples started wheeling as the election of the parliament held help giving shape of the democracy. Before some days of the President election parliament dissolved by the supreme council of the armed forces casting shadow of uncertainty over the countries blossoming democracy. Although the top brass and entrenched element in the armed forces, judiciary and administration appointed by the late dictator Hosni Mubarak were unhappy at the victory of the brotherhood in the parliament, armed forces were wise enough not to take any risk converting the country into reeling and staggering, letting the President election timely held. Mohammed Morsi was the first democratic elected President in Egypt. Assuming the power he had taken a right and commendable turn to reinstate the parliament by a decree but it was turned down by the Supreme Council. This fact gets the people pessimistic creep into the mind of them.

It is clear that democracy depends on the three factors - people, honorable President and the supreme council of the armed forces. People of the Egypt has a great potential to put the democracy accelerate with their patience's, no-violent movement and taking right decision on the right time. They have to be shied away from the wrong doing but the creative demonstration. They must not let their creative protest to degenerate into physical force giving the armed forces chance crushing the democracy.

They have to rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. Nonviolent method can be a potent weapon to the oppressed people to press home their demand.

As the full state power was not transferred to new President of Egypt by the armed forces, he is to get along maintaining intelligence and shrewdness in every performance. What is  more important point is that he is enjoying the own peoples support and international support so that armed forces would not take venture out the risk of removing him. Though, the supreme council hold majority of the power, they should choose the right path of transferring the whole power to the elected President Mohammed Morsi by the people. They have to read the peoples desire that their legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating of autumn of liberty, freedom, prosperous economy and happiness.

The path of democracy is hard. Division between the people and army would hamper the economy and foreign investment raising the unemployment condition and also a stone of despair of the people. If the people, armed forces can move hand by hand together the real democracy will blossom in the Egypt. The whole world is waiting to see that sunlight path of the freedom and liberty of the Egyptian people.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/fate-of-democracy-in-egypt-6057747.html

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International Politics : Iran - Hassan Rohani

Iran at a crossroad with Hassan Rohani

Author: P.F.Fauhaum

07/20/13

   

Iran at a crossroad with Hassan Rohani

Opinion article by P.F.Fauhaum

Iranian President-Elect Hassan Rohani

More than 100 years after the Mashrooteh (Law or legal restraint) revolution in Iran, the election of Mr. Rohani has brought the Iranian nation and government to a major cross road once more. The difference however is the fact that at this point in history choosing the wrong path will contribute to complete disintegration of Iran as a nation in the near future.

Historically, the Iranian clergy have been key difference makers in Iranian politics. Efforts to demonize all Iranian clergy are counterproductive and erroneous.

The Mashrooteh revolution could not have succeeded without the foresight and activism of progressive clergies such as Ayatollah Behbehani and Tabatabai who confronted the Monarchists and regressive clergies who were trying to reverse the ruling of Mozaferdin Shah who had accepted the Mashrooteh ( Secular Law ) principals to a system of Mashrooeh ( Sharia ).

Ayatolah Kashani's last minute withdrwal of support for Dr. Mosadegh caused collapse of his regime. Ayatolah Khomeni leading the revolution against the former Shah caused the collapse of the Pahlavi regime. Ayatolah Taleghani and Montazeri and numerous others had been significant political assets for Iranian political movements as well.

The election of Rohani and the subsequent joyous celebration by his supporters has shocking revelations for a few interested parties in Iranian politics.

Mr. Jallili, who was supported by the so called principalist wing, received an insignificant portion of the vote largely from cronies of the current regime. If popular support is the fuel necessary for a government or political movement, the Jallili result shows that the regime is running on empty tanks with minimal backing from the Iranian people.

The international operators intent on destroying Iran through sanctions and sectarian and political divisions are witnessing a political insider with vast popular support capable of unifying the country by delivering on a number of populist issues. A people that are not divided cannot be conquered.

Paid political instigators such as the MKO and the Monarchist are witnessing an Iranian population with political wisdom and knowledge not susceptible to false propaganda and dictatorial movements packaged as patriotic or secular movements.

Mr. Rohani is a clever, educated and progressive clergy and a political insider in the regime. Yet his success on nearly all issues is dependent on his ability to redirect Iranian politics from the religious Mashrooeh approach to secular and legal Mashrooteh approach.

The Iranian political system has been monopolized by Islamic Ideologs with minimal support in the Iranian population. The bottom line of pursuing the so called Principalists ideas and Islamic rules in Iran is a county that is a socioeconomic mess preconditioned for total destruction.

Mr. Rohani's election should be more celebrated by the Principalists than the Reformists camps in Iran. In the event of Iranian destruction the Principalist have the most to lose.

• The current Inflation rate of 30% to 60% is a precondition for Hyperinflation exceeding 1000s of percent and destruction of Iran. Standard Macroeconomic policies for inflation of this magnitude are painful and will worsen the political situation in Iran. In a nutshell, extracting this level of inflation out of an economy literally requires a significant suppression of economic activity that will worsen the already troublesome high rates of unemployment. Loosening and lessening of the international sanctions and availability of foreign exchange may assist in subsidizations of some goods and services that might reduce the inflation rate temporarily. Yet long term solution to a problem of this magnitude requires a massive increase in production of goods and services which cannot be done overnight together with many Islamic restrictions on production and consumption etc. Mr. Rohani must be careful not to overpromise and under deliver on this issue.
• Current unemployment rates exceeding 20% represents failure and near collapse of the private sector. The public sector through government revenues has more or less maintained its employment level. Iran like many Persian Gulf countries is still an oil company and not a rational economy.

Today's Iran has a massive amount of human capital and other economic resources which should allow the country to have significant economic performance. Yet utilization of economic resources requires business formation. On a daily basis the Principalist opportunists in Iran arrest and prosecute business operators of all kind or withhold permits for many other business activities. In a nutshell this is committing economic suicide.

• International sanctions have had adverse effect on many private businesses and private parties in Iran. Iranians all over the world are on their last breath tolerating adversities in their lives caused by the Iranian government.
• Iranians with skills or capital or significant assets in Iran are continually leaving Iran and forming businesses and communities outside Iran.
• Iranian Diaspora in millions, who have settled in other countries, is fearful of a simple visit to their motherland or resettling in Iran.
• Internationally there are political elements in the west who intend to break Iran into pieces. Their intent is realistic because Iran under the current conditions is breakable. The 51% who voted for Mr Rohani in Iran were rejecting the so called Islamic restrictive and dogmatic approach propagated by the Iranian government. Destabilizing a regime that has minimal support among its population is not an impossible act.
• Throughout its history Iran has never lost any of its territories by secession. Yet the dissatisfaction with the current regime has preconditioned the country for secessionists' movements.
• People of Iran feel forever disgraced with punishments such as stoning of women or cutting off hands or floggings or marginalizing women etc. Iranians have the most civilized culture among the people of the world. The punishments of the sharia law were intended for certain citizens of Arabia who were the most barbaric people on earth at the time of Prophet Mohammad and do not fit the Iranian culture. Sharia must be discussed in Mosques not by the government.

Per Bernard Lewis , the fourth Century Roman historian Amminamus Marcellinus has the following to say about desert people of south Arabia in 4th Century.

"The Inhabitants of all districts are savage and warlike, and take such pleasure in war and conflict, that one who loses his life in battle is regarded as happy beyond all others. For those who depart from this life by a natural death they assail with insult, as degenerate and cowardly. "

Recently the regime operators have been referring to the greatness of the Iranian culture and Islamic principles. The core and the kernel of Iranian culture are the ethical teachings of prophet Zarathustra. In presenting his monotheistic approach' Zarathustra emphasized respect for other religions and beliefs. Persecution of the Bahais and antagonism of Christians and the Jews and the Sunnis in Iran is inconsistent with the core belief of Iranians and Iranian culture.

The election of Rohani, and defeat of the Islamic approach of Morsi in Egypt and problems for Erdogan in Turkey clearly indicate that populations who are interested in spirituality of Islam are not necessarily interested in Islamic rulings and laws.

Back in the 1980s the ideological regimes of the Soviet Union and China found themselves at a crossroad as well. China decided to gradually loosen up on its efforts to enforce the full version of the communist ideology, The Soviet Union on the other hand vacillated between actual change and talk of change (Glasnost and Perestroika). In the long run China became a success and the Soviet Union became a miserable failure.

The survival of Iran as a nation requires a 180 degrees turnaround on a number of socioeconomic and political issues. In a nutshell Iranians need to reestablish their pluralism and move in the direction of legal secularism.

A large number of Iranian problems including a significant portion of the economic problems can be solved by redirecting the political direction of Iran. The Iranian government can utilize the political system in Turkey as a template for change. Without a quick and drastic turnaround in the Iranian approach, the current regime and the country as a whole are within a short distance of implosion.

The recent Iranian election reflected the political maturity of the population and exhibits the fact that Iranians are not interested in another revolution and would be satisfied with reforming the current system. The so called principalists should consider this as an important opportunity for their survival.

About the author: P.F. Fauhaum is a retired economist; BA in economics from Northern Illinois University and MA in Economics from university of Illinois. Post graduate studies in Economics, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Branch. Formerly lecturer in economics in Harper college of Illinois and Northern Illinois University.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/iran-at-a-crossroad-with-hassan-rohani-6845795.html

About the Author

International Politics : Israel and Palestine Conflict

Palestine and the United Nations

Author: Ratzer Beryl

So much is happening in the world and so fast that the events of the day are overtaken by new scoops even before we have digested the old.

Op-eds, analyses, predictions and journalistic prognoses follow one another so swiftly that we don't even get to know whose learned comments were way off mark if not totally incorrect.

In my newsletters I have always tried to bring to my readers' attention facts and points of view that somehow gain less attention in the media. There seems to be less need for that now because articles rejected by the more popular and well known printed media are available to those who are interested either on the internet or as attachments and letters sent by friends and acquaintances.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts". Somehow, in today's world, facts are no longer important. The new concept is "narratives" and all narratives are given equal value irrespective of whether they are based on truth or fiction, truth or wishful thinking, truth or political agenda.    

Without some research or a wide field of knowledge, we, the average readers, are unable to know what is true, what is half true and what it patently false. Lacking that information many of us try to analyze the wealth of information we are being fed. We try to look for inconsistencies, for contradictions and often we are influenced by people we respect and admire.

Others, less discerning, base their opinions on gut feeling, prejudice, bigotry, intolerance and even racism. These people cannot and will not be disturbed by incontrovertible facts. Anti-Semitism is the oldest known prejudice and the most wide spread. It is totally irrational and contradictory. Communists and socialists hate Jews because they are capitalists. Capitalists hate Jews because they are communists and socialists.

In early times Jews were hated because, as a people, they were unique. They claimed to be, and were, all descended from the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel – a fact borne out by modern DNA testing.

These descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel were known as Israelites and under kings Saul, David and Solomon the land where they lived was known as the kingdom of Israel. After a civil war, Israel became the northern kingdom and Judah the southern kingdom. Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians and Judah by the Babylonians. The population was exiled but tried to maintain their religion.

Cyrus of Persia gave them an opportunity to return to their land and rebuild their Temple. Israel and Judah became Judaea.

Now Jews were hated not only because they were a unique people but because they followed a religion which totally rejected paganism. When paganism was rejected and replaced by Christianity they were hated because they remained faithful to the religion of their forefathers and would not accept Christianity. 

As Islam replaced, forcibly, Christianity in the eastern parts of the  Christian Byzantine Empire Jews were hated for continuing to remain faithful to the religion of their forefathers and the Jewish community of Medina was annihilated by Mohammed.

In every pogrom, in every attack on Jewish communities throughout the world, the call of the attackers was "Go to Palestine". It didn't matter if that community had lived in the same place for two thousand five hundred years as was true of the Jews of Iraq, or over one thousand years as in many places in Europe, including Poland. It was clear to all and sundry that Palestine, as the Land of Israel was then known, was the only place in the world where Jews should be found. 

Even in Germany, with the rise of Nazi party and the introduction of the Nuremberg laws the call was "Jews out of Germany. Jews to Palestine".

Then, miracle of miracles, in 1948 a Jewish State came into existence in British Mandate Palestine, populated by Jewish and Arab Palestinians. Instead of keeping the name imposed on the Land of Israel by the Romans after the second Jewish revolt against the mighty Roman Empire, Palaestina, the pesky Jews chose to name their country Israel.

The Jews were once again, after two thousand years, a nation. Now there was a new reason to hate the Jews, a unique people with a unique religion. They had re-established themselves where they had originated three thousand years earlier, speaking the same language, practicing the same religion. The unique is often inexplicable. The unique and the inexplicable are often feared. The unique, the inexplicable and the feared are often hated.

Anti-Zionism was born. Paradoxically it also infects those Jews who are unable to comprehend or acknowledge this uniqueness.

Who knows what narrative the Palestinians of today would have had to invent if the Jewish State established in 1948 was named Palestine and not Israel!!!

Who knows what motion they would be bringing to the UN in September 2011.

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The Jews revolted against the Roman Empire twice in less than seventy years. The disastrous revolt between 67 and 73 CE, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple, was well documented by the Roman historian Josephus Flavius and much of what he wrote is supported by archaeological excavations.

About the Bar Kochba revolt, 132 to 135 CE, which broke out because the Romans tried to prevent the weakened and diminished Jewish population of Judea from performing brit milah (circumcision), we know less. We do know that the Romans, provoked by the Jewish hutzpah (impudence) decided to do two things. The first, to change the name of Jerusalem to Aelio Capitolina did not succeed.

The second, to change the name of Judaea (Judah) to Palaestina, did. With the Moslem conquest in the seventh century the province of Palaestina Prima, in Latin became Jund Falastin in Arabic and Palaestina Secunda became Jund al-Urdunn.    

During the four hundred year Turkish Ottoman rule, which ended in the aftermath of WWI in 1917, the entire Middle East and the Balkans were part of the Ottoman Empire – to which Turkey aspires once again.

It was then that Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Palestine were created by the League of Nations.

=================================================================

"There is no such a country as Palestine. Our country was for centuries part of Syria. ‘Palestine' is alien to us. It was the Zionists who introduced it." Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, testifying before the Peel Commission in 1937.

***********

"There is no such a thing as Palestine in history. Absolutely not."  Prof. Philip Hitti, Arab historian, testifying before the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry at the State Department, Washington DC, 11th January, 1946.

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In the 1947 UN Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine between the Jewish and the Arab population, according to the demography, there is no mention of a Palestinian "people" as both Jews and Arabs were Palestinian. The "West Bank" is referred to by the historical, geographical names Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron). The Arab leaders both of Palestine and the entire ME rejected the Partition Plan and the opportunity to establish a State of Palestine, had that been their aim.

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"The fact that there are these refugees is the direct result of the action of the Arab states in opposing the partition and the Jewish State. The Arab states agreed on this policy unanimously and they must share in the solution of the problem." Emil Ghoury, Secretary of the Arab Higher Committee, Beirut Daily Telegraph, 6th September, 1948.

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"It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria." Ahmed Shukiery, U.N. Security Council, 1956.

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UN Resolution 242, 22nd November, 1967 (after the Six Day War) makes no mention of Palestine. Nor does it call for the withdrawal of Israel from all the territories acquired by Israel as the result of a war which Israel did not initiate.

********

"There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation. It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity… yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel."
-Zuhair Muhsin, then-PLO commander and member of the PLO Executive Committee.

**********

The above quotes are all accurate but they contain facts which annoy those who do not want to have their opinions and theories queried so they are omitted from the narrative.

September promises to be an interesting month so enjoy the (relative) peace and quiet of what is left of August.

If you have not yet seen my website and the abstract of "A Historical Tour of the Holy Land" please check it out. If you have read the book, please send your comments to me so that I can include them on the site, or to Amazon, as a review to  

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/palestine-and-the-united-nations-5138695.html

About the Author

Author of "A Historical Tour of the Holy Land" now out in its third English edition and soon to appear in Russian and Hebrew.

Also author of a regular topical newsletter to a large mailing list and numerous artcles on various subjects.

Compiled brief descriptions of  100 major tourist sites for www.beinharim.co.il

International Politics : Can the USA and UK Politically Win the War on Terror?

Can the Usa and UK Politically Win the War on Terror?

Author: Davinos Greeno

The War on Terrorism, (also called the Global War on Terrorism) is the name of a campaign with the stated goal of ending international terrorism by preventing those groups said to be terrorist in nature from posing a threat, and by putting an end to state sponsorship of terrorism. This can be in any country anywhere in the world.

Everyday on the news is one disaster after another, often linked to the War on Terror. We have Somalia now being run by the Islamic Court which the Ethiopians dont like so they have invaded towns on the border, ongoing problems in Chechnya and the worsening situations in Iraq and Afganistan.

George Soros thinks that the War on Terror is a false metaphor. It has been used by the Bush administration to further its own objectives, but those objectives are opposed to the principles of open society and harmful to the national interest.

The allies have killed more innocent civilians in Iraq than the terrorists killed on 9/11. In addition to killing, we have also humiliated and tortured many Iraqis. By creating innocent victims, we have advanced the terrorists cause.

Why are we hated? Not because terrorists hate democracy but because they hate arrogant idiots who think they know better. Terrorists are only defeated when the large majority of the community feel that they can trust the local authorities to maintain law and order and work for the common good. Then ordinary people will turn the terrorists in to the authorities when, or even before, they strike. In countries such as Iraq where the police and army often consist of Al Qaeda and other militants sympathisers it makes the job even more difficult. The availability of army and police uniforms on the open market and those sold by corrupt officers means that ordinary people are afraid to stop at the checkpoints in case they are militants dressed as the authorities.

Osma bin Ladens purpose for the 9/11 attack was (and is) to provoke massive retaliation from the US against Islam. He hoped that our retaliation would finally unite Islam against the US as a common enemy, and that his vision for a fundamentalist pan-Islamic state would sweep away all the more moderate governments in the region.

One of the Western Allies, Israel was recently subjected to the kidnap of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah militants based in Lebanon, this led to a month long way in which Israel was silently and invisibly encouraged to continue the War on Terror on behalf of the USA in the Middle East. Why did the USA care how long the war went on for as none of their soldiers or civilians where dying? The destruction on Lebanons infrastructure including water and electricity utilities was a crime against humanity, how can this destruction and harm against the civilian population ever bring them to forgive Israel and the West?

If this destruction was intended just to weaken the Lebanon state and prevent the movement of Hezbollah then this short sightedness has lead to the long term poverty, struggle and hatred of the allies by the general population. Many of whom have now aligned themselves with Hezbollah for defending their homeland of Lebanon.

Finally back to Iraq where recently Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death and the problems seem to go on and on. We need to remember the old saying that one mans terrorist is another mans freedom-fighter. Until we fully understand this saying and the tools and strategies for dealing with it…. The war on terror will become the old war on communism… and that lasted for nearly 50 years.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/can-the-usa-and-uk-politically-win-the-war-on-terror-84442.html

About the Author

Davinos Greeno works for the organic directory This green directory lists 100s of Organic Food and Drink Companies and Eco Jobs and Ethical Companies

USA Foreign Policy and The War on Terrorism

How America's Foreign Policy Is Making The US Less Safe In The War On Terrorism

Author: Matt Harrison

"And we fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we'll fight them there, we'll fight them across the world, and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won." (Applause.) | -- President George W. Bush "

Despite plenty of muscular rhetoric, President Bush's strategy in the War on Terrorism demonstrates a dangerous ignorance of the unique military, tactical, and political aspects of the terrorist threat, and breeds a dangerous and chaotic foreign policy which has only served to put our nation in greater danger.

Back in the 6th century BC, in his classic, The Art of War, Sun Tsu observed, "Know your enemy, and in a thousand battles you will not be defeated." Sadly, our current Commander-in-Chief ignores the Chinese grand master's lesson, and actively eschews the acquisition of useful knowledge about our terrorist enemy. After the 9/11 Commission found that the CIA and FBI could have prevented the attacks of September 11th, had they only more effectively shared and communicated their intelligence to the White House, the Bush Administration could have ensured a dynamic and efficient system of American intelligence simply by reforming and/or streamlining the two agencies. Instead, the Administration did nothing to improve either agency, instead creating an entirely new government agency, the Department of Homeland Security, whose most obvious contribution to homeland security to date is a puerile, and now universally-ignored, color-coded Alert Level system.

Not surprisingly, the enhanced state of perpetual ignorance within America's intelligence community quickly took its toll, proceeding to deliver terribly flawed pre-war intelligence to the White House, which then spawned an utterly disastrous occupation of Iraq. All of this, of course, was in addition to our continued inability to capture, or even locate, America's Public Enemy 1, Osama bin Laden. Sun Tsu is rolling in his grave.

The atrocious ignorance continues with the Administration's inability to grasp the fundamental distinction between fighting terrorists and fighting enemy nation-states. In the wars of yesteryear, an enemy nation had a standing army, a native population, static boundaries, and permanent institutions, all of which helped to create an enemy who could be effectively destroyed with a sustained military campaign. But the problem with terrorists, unlike nationals of a belligerent foreign nation, is that they are not a permanent, distinct class. Terrorists are recruited, shaped, molded and trained by underground organizations, usually working without state sanction, and thus there is no fixed stock of "enemy combatants" capable of comprehensive military liquidation. As William F. Buckley, Jr. brilliantly observed, "Individual terrorists were, only yesterday, engaged in ordinary occupations, shocking friends and family when they struck as terrorists." Victory, then, will be achieved not with a specific death toll or geographic occupation, but by ensuring that Islamofascism remains a detested minority in every country in which it hopes to gain support. Victory is depriving the Islamofascists the ideological fuel with which they recruit the ordinary citizens to join the ranks of the jihad.

Terrorism itself is only a tactic of violence; it finds its roots in an ideology and thus cannot be defeated by military might alone. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelan, founded in 1975 in Sri Lanka as the first terrorist organization to make widespread use of suicide bombing, are amazingly still blowing themselves up as part of their independence movement there (talk about dedication!), simply because they are still not independent from Sri Lanka, and thus can still recruit their martyrs with an effective narrative of foreign oppression and victimization. The near-infinite willingness of a people to willingly slaughter themselves in an ideological protest against foreign occupation has been confirmed over and over, from the Algerian resistance to French occupation, to America's own experience in Vietnam.

Unfortunately, most of the fuel for the global jihad is supplied by current American foreign policy in the Middle East. It is true, as some allege, that Islamists hate nearly every feature of Western society, from our politics to our culture, and as a result, it is easy to say that Islamic terrorism against America is a fait accompli stemming from a fanatical worldview that hates everything we stand for. But while Islamists indeed harbor grand visions of world empire under Allah, their delusions of global theocracy have been swirling around the Middle East ever since Muhammad began claiming his divinity; only recently did Islamic terrorism emerge as a dangerous threat to America. As late as the 1950s, Arab nations still sought out American mediation in their international disputes, respecting our independence and fairness, despite presumably still harboring atavistic religious hatred toward Our American Freedoms. Seven decades later, Uncle Sam is reviled like no one else in the world.

Libertarians, like Ron Paul, rightly point out that the difference between the good ol' days of respect for America and the current days of Death to America is a U.S. foreign policy of interference in the Middle East. Rudy Giuliani and his supporters would like to believe otherwise. But nothing is more devastating in the obliteration of Rudy G's arguments than the facts.

Back in 1998, Cato Institute scholar Ivan Eland had already been looking at the facts, and as a result, he had already begun to note the growing trend of America's terrorist threat, corresponding directly and invariably with American intervention into the Middle East. Unlike both Bush and Clinton, Eland was already keenly aware of al-Qaida, Hezbollah, and their growing threat to American interests. (If only Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney read the Cato Institute.) Here are some partial excerpts of his prescient work, from his 1998 paper Does U.S. Intervention Overseas Breed Terrorism? The Historical Record:

"July 2, 1915: The Senate reception room in the U.S. Capitol was damaged by a homemade bomb built by Erich Muenter, a former Harvard professor who was upset by sales of U.S. munitions to the Allies in World War I.”

"June 5, 1968: Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, former attorney general and senior policy adviser to President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan, who had grown up on the West Bank and regarded Kennedy as a collaborator with Israel.”

"March 1971: A bomb exploded in a U.S. Senate restroom, causing extensive damage. The bombing came at a time of rising opposition to U.S. policies in Vietnam.”

“November 4, 1979: Supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, capturing hostages that were not freed until January 1981. The embassy was captured as a protest against long-time U.S. support for the unpopular shah of Iran.”

"July 22, 1980: Ali Akbar Tabatabai, a former press counselor at the Iranian embassy in the United States during the shah's reign, was assassinated by the Islamic Guerrillas of America (IGA) after he had supplied U.S. officials with a manifesto of the IGA that advocated strategically planned terrorism on U.S. soil and assassinations of U.S. officials, stating, "Any American can be targeted . . . no American is innocent . . . as long as U.S. foreign policies are to the detriment of the Islamic community."

"April 8 and October 23, 1983: Islamic militants, funded by Iran and supported by Syria, suicide bombed the U.S. embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 290 people and wounding 200 more. The attack remains the deadliest post-World War II attack on Americans overseas. The Americans were supporting the Christian government in Lebanon against the Muslim militias by training and arming the Lebanese National Army. The U.S. Marines were later withdrawn from Beirut, prompting a Hezbollah spokesman to brag that the $martyrs! had finally forced the Marines out of Lebanon.”

"April 5, 1986: Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi sponsored the bombing of the La Belle nightclub in West Berlin, which was frequented by U.S. servicemen. The United States retaliated for the La Belle bombing with air strikes against Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya.” "In retaliation for the U.S. air strikes on Libya, an American hostage in Lebanon was sold to Libya and executed; Libyans attempted to blow up the U.S. embassy in Lomé, Togo; a Libyan agent, Abu Nidal, hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan, killing several Americans; The Japanese Red Army, under contract from Abu Nidal, planted a bomb at the USO military club in Naples, Italy, on the two-year anniversary of the air strikes, killing five; and two Libyan agents bombed Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 people, 200 of whom were Americans.”

"March 10, 1989: A pipe bomb exploded beneath a van owned by the commander of the U.S.S. Vincennes, who had shot down an Iranian airliner over the Persian Gulf (killing 290 civilians) during U.S. participation in the $tanker war! against Iran.” "March 12, 1991: During the Gulf War, a U.S. Air Force sergeant was blown up by a remotecontrolled bomb placed at the entrance of his residence in Athens, Greece. $November 17!, the deadliest terrorist group in Greece, November 17, which attacks U.S. targets because of American imperialism-nationalism!, claimed responsibility for the attack.”

"February 26, 1993: A group of Islamic terrorists detonated a massive van bomb in the garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. The Egyptian perpetrators were trying to kill 250,000 people by collapsing the towers. Ramzi Yousef, the leader of the terrorists, said the intent was to inflict Hiroshima-like casualties to punish the United States for its foreign policy toward the Middle East. The perpetrators considered augmenting the explosion with radiological or chemical agents that would have increased the casualties.”

"April 15, 1993: Seventeen Iraqis were arrested as part of government plot to assassinate former president George Bush on a visit to Kuwait, in retaliation for the Gulf War against Iraq.”

"June 1993: Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman--a militant Egyptian cleric--and other radical Muslims conspired to destroy several New York landmarks on the same day. Funding for the operation apparently came from Iran and was funneled through Sudan, attempting to punish the United States for its policies toward the Middle East.”

"October 3, 1993: Osama bin Laden's operatives trained Somali tribesmen who conducted ambushes of U.S. peacekeeping forces in Somalia in support of clan leader Mohamed Farah Aideed, causing the death of 18 American Army Rangers, and the dragging of dead American soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu. An indictment of his followers alleged the United States--an $infidel nation!--had a nefarious plot to occupy Islamic countries, as demonstrated by its involvement in the peacekeeping operation in Somalia and the Persian Gulf War. The incident led to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Somalia, which bin Laden called his group's greatest triumph.”

"November 13, 1995: A car bombing of a military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--which housed a U.S. military advisory group--killed 7 people (including 5 Americans) and wounded 42 others. Muslim militants seeking to topple the Saudi monarchy and push the "infidel" United States out of Saudi Arabia carried out the bombings. Three groups, including the Islamic Movement for Change, claimed responsibility. U.S. officials suspect that Osama bin Laden was involved...."

We can fill in the rest. Years later, 9/11 ushered in the modern War on Terrorism, and Mr. Bush, with characteristic ignorance of the documented connection between American aggression in the Middle East and Islamic terrorism against America, only further augmented interventionist U.S. foreign policy. That the Bush Doctrine's geopolitical social engineering, especially in Iraq, has been such an unqualified failure is not a surprise to anyone who has read this article thus far.

Another obvious problem with the Bush Doctrine and its exportation of Democracy is that nearly every Arab Muslim lives in a Non- Democracy, and thus America's grand experiment looks, from the perspective of the common man, to simply be imperialist meddling with his local government. The Bush Doctrine, even if it somehow succeeded (i.e. when the "fight is won," perhaps), would only guarantee a Pyrrhic victory at best. With every terrorist mastermind captured in Iraq, dozens of martyrs sign up to avenge his death and battle the American Empire. Iraq itself wasn't even a haven for al-Qaida operatives until after America invaded it. While bin Laden, confirmed murderer of American civilians, roams the globe free, Mr. Bush is pleased that we've killed terrorist al- Zarqawi, whose horrific and disgusting attacks were all against America's presence in Iraq, never threatening continental America itself. The Bush Administration, it seems, is really only successful at capturing terrorists of its own creation. Sadly, U.S. interventionism Iraq itself wasn't even a haven for al-Qaida operatives until after America invaded it. The Bush Administration, it seems, is really only successful at capturing terrorists of its own creation.

Sadly, U.S. interventionism (Operation Terrorist Creation) is not limited to the occupation of Iraq. The CIA and NSA continue to interfere in the political affairs of various nations the world over, funding, training and assisting various anti-Islamic movements and governments, from the Caspian Sea to the Horn of Africa.

While such action may excite the intellectual tribalists in the neoconservative movement, the problem with such meddling is that the CIA-backed alternatives to Islamism, just like the CIAbacked alternatives to Communism, tend to usually be brutal nationalist dictators or military juntas, and are just as bad, or worse, than Islamism for the people we are supposedly "liberating." As a result, our intervention only enhances political oppression, civil unrest and poverty, which, studies show, then only serves as a breeding ground for Islamic extremism. The whole nasty process only further convinces the Islamic diaspora that America is waging a war on Islam. This is not how to win the hearts and minds of the world's people.

Our current policy, in its blind aggression and geopolitical ignorance, purports to fight terrorists "where they are making their stand," but it only serves to make them more effective and numerous. Thanks to the Bush Doctrine, radical clerics, government bankrollers, and their potential recruits can now all observe a visible military and political occupation to justify their ongoing resistance against the Great Satan. In these backward societies deprived of freedom of information and thought, radical Islamofascist rhetoric, combined with clear evidence of American global occupation, is sadly enough for terrorists to gain alarming popular traction, financial support, and willing martyrs. This mobilization of terrorists, potentially creating hundreds of thousands of jihadists, if America's belligerent foreign policy continues apace, is becoming the greatest threat the United States of America faces.

In intelligent recognition of this reality, America should immediately repudiate the Bush Doctrine and pursue a policy of intelligent disengagement. First, those terrorists and organizations which have committed or planned acts of aggression against the United States, such as al-Qaida, should be pursued with vigor; this is our most important mission and should be treated as such. Second, America must cease all nation-building, internal interference, and general military interventionism in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, in order to deprive terrorists of their fuel for jihad. Regimes, organizations and groups who do not threaten direct harm to the United States should not be the target of any U.S. military campaign. As we've repeatedly argued, the occupation of Iraq should immediately end.

As Americans, we all desire to win the war and to enjoy permanent security. But like Vietnam, Quebec, and Somalia, not all battles our government chooses to fight are winning ones; and like My Lai, Manzanar, and the Bay of Pigs, not all tactics our military prefers are desirable. An extension of that nugget of common sense dictates that as long as U.S. foreign policy glorifies the imperialist fallacies of neoconservatism, we libertarians will continue to rightly inveigh against it.

The Bush Administration's blind allegiance to aggression over knowledge perverts not only the lessons of Sun Tsu, but also the American Founders' original vision of a nation seeking only peaceful trading ties, the avoidance of entangling political alliances, and a national defense to respond powerfully only when directly provoked. The authentic patriot believes in these true American principles of intelligent self-defense, and knows that they alone can safely guide our nation through these troubled and dangerous times.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/how-america039s-foreign-policy-is-making-the-us-less-safe-in-the-war-on-terrorism-1849437.html

About the Author

The author of The American Evolution, Matt Harrison is the founder and executive director of The Prometheus Institute, Los Angeles, CA, a nonprofit public policy institute. He has authored more than 200 articles, many of which can be found on www.ThePrometheusInstitute.org, has been a guest on several talk radio shows, and a guest blogger for CNN.    Harrison earned a BBA in political science from University of Miami and has completed requirements on his law degree and master of public policy degree from the University of Southern California.

The Prometheus Institute is a public policy organization dedicated to discovering independent policy solutions to reduce the burden of government on the people, and creatively marketing these ideas to the lay public of the United States, in order to create the political demand for positive change.

World News : Protests and Bombings in Thailand - Government is demanded to resign

       The political tension in Thailand seems to increase with the last bombings in Bangkok in which nearly 30 people injured and nearly 8 people have died since the beginning of the crisis.The protesters aim the resignation of the government headed by Prime Minister Yingluck  Shinawatra.

       The protesters, numbered as 100 thousand people in Bangkok  streets claim PM Yingluck is influenced by former Prime Minister and and her brother Thaksin Shinawatra who was deposed by military coup d’etat in 2006 because of the corruption in his goverment and was sentenced to two years.

      Yingluck  Shinawatra accepted to call elections on February however this announcements seems not to decrease the tension. The protesters and the opposition, Democrat Party boycotting the polls and aim to see the government resing and Yingluck to leave the country. The other main actor in Thai politics, Thai Army, who realized a succesfull coup d’etat in 2006, is wondered whether it will intervene in the crisis or not. Lastly the government has announced state of emergency for 60 days.