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Flying Pigs Over Lebanon



There is something strange going on when Israel bombs an Arab country and half the Arab world seems to be condemning the Arab side. Indeed there's more criticism being directed at Israel from Europe with the usual socialist suspects wailing and tearing their clothes, then there is from the Arab world.

Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have issued statements critical of Hizbullah. Even Saddam got in the act warning Syria that its ties with Iran might lead it to disaster. While the media glorifies Hizbullah, the rest of the Arab world is turning its back. So why are pigs flying over Lebanon?

Some would interpret this as an acknowledgment of Israel's show of strength but Israel hasn't shown all that much strength and while Egypt and Jordan would generally want to avoid a regional war, after all both of them signed peace treaties with Israel on recognizing that fighting wars with Israel was pointless; Saudi Arabia is certainly not in that category, let alone Saddam.

It would be more accurate to say that a lot of Arab regimes are turning on Iran's proxies like Hizbullah, because America and Israel have failed to stop them. Arab regimes have traditionally dealt with internal frustrations and Islamic and Marxist terrorist organizations by redirecting them at the two biggest targets, America and Israel. Arab governments happily fund and support terrorist organizations as long as they do their work elsewhere and channel their homicidal anger at Americans and Jews.

Besides Islamic ideology, homicidal xenophobia, injured pride and the usual anti-semitism; the advantage of directing terrorists at America and Israel is that they're targets powerful enough that the terrorists can't win. So in reality Arab governments really redirect the organizations and people that might otherwise cause them trouble into attacking America and Israel which are expected to squash them or at least bog them down, so they never succeed and begin causing trouble at home; all the while distracting America and Israel from causing them problems. It's a little like sending a rabid dog to bite a a police car. It distracts both the police and the dog and keeps them both away from you.

This strategy began to fail after 9/11 when the terrorists overreached themselves and America brought the war home to the middle-east along with a load of half-baked ideas about democratic reforms and free elections. Years later Iraq is a boiling pot, Egypt has been forced to give ground to the Islamists, Lebanon is in turmoil, Hamas is in power, Iran is on the verge of an atomic bomb. Al Queda is now raging in Arab countries and Shiite vs Sunni conflicts are expanding beyond Iraq and even beyond the middle-east. America did not succeed in repairing the problems of the middle-east but did introduce just enough chaos into the equation to frighten the existing Arab governments who can no longer count on the old status quo. They're not in control anymore and it scares them because most of them are little more than a house of cards built on an internal secret service and oil money.

This month Hezbollah overreached itself much as Al Queda had on September 11th, attacking Israel and producing a large scale response. It's fun and games when Israeli buses are blown up. It's not fun and games anymore when Israel is bombing Beirut, not because anyone in the Arab world cares about Lebanese civilians, but because it introduces more chaos into the equation. Worse yet it appears to be strengthening Iran and moving towards a massively destructive showdown and no one in the Arab world wants that.

A key qualification for leadership in the Arab world has been the destruction of Israel. Both Egypt's Nasser and Iraq's Saddam, who had dreams of leading the Arab world, made their attempts. It's clearly Iran's turn now but no one outside Iran, wants Iran in that position. Up until now the Arab world supported Iran against America as a fellow Muslim state, all the while expecting and hoping that America and Israel would stop Iran. The Arab states would have fought it all the way while providing some aid covertly and then signed million dollar checks to the terrorists who would 'avenge' Iran. These layers of hypocrisy are commonplace in middle-eastern politics which are ultimately motivated not by religion but by tribalistic nationalism and the egos of local tyrants.

But America is increasingly showing that it isn't going to deal with Iran in the usual unilateral way that would have both outraged and gratified the Arab world. Instead America twiddles its thumbs. Israel, the last best hope of the Arab world, rather than attacking Iran is bogged down in a military campaign with an Iranian proxy. Iran is moving closer to the atom bomb which can just as easily threaten the Egyptians or Saudis as the Israelis with. As a result the Arab states have stopped playing coy and are openly signaling that they will support American or Israeli action against Iran. They're not usually this desperate but then they never had to be before.

The message is not only intended for America and Israel but for Iran as well, warning Ahmadinejad that he is going too far and will face not only America and Israel, but their opposition as well. The Sunni-Shiite conflict generated by the overthrow of Saddam and the lack of a stable Iraqi government has opened a can of worms that has made every Arab government with a Shiite minority frightened of the specter of civil war.

In its backing of Hezbollah, the campaign against Israel is secondary in the eyes of the Arab world, to the campaign against Lebanon. Where Westerners see Iran backing a campaign against Israel, the Arab world sees Iran leveraging a Shiite minority and providing them with weapons and training that can just as easily and will be used against Lebanon itself. When Hezbollah was merely a proxy for fighting Israel under Syria's rule, it was business as usual in the Middle East where terrorist groups and militias are regularly used that way. Particularly in Lebanon. But in the reality post-9/11 and post-Syria's withdrawal, Hezbollah becomes an explicitly religious Shiite tool of Iran expanding its influence directly into Egypt and Jordan's neighborhood while conducting a takeover of Iraq.

Iran has gotten too big, too fast and the Arab world increasingly doesn't want any part of it. They do not want an Iranian empire that encompasses Iraq and Lebanon backed with huge reserves of oil and nuclear weapons and holding the status of having defeated Israel and America, because such an entity would soon swallow them all. They most certainly do not want a regional Sunni-Shiite war that will tear apart the entire region. And so the Arab world is winking at Israel's campaign to send a message that Iran is alone, except for the increasingly nervous Syria and the psychotic mess of Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.

The Arab world is scared and it should be. It's time for America and Israel to get that message.

Comments

  1. Anonymous19/7/06

    Brilliant analysis!

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  2. If only the arabs would break out in war and completely exterminate each other. Imagine a world without them! Makes me want to order a flying pizza and celebrate! :]

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  3. Very, very interesting POV. For some reason, MSM gets so bogged down in the minute details of Israel and Lebanon, that they never address the larger issues. Thanks.

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  4. the MSM mostly doesn't grasp the larger issues

    after we're talking about an MSM where Dan Rather arrived at the Temple Mount and asked what he was looking at

    MSM will rely on biased left wing analysts with an axe to grind occasionally but mostly they get by on crude talking points

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  5. flying pizzas for everyone!

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  6. Anonymous19/7/06

    Great take on things over there. I wish the MSM would do a better job of explaining the entire situation. Some one asked me today why we as Americans should care about what happens to Israel. I replied that we have a moral obligation to Israel...we strong- armed many pro-partition votes in the UN back in 1948 so we stand as a parent to the modern nation of Israel. That made sense to the questioner....It's as good a reason as any.

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  7. You are the sultan of political commentary :)

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  8. Once again, perfect.
    You get right to the heart of all these matters.

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  9. I agree entirely.

    One thing I've never quite grasped was why Iran initially at least only expressed concern for Syria, and not Lebanon. I know Syria is much closer geographically to Iran but as an Arab nation it seemed kind of callous that they didn't express more concern for Lebanon.

    In any event, they're right to be afraid of Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah have awakened a sleeping giant and proven that they're a force to be fearful of, that the gloves are off.

    Finally!

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  10. Sultan, you couldn't have said it better. It's nothing really new but you put it in a context that really explains to me what's going on. When US troops passed Shiite towns in Iraq and the Shiites were smiling and waving at them I did not trust their loyalty. And with them being tha majority population over the Sunnis I didn't trust them anyway knowing about what the Shiites have a hatred towards the Sunnis. Yes, I was in favor getting rid of Saddam as a supporter of terrorism as well as a tyrant. But once I knew about the makeup of Iraq I realized that even so extremely brutal Saddam had to be hard on the Shiites being a member of the minority group. But all the tribalism and so on is reflected in the book "The Peace To End All Peace" by David Fromk. What the British tried to do in Mesopotania is not different than what the US is trying to do. And the so called "Arab Revolt" of which T.E. Lawrence was in charge of wasn't all that it was made up to be. The difficult part was to get the tribes together to act in a united effort against the Ottoman Turks. Again, great article.

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  11. Oh by the way Sultan, I read about those Christians that pretend to be Jewlike. I forgot what they call them. They put Jews and Israel on such a high pedestal that if they do something that would be considered an affront to God they judge them more harshly than they would judge anyone else and therefor there is the danger of them becoming anti-semitic. No worry here. My focus on Israel is concerning God's plan for his chosen people and all the believers. But the word chosen means to me set apart/made holy from the nations to give an example of God treating Israel according to their deeds wether they turn to him or against him like under King Ahab and others... Therefor as Christians we apply that to our own lives whenever the Bible talks about the Israelites. And I may be wrong but are judged even more so because of the world having certain expectations of Christians. Why else do you often read about scandals where you question yourself wether that person or that group were really Christians or giving only the expression of being one.

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  12. Thanks SK:

    This is very cogent and well thought out. It is indeed unfortunate for those in Iraq who twice (at least now. . .maybe more) have trusted that American action would allow them to take a stance. . .only to have it all fall apart.

    Of course this time, their own bigotry is at least partly to blame. . .fascinating that Muslims are frequent killers of other Muslims.

    Chris Tune

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