Followers

Search This Blog

Monday, March 1, 2010

HAVE YOU BEEN FOOLED BY DOVES?

Monday, February 22, 2010
When It Comes to Analyzing the Middle East, We Live in the Age of Idiocy
Please subscribe and don't miss a single issue.

By Barry Rubin

After more than 30 years of watching people write dumb things about the Middle East, I believe that in the last month I've seen more nonsense than at any previous time. The problem arises from ignorance, lack of understanding of the region by those presented as experts; plus arrogance, treating the region and the lives of people as a game (Hey, let’s try this and see what happens!), fostered by the failure of such control mechanisms as a balanced debate and editing that rejects simplistic bias or stupidity; as well as a simple lack of logic.

To put it another way, I am reading material that simultaneously has no connection with the real world, is full of internal contradictions, and often seems deliberately tailored to misrepresent events in order to prove a false thesis. Fortunately, this stuff has not done actual damage in the real world--much of it has not been implemented in policy--yet but may in future.

As examples:

--The former director of for Gulf and South Asia affairs at President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council writes that al-Qaida will go away if a Palestinian state is created. (This article is so astonishingly bad in reshaping the facts and leaving out anything that proves the contrary point I kept thinking it was a forgery meant to discredit him. Alas, in these days people actually do write in this intellectually dishonest style all too often.)

--The most famous American columnist writing on the Middle East says the United States is responsible for radicalization in Saudi Arabia and Europe is to blame for Iran’s Islamist revolution;

--The New York Times publishes an op-ed by a U.S. Air Force analyst arguing that Iran getting nuclear weapons will be good for the U.S. position in the Middle East.

--France’s foreign minister in an interview explains that Israel's allegedly killing a Hamas terrorist in Dubai proves there must be a Palestinian state as fast as possible, regardless of whether Israel agrees, a bilateral peace treaty is made, or even that state’s boundaries are defined. Charmingly, he adds that he might be wrong, which suggests that if such a policy resulted in total disaster and a massive number of deaths he’d just give a Gallic shrug of the shoulders and say, “Tant pis.” (Too bad.)

--Numerous people who should know better, ranging from the president’s advisor on terrorism to the former senior director for transnational threats at the National Security Council, say Hizballah is now moderate even though it has not changed in any real way.

--A prestigious foreign policy blog carries an article from a professor at a Washington, DC, university calling for an end to any restrictions on imports by the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip despite its openly declared intention of commiting genocide, repression of its own people, and clear goal of returning to war as soon as possible because this will supposedly strengthen the hand of the Palestinian Authority government which Hamas is trying to overthrow.

What are the main themes being constantly purveyed? Blame America, blame Israel, blame the West, say that radicals are moderates, insist that making concessions and holding dialogues with ideologically-directed extremists will work, blocking serious discussion of the Islamist threat, refusing to recognize the unalterably aggressive intentions of the Iran-Syria bloc, arguing that radical states and movements will act in a "rational" manner by following Western conceptions of what is in their true interest rather than their own world view.

What themes are there no room for in the prestigious foreign affairs journals and newspapers, with rare exceptions?

--The strategic disaster for Western influence that would ensue if Iran got nuclear weapons even if it never fires them.

--Revolutionary Islamism doesn't exist mainly to get revenge on the West but to seize state power and transform their own societies.

--The fact that the Palestinian Authority neither desires nor is capable of making a comprehensive peace with Israel no matter what the West does.

--The specific things that Israel wants in a peace agreement and why it needs them.

--That Syria, for very solid interests of its own, will never break its alliance with Iran.

--The situation of Arab governments which want the United States to be tough against Iran, Syria, and the Islamists, and are rapidly losing faith that it will protect them.

--The steering of Turkey toward as much of an Islamist state as possible plus as close an alignment with Iran and Syria as posible by the regime there which pretends to be moderate but clearly is engaged in transforming the country..

--Most bad ideas, crises, radical movements, and conflicts in the Middle East are locally generated and not just reflections of wrong Western policies or misdeeds.

--The West can do only a very limited amount to solve the problems of the Middle East. Coming up with some clever gimmick, flattery, apology, concession, appeasement, or higher level of understanding isn't going to do it.

Should I link to each of the above-mentioned articles and refute them point by point? I’m not sure. On one hand, that would be intellectually and emotionally satisfying, but would it be worthwhile?

I don’t like spending time and space talking about how someone else is so silly, how we are deluged with far more people speaking stupidity from power than speaking truth to it. I can’t help but feel that it is better to use the chance to explain what's really going on and perhaps develop some accurate or useful ideas. But it is necessary to talk about some of the insanity just to give a sense of its all-encompassing scope.

Only events will teach these people anything, like the completely ignorant New York Times writer who had no experience in the Middle East whatsoever, became an apologist for the Iranian regime, and then was forced by the stolen election and subsequent repression to rethink his position.

Rudyard Kipling wrote (is it still acceptable to quote Kipling?):

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you….
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating….,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Kipling’s son of course was killed in World War One, which shows that no matter how well we perform we aren’t immune for suffering from the mistakes of others.

I rewrote it to suit modern circumstances:

IF you can accurate be when everyone with power
writes nonsense and blames conflicts just on you….
You rarely will be quoted or be published,
For speaking truth’s a foolish thing to do.
What’s most important are the views in fashion,
Repeating them makes certain your career.
Just hope that history justifies your passion,
The sole reward you’ll get, that’s what I fear.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). His new edited books include Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict and Crisis; Guide to Islamist Movements; Conflict and Insurgency in the Middle East; and The Muslim Brotherhood. To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books. To see or subscribe to his blog, Rubin Reports.
ShareThis

Links to this post

Rick's Café American: Israel Matzav: Alexander Haig was a friend ...
When I opened Twitter on Saturday night, I discovered several tweets announcing the death of Alexander Haig. My memories of him are largely as the Chief of Staff in the Nixon White House who coaxed President Nixon through his ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:50 PM
Rick's Café American: Israel Matzav: Another Israel critic seeks ...
Last Thursday, I wrote about a new phenomenon in which columnists who are critical of Israel seek to create the impression that those who oppose them are calling them anti-Semites, which they can then wear as a badge of honor and as a ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:47 PM
Rick's Café American: Israel Matzav: Britain gets a clue
Judge John Denniss said he hoped the sentences would be a deterrent against such violent protest. He said: “Such offences often involve young men such as you who are of otherwise of exemplary character. “But the sentences given must act ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:42 PM
Rick's Café American: Elder of Ziyon: "Israel has the right to ...
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:34 PM
Rick's Café American: Elder of Ziyon: Jordanian murderer gets ...
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:34 PM
Rick's Café American: Elder of Ziyon: Why peace is impossible ...
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:33 PM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: The New Israel Fund and ...
Gerald Steinberg Canadian JewishNews 18 February '10. Ma'ariv, one of Israel's mass-circulation dailies, recently featured a scathing condemnation of the New Israel Fund (NIF) for leading the political war to demonize Israel. ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:31 PM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: Signs of Change at Human ...
Frayda Leibtag OpEdNews.com 18 February '10. Changes at Human Rights Watch regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict are a good beginning, but the organization must do more to restore its reputation as a moral leader. :::::::: ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:28 PM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: Top UK military commander ...
Robin Shepherd Robin Shepherd Online 22 February '10. A rare voice of sanity in the British establishment, Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of UK forces in Afghanistan, has mounted another devastating defence of Israel. ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:27 PM
Rick's Café American: Arab Rioting Expands to Hevron - Defense ...
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:17 PM
Rick's Café American: Europe Puts Israel Under the Gun in Dubai ...
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:14 PM
Rick's Café American: Taliban on the Defense in Pakistan ...
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:13 PM
Rick's Café American: RonMossad: The sanction of the victim and ...
This post is the third part of a multi-part series on the stubborn habit of Jews to perpetuate situations where they are the victims of their own actions. If you haven't read Part I and Part II yet, I encourage you to check them out ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 7:09 PM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: The myth of Jewish self-hatred
Fresnozionism.org 22 February '10. Barry Rubin has a fascinating post (here) about recognizing antisemitism, and how so many otherwise smart people can't do it. Almost at the end he makes a significant point in an offhand way. ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:26 PM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: Ha'aretz's J Street ...
TS CAMERA/Snapshots 22 February '10. You got to give them points for consistency. Ha'aretz has systematically ignored substantive criticism of J Street's policies, methods and funding, and so it comes as no surprise that the paper ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:25 PM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: Checkpoint “misery ...
Meryl Yourish Yourish.com 21 February '10. This get-out-your-hankie story is the latest profile by the AP of the horrors the Palestinians have to go through—all, of course, caused by Israel. This one is an AP correspondent who spent a ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:23 PM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: Sderot--a return to normalcy?
Anav Silverman Sderot Media Center 17 February '10. Health professionals weigh in on the state of Sderot civilians post-Operation Cast Lead Although news reports have frequently described the situation in Sderot as back to normal-with ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:21 PM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: Palestinians complain: too ...
UN Watch 21 February '10. For the first time in the history of the UN Human Rights Council, the Palestinians are requesting to delay a UN report on Palestinian rights, saying there are too many. In an organizational meeting of the ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:19 PM
Rick's Café American: Sloppy Logic at the NIF
Here's an addendum to the NIF story we wasted too much time on a couple weeks ago. Eventually the NIF got around to publishing a rebuttal to the Im Tirzu report. You can download the full report here, but it's in Hebrew only - which is ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:14 PM
Rick's Café American: Journalism: Inventing a Story from Whole Cloth
Amira Hass has a story about how the Israeli authorities are building roads and roadblocks that will sever East Jerusalem from the West Bank. Set aside the matter that the evidence she offers doesn't lead to the conclusion, ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:12 PM
Rick's Café American: Lots of Kids
Yitta Schwartz, Holocaust survivor, has passed away in New York leaving some 2000 (two thousand) living descendants. The vagueness about the precise number is, I expect, the result of a superstition some Jews have about not counting ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:10 PM
Rick's Café American: Elder of Ziyon: Ma'ariv: Hamas trying to ...
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:09 PM
Rick's Café American: Elder of Ziyon: Another work accident in the ...
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:08 PM
Rick's Café American: We've Come From Far Off to Fight
We've come from far off, from all the exiles, from all the countries, from all the destructions, from all the suffering. We've come to our army, and we shall love it, for it is ours. We left home, we left a wife, parents, children, ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:04 PM
Rick's Café American: Jewish Thought of the Day - Wishes
When I was young, I wished for the day I would get my first bicycle. When I got my bicycle, I wished for my first car. Now I'm driving my 17th (and 18th) car. They're great, but they're getting to be expensive. ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 2:58 PM
Tundra Tabloids.......: BARRY RUBIN: THEY'RE IDIOTS I TELL YOU ...
The Tundra Tabloids shares Barry Rubin's sentiments about the nonsense being passed off as "analysis" by many of these so called "experts", who actually think that they have something of value to offer concerning the problems in the ...
Posted by KGS at February 22, 2010 10:54 AM
Simply Jews: Chief scientist vs Darwin
Education Ministry's chief scientist unhappy with evolution theory, doesn't agree to be a descendant of monkeys. As an argument offers his 20 years of Likud membership. Posted by SnoopyTheGoon at 22.2.10. Labels: Feh ...
Posted by SnoopyTheGoon at February 22, 2010 8:00 AM
Simply Jews: Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was a cheapo!
A Hamas leader assassinated during a visit to Dubai last month exposed himself to attack when he breached security protocol by talking about his trip over the phone and making hotel reservations on the Internet, the militant Islamic ...
Posted by SnoopyTheGoon at February 22, 2010 7:50 AM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: More free speech follies
Jonathan Rosenblum Think Again/JPost 19 February '10. Many on the Left employ a double standard concerning free speech. They want their own advocates immunized from criticism yet have an elaborate set of rules to disallow the speech of ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 4:20 AM
Rick's Café American: Israel Matzav: Overnight music video
Here's Lipa Schmeltzer at the annual Purim party of Yidel Mandel, the famous chassidic philanthropist of Williamsburg (New York). Yes, many of the guys are likely drunk.... Let's go to the videotape. ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 3:41 AM
Rick's Café American: Israel Matzav: Report: One Israeli has not ...
All but one of the British men whose identity was used have come forward to proclaim their innocence and Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called the use of fake British passports 'an outrage'. Residents of Kibbutz Givat Ha'shlosha, ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 2:41 AM
Rick's Café American: Elder of Ziyon: Arab op-ed slams PA corruption
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 1:47 AM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: Did Israel Just Acquire a ...
Israel's air force on Sunday introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and fly as far as the Persian Gulf, putting rival Iran within its range. The Heron TP drones have a wingspan of 86 feet ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 1:44 AM
Rick's Café American: Israel Matzav: Mossad trailed Mabhouh twice ...
Long-time readers know that I always warn you to take anything written by the Times of London's Uzi Mahnaimi with a grain of salt. This is because he tends to be sensationalist and because he has a clear political agenda. ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 1:40 AM
Rick's Café American: Israel Matzav: Cairo synagogue firebombed
The synagogue (which I still recognize from my trip there 30 years ago) in downtown Cairo was firebombed on Sunday morning. A 'bomb' was thrown across the street from a synagogue in Cairo. Officials described the bomb as a bag with ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 12:32 AM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: Learn To Deceive Hezbollah
Tariq Alhomayed Asharq Al-Awsat 21 February '10. The comments made by Ali Mekdad, a member of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc on the reactions of some of the March 14 Alliance leadership regarding the telephone call between the ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 12:30 AM
Rick's Café American: To Refute, not to Silence
The Andrew Sullivan-Leon Wieseltier spat is not particularly important, for all its going on for an entire week. However, Wieseltier's second installment contains some valuable linguistic distinctions that need to be understood and ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 12:27 AM
Rick's Café American: RubinReports: When It Comes to Analyzing the ...
Please subscribe and don't miss a single issue. By Barry Rubin After more than 30 years of watching people write dumb things about the Middle East, I believe that in the last month I've seen more nonsense than at any previous time. ...
Posted by JR at February 22, 2010 12:25 AM
Rick's Café American: Detective Comics Covers - 11 (# 147 to 161 ...
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 21, 2010 11:59 PM
Rick's Café American: Love of the Land: The bottom line on the ...
Stephanie Gutmann Telegraph.uk.com 20 February '10. Tom Gross has excellent stuff on reasons other nations may have been involved in the hit and also photographs of children killed by rockets that Israel believes Hamas operative Mahmoud ...
Posted by JR at February 21, 2010 11:21 PM
Rick's Café American: Elder of Ziyon: Thin Mint Open Thread
My Photo. J.R.: Lisbon, 14, Portugal: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for ...
Posted by JR at February 21, 2010 11:20 PM

Create a Link
Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Add to Technorati Favorites
To See More of Barry's Writings

*
o ▼ February (32)
+ Arabs Fear Iran As a Tidal Wave; The West Thinks I...
+ When It Comes to Analyzing the Middle East, We Liv...
+ How a Forgery—Not the Protocols—Shows Us Why So Ma...
+ How the Middle East (Often) Thinks: Logic is For T...
+ Why Naïve Westerners Constantly Exaggerate Middle ...
+ How Naïve Westerners Exaggerate Middle Eastern Mod...
+ Can the Obama Administration Take Out China from I...
+ Life in an American Fourth Grade: George Washingto...
+ News Flash: U.S. Names New Ambassador to Syria Jus...
+ U.S. Marks Anniversary of Syrian Terrorist Act Wit...
+ Saudis to Obama Administration: We’re Scared of Ir...
+ Why Isn't There Peace? One Reason: Few People Know...
+ NATO Kills Civilians Accidentally; President's Adv...
+ The U.S. Military Looks at the Middle East: Bows t...
+ Does the Obama Administration Define U.S. interest...
+ Obama Administration Whispers its Total Turnaround...
+ The Obama Administration's Three Gambles on Iran W...
+ The Reactionary Nature of "Progressive" Ideology: ...
+ New York Times Says: Time’s Up for Sanctions with ...
+ Life in an American Fourth Grade: All the Scientis...
+ MERIA Journal, New Issue Now Available
+ Benny Morris: Banned at Cambridge University Out o...
+ Defining “Victory” and “Peace”: How the U.S. and I...
+ Turning History Into a Politically Correct Cartoon...
+ That "Cost-Benefit" Thing: How U.S. Intelligence A...
+ Two EU Leaders: Complaints about Obama; Fought Aga...
+ Palestinian Prime Minister to Israeli Audience: Yo...
+ A Telling Detail from Iran: Islamist Regime Parall...
+ Articles from This Blog Translated into Spanish
+ Is America A Declining Power? Its Friends Think So...
+ How Can the U.S. Stop Iran's Nuclear Program if it...
+ Why Isn't There Peace? One Reason: Few People Know...
o ► January (39)
+ Answering Readers' Questions and Updates: Fatah an...
+ Suckered by Hamas and Hizballah: How the Media Int...
+ Scoop: Fatah's New Charter Shows Why Peace Won't H...
+ Scoop: How a "Leftist"-Islamist Alliance is Subver...
+ Obama’s State of the Union Message Tells Us Far Mo...
+ Governing Neo-Islamist Leaders Freak Out Over My C...
+ Political Secrets of the Middle East: Intimidation...
+ Middle East Politically Accurate Jokes, Part Two
+ A Lie Told About My Position on U.S. Iran Policy
+ An Appropriate Joke for the Middle East Peace Proc...
+ An Arab Liberal Explains What's Wrong and Dreams H...
+ Islam and Islamism: Are Extremists Hijackers, “Pro...
+ Free Speech is a Right, Not a Privilege Granted by...
+ The Obama Administration Learns the Basic Lesson o...
+ The Point of No Return: Clearly the Obama Administ...
+ How Textbooks Your Children are Using Distort the ...
+ The Decline of the Obama Administration: Massachus...
+ What the West and Middle East Could--and Aren't--L...

No comments:

Post a Comment