Memri has a sampling of Middle East reaction to Nancy Pelosi’s “peace through collaboration” mission.
Columnist Muhammad ‘Ali Boza wrote in the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra that Pelosi’s visit was “an important turning point in American public policy, on the level of the street and public opinion, which has begun to act as a pressure on [the government] and to understand – even if belatedly – the severity of the damage that the official policy of the new Republicans [sic] has caused…
“There is no doubt that the diplomacy of dialogue and negotiations with Syria, and listening to the Syrian position on the burning subjects and the numerous issues relating to the region and the conflict, are recognition of the importance and centrality of the Syrian role, and [recognition] that it is impossible to ignore it and leap over it, and that it would be absurd to put forward plans or solutions to which Syria does not agree, and which are not in keeping with Syria’s fundamental national and pan-Arab principles…”
Some are not so thrilled.
“The only result that Pelosi achieved in visiting Damascus, and in sitting down with the Syrian president and shaking his hand, was to deliver a blow to the liberal opposition in Syria and frustrate reformists’ hopes for change. By breaking through the ring of isolation [surrounding] Bashar Assad’s regime, Syria advanced [several] steps towards repression and despotism, and the march of reform and democracy fell behind.
“Is it any secret that the Syrian regime supports terrorism and is the prime suspect in being behind the… Hariri assassination and the assassinations of a number of other Lebanese journalists and politicians?
“Is it any secret that the Syrian regime is one of the most vicious of regimes, and one of the most repressive, in the region…?
“Perhaps Pelosi did not know… that during her visit to Damascus, this regime was specializing in torturing Syrian oppositionists – among them Kamal Al-Labwani, the founder of the Liberal Democratic Rally in Syria…
Considering the fury they unleashed over the case of Maher Arar, expect loud condemnation of Speaker Pelosi from members of the Canadian left – any day now.
NOT
It gets even crazier (could anybody be crazier than Canadian Liberals?)
The Egyptian opposition daily Al-Masryoon reported that high-level diplomatic sources said that Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Muhammad Mahdi ‘Akef, several members of his office, and Muslim Brotherhood MPs had been invited by U.S. Democrat congressmen to visit the U.S. next month and to speak to Congress.
(From LGF)
(Senator) Lantos said that for more than a decade, he has been trying to obtain a visa to visit Tehran with the help of former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan — and to date neither he nor any other member of Congress has been successful.
Pelosi said that throughout the congressional delegation’s recent Middle East trip, “every place we went we had a constant message: the safety and security of Israel, fighting terrorism.”
”There was, of course, a shadow over all of it, Iran: Iran’s support of terrorist groups is something that must be stopped,” she said. “Iran’s quest for a nuclear weapon is something that must not happen and we must stop them with the strongest of diplomatic measures.”
Lantos noted that ”with the speaker’s support,” he has co-sponsored legislation in the House that calls for making available to all countries — including Iran — nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes under international oversight by establishing a “nuclear fuel bank.”
“So if the Iranian president says that he is developing (nuclear material) for peaceful purposes, we are assisting him in that process,” said Lantos, who anticipated the legislation could pass as early as May.
Headscarf diplomacy? Here it is. This “Professor” declared a “wear a hijab day at McMaster U.
Some of the students took exception to it.
Notice how the article posted on the local radio station makes no mention of the reason for the reaction?
” Dr. Peter George calls it offensive to not only the intended target, but also to the spirit and values of the University….
The McMaster University President and Vice Chancellor is speaking out following the spray painting of what call hate-biased graffiti, on the door of a school professor.
Dr. Muriel Walker’s door was lambasted with an obscene sexual reference to Osama bin Laden and a derogatory remark about Muslim women.
She recently organized a celebration of diversity on the campus.
Dr. Peter George says groups at McMaster have a strong tradition of debating issues in the middle east and notes the groups often engage each other in active discussions.
He adds he doesn’t know what it takes for somebody to go beyond active discussion and engagement, to doing something like what was done to Dr. Walker’s door.
George says the obscenity of the act is almost beyond comprehension.
By the way, the obscenity was [DELETED – ED]
OT:
Stephane Dion, Dear Leader of the “Arse is nearly out of ‘er” Liberal Party of Canada, is opting out of running a Liberal candidate in Peter MacKay’s riding, to give his new best friend and great admirer, Greeny Lizzy May a fighting chance.
Bear in mind Lizzy has been working on this for some time, calling Steffi a great leader and would make the best PM for Canada. Mr. wonderful on the environment file as well.
May they both live in interesting times.
Yep, Canada just paid Maher Arar $10.5 million so Nancy Pelosi could play a modern day “Neville Chamberlain”.
I am sure she took the time to inquire about the welfare of the late Mr. Hariri of Lebanon. Gee I wonder if the former Vice President of Syria is still sticking to his story that Assad was implicated in this little affair.
“Assad has repeatedly condemned the Hariri assassination. He strongly denies any Syrian involvement and has promised to extradite or punish anyone found guilty of participating in the conspiracy to kill Hariri. However, his former Vice President, Abdul Halim Khaddam, has accused him of being behind the operation. Assad has refused to be questioned himself or for other high-ranking Syrian officials to be questioned by the special UN prosecutor in connection to Hariri’s murder. In summation, the Hariri affair has proved the most pressing crisis for the Syrian government in decades, possibly since Hafez al-Assad seized power.”
More here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2579331.stm
Liberal Opposition to Assad’s regime? Its about as non-existent as its counterpart in Saddam-ruled Iraq was. Hafez and co. wiped out any semblence of a liberal opposition a long time ago. But it sure sounds good on paper eh -“liberal opposition”,”repressive regime”. So lets just act as if it was functioning brilliantly till Pelosi got there.
Syria also used to have a non-libral opposition, but the Assad’s have had few qualms about wiping them off the face off the earth. Yeah, the Assad’s go after muslim fanatics with a vengeance. But lets overlook that, what with Syria not exactly buying the Israeli line on, well, everything. Lets also ignore the fact that pan-Arabism is a brilliant way to keep a check on both Iran and the monarchists in Saudi Arabia. Pelosi knows that. Bush knows that. Bush cant talk to Syria – one of the downsides of going around using stupid terms like Axis of Evil. Pelosi can. Regardless of the public rhetoric being offered by the political parties, this visit has probably not been carried out without a degree of consensus in both political camps. Bush just has to be careful after overimplifying politics. You see, its very hard to talk to evil people in the middle of a war on terror.
The rest of it is true. Assad runs a despotic regime. It represses a lot of people. On the bright side, it ensures that no terrorist groups that can challenge it are allowed to operate out of it. I m sure they fund terrorists, but there are political reasons behind that and they can always turn the tap off. It wasnt long ago that the US funded the rise of the pre-deccessors of the al-Qaeda. It suited them. Right now it suits the Syrians. I dont see the big deal. Apart from the whole “Axis of Evil” thing.
As for Lebanon, well, Syria is hardly doing anything new. America openly intervened in its neighbours politics to secure its own interests. Whatever his capitalist credentials, Pinochet did rule a very repressive regime that would probably be on par with Assad’s. The US has no qualms about getting rid of anti-American leaders in its neighborhood – tried with Castro and Chavez, succeeded with Allende. And yet Syria is singled out for doing something that not only the US, but a number of countries have done. The Taliban, after all, came from Pakistan with Pakistani government approval. In other words, they were installed, though I doubt any of you gave a damn till September 11th. Ease up with the self-righteousness on Lebanon. Its an old game, played by everyone.
And what a productive meeting that was too! This is what Zawahiri’s old friends in the Brotherhood told Pelosi and co:
“The solution is that the Jews should return to their original countries, return to the countries from which they came after the occupation of Palestine.”
[the full transcripts can be found via http://www.hotair.com]
Who benefits from such a meeting? Who gains stature? And who comes up with fleas?
Historically challenged revisionist dweebs take note:
Israel is the only Democratic state with governance by rule of law in the region.
The State Of Israel Came into being on 14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration) precursor to the UN.
Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. Subsequently, the Israelis defeated the Arabs in a series of wars without ending the deep tensions between the two sides. The territories Israel occupied since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel country profile, unless otherwise noted. On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Israel and Palestinian officials signed on 13 September 1993 a Declaration of Principles (also known as the “Oslo Accords”) guiding an interim period of Palestinian self-rule. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement. In April 2003, US President BUSH, working in conjunction with the EU, UN, and Russia – the “Quartet” – took the lead in laying out a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005, based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. However, progress toward a permanent status agreement was undermined by Israeli-Palestinian violence between September 2003 and February 2005. An Israeli-Palestinian agreement reached at Sharm al-Sheikh in February 2005, along with an internally-brokered Palestinian ceasefire, significantly reduced the violence. In the summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip, evacuating settlers and its military. The election of HAMAS in January 2006 to head the Palestinian Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Ehud OLMERT became prime minister in March 2006; following an Israeli military operation in Gaza in June-July 2006, he shelved plans to unilaterally evacuate from most of the West Bank. The kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Lebanese Hizballah led to a 34-day conflict in Lebanon in June-August 2006.
Israel has honoured EVERY treaty they signed UNTIL other parties breached those contracts ( Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, etc )
The Palestinians are NOT going to grant Israel peace under any circumstances and only an outright fool would think otherwise.
Syria and Iran continue to sponsor terrorist groups that have sworn to not only destroy Israel bu to attack and kill westerners … this means you asshats!
The only road to peace is to completely remove the military power and financial resources of the Syrians the Iranians and others.
The left does not care what any regime does as long as they are opposed to the US. That’s why the only dictator they ever complained about was Pinochet (Jeremiah chimed in right on cue). The Syrians have an additional advantage in that they are little brown people who cannot help themselves because of the Imperialism they have suffered at the hands of white people, and so cannot be judged for anything they do.
OMMAG
Thank you for your post. In future please use the enter key more often.
“pun”dit
I’m guessing that it’s easier to take over a populous country by force than by persuasion.
Its a good thing we did,nt have thse liberals back during WW II we would all be speaking german and have a dictator LIBERAL DEMACRATIC TRAITORS
randall g
“That’s why the only dictator they ever complained about was Pinochet (Jeremiah chimed in right on cue).”
Not true. Sadly most folk in this part of the world dont really pay attention to stuff thats not in the vicinity. Many dictators enjoyed US patronage.
Taiwan
South Korea
Philipines
Pakistan
Indonesia
A whole littany of Arab countries – Saudi Arabia being the most prominent.
And the list continues. Democracy has always been an afterthought, in American policy, and most certainly not their main goal.
“The Syrians have an additional advantage in that they are little brown people who cannot help themselves because of the Imperialism they have suffered at the hands of white people, and so cannot be judged for anything they do.’
I d hardly call them brown – they re pretty damn fair.
I would recommend looking up Syrian history though. Precolonial Syria is a hell of a lot larger than post-colonial Syria. A lot of syria was arbitrarily divided between the imperialists in the 19 th century etc. Let me know how you would feel if the British gave Canada “independence” while chopping the country up into the different provinces. I know you dont want to admit it, but there are many many many legitimate grievances against imperialsim. In fact, theres a reason it was abandoned.
Damn right Kate. Well done.
How “progressive” to start capitulating sycophancy with maniacal Stalinist regimes and validate the propaganda they spew about western decadece and weakness of resolve in confrontational global politics…how enlightened…how ground breaking…how disingenuous.
I will get flamed by the PCs but someone has to scream at Pelosi to get back to the kitchen where she belongs baking muffins…foreign policy with despots is best left to those with the stomach for it.
Transnational progressivism marches on making the world’s most despotic regimes into members of the global village happy gang…we give them money to love us, they give us immigrants/refugees.
The next person caught using profanity in my comments section will be banned. Frankly, I’m disgusted. I check two theads and I find crap like this in both of them, from people who know better.
WLMR said”foreign policy with despots is best left to those with the stomach for it.” I am not questioning why you said this,I just want to know who has the stomach for it in this world? Certainly not the West.
Kate..are you referring to the Osama thing? The poster who put that up was just informing us.Yes,it was rude and crude,but some people can only express themselves in those terms.Please give the rest of us credit for ignoring it as the “no response necassary” post it was.
Apologies all around if it was what I posted previously regarding the Osama obscenity. I was merely quoting it in context as the words appeared on a film clip on the local TV station ( CHTV Hamilton).
NO offense was intended. My apologies if it did indeed offend.
Rattfuc….I may be stepping way over the line here…but no apology needed.Since when did we have to apologize for saying what is the truth? This is the problem with todays society.Speak the truth and be held up in scorn for doing so.You simply put up what was on the general MSM market. No crime there.
The left sucks,and only wimps who are still sucking off of the nanny tit so it is not so.
You’re stepping over the line. I (or the guest bloggers) make those calls. It’s pretty easy, you know? If in doubt, don’t use it.
Justthinkin, that was my original intent-quoting what appeared in the MSM. I certainly would not have used that phrase in normal communication and I put quotation marks around it to indicate it indeed was a quote. Nevertheless it appears it was the wrong thing to do in this instance and I stand by my apology if any offense was taken.
The reason I posted the item was to point out the reaction to a phrase written on the professor’s door as a result of her organizing a “everybody wear a hijab day” was way over the top. I believed knowing what the phrase was, was relevant to the story.
Kate(or guest bloggers)what is wrong with putting up the truth,good,bad,ugly,or otherwise? If I have offended,then I regret that.I come to this site because it seems to be open to all and any.That is something that is sadly missing at most other sites.
Kate,you and your guest bloggers run a superb site.Sometimes,however,things do show up that are not nice.That is the way of the human.Steppng back and looking at it,my fear is that you may start censoring who can and cannot say what they think or feel.Yes,that is your right on this blog.Again,if I have offended,my apology.
Sometimes the truth hurts,and I may not be literate enough to get my point across,but isn’t that the point of this blog? To allow even us nitwits our say? And yes,our say without slander or vulgarties
Darn.Lets get myself in real doodoo.As Kate would say…This is just the voice
of an ordinary Canadian
yelling back at the radio –
“You don’t speak for me.”
I stand by rattfuc.It was not something any “normal” person would say,but it was in context to the posting.Would I,rattfuc,or yourself use this phrase? Odds are no.But it was used.So be it.
As an ex-military,I WILL DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOU MAY SAY,BUT I WILL ALSO DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT..PER ARDUA AD ASTRA
I have too much respect for this site to continue the argument. Suffice it to say that I didn’t intend to cause such a contraversy by posting what I did.
I applaud your reasons for defending it, however it is over.
End of story.
Rattfuc-Out.