Munaeem's Blog

Iranian President has offered a security agreement to the GGC monarchies. He told these monarchies that we should try to bring peace in the region without the foreign intervention.

The presence of Mr. Ahmedinejad at the Gulf Cooperation Council indicates that these monarchies are weary of the way the US is handling the Middle East situation. Now they want to solve the problem with mutual discussion and agreement.

Prime Olmert made a demand that Palestinian negotiating partners must the recognize Jewish State.I think his demand is legitimate. Palestinian will have to accept that state of Israeli is a reality.

Once again Palestinian leaders have responded in their typical arrogant attitude. They said that the Palestinians will never acknowledge Israel’s Jewish identity.

It looks Palestinian leaders want to kept them under perpetual miseries so they can exploit for their gains.

It looks the Washington's policies are alienating their Arab allies. They are leaning towards Russia.

Saudi Arabia , traditionally the most loyal client of western defense contractors plan to buy helicopters and other things from Russia. It is reported that Russian government's arm exporting agency , RosoboronExport is finalizing deals with Arab countries.

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday lambasted Columbia University in New York for hosting Iran's president. He compared the event to attempts to engage Adolf Hitler in dialogue before World War Two.

Instead of lecturing others to correct their behaviors, Israelis should learn to behave themselves. There is no doubt that Ahmadinejad is a "petty and cruel dictator". But Israelis are oppressor, occupier and tyrant too.

They ignored all UN resolutions. They are oppressing Palestinian people. They are denying them their legitimate rights.

Once again US have hurled accusations at Iran that It is supply weapons to insurgents in Iraq. US military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox said Iran was Iran smuggling advanced weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, into Iraq.

We know that US do not have any evidence to prove it’s allegations. Its own officials have said many times that they do have any evidence to prove that.

What is the motive behind all this actions?

In my opinion, the US wants to put pressure on the Sunni dictators to keep them under its influence. US foreign policy in the Middle East is benefiting the extremist in the Middle East. 

Arab World two most undemocratic countries have asked UN nuclear watchdog to pass a resolution condemning Israel for possessing nuclear weapons. They insist that the Jewish state does have such weapons and is a danger to peace and stability in the Middle East.

Instead of wasting time in confrontation with the Jewish states, Egypt and Syria should try to bring reforms in their country. Israel is not a threat to the Middle East. This dictators use Israel as a pretext to prolong their rule.

Saudi Arabia was awarded a contract called Project Salam, or al-Salam, meaning “peace”, to BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company. BAE Systems will supply 72 Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia. The deal is £4.4 billion pound.

There is no doubt this deal good for the aerospace industry and the wider UK economy. But Critics, say the government has put commercial interest before ethics and had given in to Saudi blackmail.

The Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had dropped a probe last year into a sale of jets to the Saudis in the 1980s under Saudi threat.

The SFO investigation revealed that BAE secretly transferred more than $2bn (£1bn) to Prince Bander's account.

It is also worth mentioning that Britain’s arms export guidelines say sales should not be approved for countries which abuse human rights.

Saudi Arabia

UK

Politics

World

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana visited Israel and the Palestinian territories on Saturday to discuss the latest developments in the region before talks between European Union foreign ministers next week.

While the world is trying to revive Middle East peace talks with the Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli television's Channel 10 revealed that the Israeli army Southern Command had completed intensive training exercises for a huge military campaign in Gaza.

It is shocking to know that Fatah officials in Ramallah have asked Washington to persuade the Olmert government to press ahead with such an offensive.

In my opinion, Israel action will further aggravate the Middle East situation and strengthen the hands of extremists in the region.

via Newsweek :

Engaging the Palestinians means engaging Gaza and Hamas. Fatah has been drained of credibility as a negotiating partner, and no amount of money and attention poured in from North America or Europe will compensate for that. Blair must therefore convince his Western colleagues that sticking to old patterns has become unrealistic. Supporting Fatah just because it recognizes Israel suffers from a fundamental flaw: the movement is corrupt and unelected and has been rejected by the majority of Palestinians. It will never alone represent enough of Palestine to strike a lasting settlement with Israel.

That's not to suggest it will be easy to work with Hamas, a hard-line group with a history of violence. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's statehood as a precondition for negotiations (something the Israelis and Americans have insisted on). But Hamas is a political-grievance-based entity—not an ideological one. This truth has been overlooked in the West. Faced with the prospect that its main grievance—the dispossession of the Palestinian people—could eventually be removed and a viable Palestinian state established, Hamas might finally recognize that no settlement is possible unless Israeli security gets the same priority as justice for the Palestinians. At the very least, this avenue should be properly tested before it is rejected. Direct engagement could leave a bitter taste in many mouths, but it would still be preferable to despair and violence.

The United States is looking to sell $US 20 BLN worth of arms to its allies in the Persian Gulf. The move to strengthen their support in the region is believed to be aimed at Iran, which the U.S. believes is developing a nuclear weapons programme.

The diplomatic charm offensive turned out to be an offensive and expensive sham. The Middle East challenge for the U.S. is how to prevent an Iraqi domino effect across the region. And the $US 63 BLN high-explosives package offered to the Gulf neighbours is neither diplomatic nor charming. As a binary weapon in the Israeli/Arab stand-off, it could escalate the bilateral arms race and ignite the Gulf beyond all recognition.

No doubt, this is the most impressive promotional campaign yet for the U.S. arms dealers. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, '40 U.S. firms accounted for the 63 % of the combined Top 100 arms sales of $ YS 290 BLN in 2005'.

Business wise, this is a pre-emptive strike against Chinese and Russian competitors. It is also a guerrilla marketing operation to Iranian influence - to offer an antidote and insurance policy against it.

Financially, it may look exorbitant, compared to U.S. aid to Palestine or even Afghanistan, not to mention funding the wars against drugs and poverty. If you look at the estimated $US 1 TLN price tag of the Iraq war, the $US 63 BLN weapons package seems like peanuts. It would be much less expensive and more efficient to channel the money through the Millennium Challenge Corp. to promote a corruption-free market economy.

Policy wise, the initiative is a fallback from promoting democracy to restoring stability and status quo in the Middle East. In Cold War times, it was dubbed 'strategic consensus' against the Soviets.

Strategically, it's a bet on pitching Sunni against Shiites along the divide and rule maxim. However, this approach seems wildly miscalculated and will likely backfire eventually. This stratagem overestimated the fear factor ability to solidify the Arab/Israeli united front against Iran. It also underestimates their mutual distrust aggravated by the Palestinian issue. Saudi/American suspicions, recriminations, and plausible denials regarding the aiding and abetting to self-proclaimed jihadists can jinx this new alliance altogether.

"They have their own problem with al-Qaeda at home. They're much more wary than they were when we both were helping to fund the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union," believes Gregory Gause, Associated professor of political science at Vermont University.

In politics, especially in the Middle-East, what the leaders say and what their people think sometimes can be opposite. Apply this litmus test to statements emanating from the Gulf capitals, and you might figure out who could be a genuine friend or foe in the fight against 'hashashiyyins'.

The stakes are high, but there's a hunch that the U.S. is betting on a Trojan horse. Iran's interests in Iraq are far more compatible with America's than meets the eye.

"Iranians don't see anything to be gained by Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq," suggests James Dobbins, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

Bush administration's paranoia about Iran could derail U.S. peace prospects in the Persian Gulf. As Secretary Gates said, 'that's in the eye of the beholder'.

Source : Russia Today 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates today start a key Middle East mission to seek Arab support for the Iraqi government and also discuss weapons sales to regional allies.

The secretaries of state and defense are making their trip at a time when America’s credibility in the Mideast has plummeted. The United States has failed to stabilize Iraq, destroy al-Qaida, pacify Lebanon, isolate Syria or bolster moderate Palestinians.

So far, U.S. support for Israel’s ill-fated war in Lebanon and its efforts to undermine radical groups such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon have borne little fruit. Along with its support for autocrats such as Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, such actions have undercut U.S. claims that it is championing Muslim democracy.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a news briefing in Washington on July 27 that a primary objective of the tour is to seek Arab support for Iraq.

They hope to persuade Iraq’s neighbors to help stabilize the country, to counter Iran’s growing ambitions and to try to get real movement on peace between Israel and the Palestinians. There is also an overarching aim: to reassure worried allies in the Middle East that despite its troubles in Iraq, the United States remains committed to the region.

In my opinion Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates face a tough assignment. Because Gulf states - particularly Saudi Arabia - have started to get nervous about Tehran's increasing influence in the Persian Gulf region.

Most Palestinians do not view Blair as an honest broker. I do agree with them. On his first visit after being named the Quartet’s envoy, he only beat about the bush. Instead of telling Israel from the occupied territories so that a Palestinian state could come into being.

He said : “I am just trying to have a sense of what’s happening here…”

This is from a leader who was actively involved in Middle Eastern affairs for his long 10 years in office and who in January 2003 called a conference in London to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Now, in his post-prime ministerial days, he is “trying to have a sense of what’s happening here.