The pipsqueaks Nasrallah and Bashir will just have to be taken back down a couple of notches. Bruce http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=520 <http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=520&id=698251> &id=698251 The Price of the Question The war in Lebanon that was interrupted this week has changed the face of the Middle East. For millions of Arabs, it has created a new superhero: Sheik Hassan Nasrollah. This is likely to be the war's most important result. For the majority of the inhabitants of the Arab world, the last few years have been horrendous. They have had nothing in which to take pride. Such is the makeup of a man, especially one who lives in a country with a low standard of living: he will endure poverty, instability, and regime changes, as long as he has his pride. Say, the victory of his favorite football team. Or better yet - victory in battle. When one has something to be proud of, it's easier to live.
This has long been the problem for Arabs. No victories - only endless defeats. All the former heroes have been toppled one after another. Saddam Hussein, unshaven and filthy, was dragged from his hole and put on public display. Yasser Arafat was put under house arrest, where he remained until right before his death. The elderly Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, was killed by rocket fire as he was coming out of a mosque. Osama bin Laden has holed up somewhere in the mountains of Afghanistan. In a word, not a single personage that those on the Arab streets could get behind has emerged from the clutches of the conquerors. Their fate has inspired sympathy for them, but not pride. The leaders of the Arab world have also done nothing to inspire the public: President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Jordanian King Abdullah II and his Saudi counterpart and namesake - not one of them has had the courage to criticize the West, even when their people waited for curses from them. And now Sheik Nasrollah has appeared. At first his chances of becoming a superhero seemed remote - but Israel has helped. Thanks to Israel, Hezbollah has become a powerful force: in 2000 Hassan Nasrollah claimed the withdraw of Israeli forces from Lebanon as a personal victory, and people believed him. Now Nasrollah has pulled the same stunt - and people are believing in him more and more, since this is, after all, his second victory. Sheik Nasrollah is the first Arab leader in many years who can declare, "we won!" The cost of his words is immaterial, as is the truth behind them. From this point on, he will become an authority and an example to be followed for many other Arab leaders and politicians. Sudanese President Omar Bashir, who is preparing for what is no longer his first year of a grab for the Darfur region's oil, has unquestionably gotten lucky. Without the war in Lebanon, the first clash in the Sudan would have gained comparison to Iraq, and Bashir would have been labeled a second Saddam. Now he is becoming a second Nasrollah, gathering millions of allies and followers throughout the Arab world who are ready to throw themselves into battle in Sudan to fight for his right to Darfur's oil. It is clear that the demarch? made by the Sudanese leader will not be the last. With its operations in Lebanon, Israel has opened Pandora's box. This war has shown that the anger of the West is not crippling, that it is possible and necessary to fight with the West, and that the survival of a leader means victory over the West - regardless of how many other people perish. Such leaders have already used this recipe many times before. Mikhail Zygar [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
