....worth a thousand think tank reports? Via al-Quds al-Arabi.
Comments
By the way, I don't suppose anyone noticed that Dulaimi of the Iraqi National Accord, Dhari, several armed groups(via messages), and big names in Saudi Islamist activism and from elsewhere met in Istanbul on Wed and Thurs, and there wasn't a word about it in the English language press? I was sort of hoping for some enlightening comment on the significance of the Saudi-activist/Iraqi-resistance connection, but it looks as if nobody read what I wrote about it either. I'm a little spooked
thanks for the heads-up. That's quite interesting. What do you make of this? To me it looks like a couple of peninsular Wahhabis try to get Iraqi Sunnis "understand the Shi'i/Persian threat."
Badger - I've been meaning to write about the Istanbul event but haven't had time even to notice whether it's being covered in the US press. I saw Dhari and Dulaimi on al-Jazeera, so it wasn't exactly a secret..
MSK--Maybe partly, but I think it is also the other way around. Recall that Dhari had been talking to other Arab governments (and presumably others like Awda et al) and that looked like the trigger for the whole arrest-warrant episode. He couldn't get the Arab governments to do anything, hence the hosting of this in Turkey. Also note Dhari's rebuttal (to the guy who hosted the "anti-Shia/Persian" statement of the 38). Dhari says no, this isn't racial-religious, this is political arising from the US occupation. And that is the whole tenor of the final statement (at least the way I read it). To me the meaning lies in the fact that the Iraqi resistance has succeeded in linking up to something here.
PS to MSK, AA & others: Istanbul kind of re-states the question the possibility or otherwise of unified national resistance, and in this connection I would like to recommend the historical essay by non-arab arab, particularly because of the way he de-constructs the whole US-media-promoted idea of inevitable, structural, Sunni-Shia antagonism. You might say it doesn't matter given the recent bad blood, but I say: Lets give analysis a chance.
yeah, I remember Dhari's attempts. And I didn't mean to imply that he, Dulaimi or the other Iraqis present fell for the "We Sunnis must fight the Persian threat" line. But if those kinds of non-Iraqis are the only ones willing to talk to & sponsor Sunni Arab Iraqis ... then soon enough Dhari et.al. won't have much choice.
As for the non-arab arab's article - I couldn't agree more. I keep having debates with essentialists over at Josh Landis' site (syriacomment.com) and elsewhere. This whole trope of "eternal enmity" - be it Sunni/Shi'a, Arab/Kurd, Turk/Kurd, Turk/Armenian, West/East, Christianity/Islam, etc. - is one of the most problematic. Alas, it's also one of the most deeply entrenched.
And it seems to work in Iraq right now. And it's not just "US-media-promoted", as you say.
Maybe it's just me, but the guy in the tank looks to me like Brezhnev, with those eyebrows. Is it supposed to be Bush? It doesn't look remotely like him.
By the way, I don't suppose anyone noticed that Dulaimi of the Iraqi National Accord, Dhari, several armed groups(via messages), and big names in Saudi Islamist activism and from elsewhere met in Istanbul on Wed and Thurs, and there wasn't a word about it in the English language press? I was sort of hoping for some enlightening comment on the significance of the Saudi-activist/Iraqi-resistance connection, but it looks as if nobody read what I wrote about it either. I'm a little spooked
Posted by: Badger | December 16, 2006 at 06:36 PM
Dear Badger,
thanks for the heads-up. That's quite interesting. What do you make of this? To me it looks like a couple of peninsular Wahhabis try to get Iraqi Sunnis "understand the Shi'i/Persian threat."
--MSK
Posted by: MSK | December 16, 2006 at 07:05 PM
Badger - I've been meaning to write about the Istanbul event but haven't had time even to notice whether it's being covered in the US press. I saw Dhari and Dulaimi on al-Jazeera, so it wasn't exactly a secret..
Posted by: aardvark | December 16, 2006 at 09:03 PM
MSK--Maybe partly, but I think it is also the other way around. Recall that Dhari had been talking to other Arab governments (and presumably others like Awda et al) and that looked like the trigger for the whole arrest-warrant episode. He couldn't get the Arab governments to do anything, hence the hosting of this in Turkey. Also note Dhari's rebuttal (to the guy who hosted the "anti-Shia/Persian" statement of the 38). Dhari says no, this isn't racial-religious, this is political arising from the US occupation. And that is the whole tenor of the final statement (at least the way I read it). To me the meaning lies in the fact that the Iraqi resistance has succeeded in linking up to something here.
Posted by: Badger | December 17, 2006 at 07:38 AM
PS to MSK, AA & others: Istanbul kind of re-states the question the possibility or otherwise of unified national resistance, and in this connection I would like to recommend the historical essay by non-arab arab, particularly because of the way he de-constructs the whole US-media-promoted idea of inevitable, structural, Sunni-Shia antagonism. You might say it doesn't matter given the recent bad blood, but I say: Lets give analysis a chance.
Posted by: Badger | December 17, 2006 at 08:34 AM
Dear Badger,
yeah, I remember Dhari's attempts. And I didn't mean to imply that he, Dulaimi or the other Iraqis present fell for the "We Sunnis must fight the Persian threat" line. But if those kinds of non-Iraqis are the only ones willing to talk to & sponsor Sunni Arab Iraqis ... then soon enough Dhari et.al. won't have much choice.
As for the non-arab arab's article - I couldn't agree more. I keep having debates with essentialists over at Josh Landis' site (syriacomment.com) and elsewhere. This whole trope of "eternal enmity" - be it Sunni/Shi'a, Arab/Kurd, Turk/Kurd, Turk/Armenian, West/East, Christianity/Islam, etc. - is one of the most problematic. Alas, it's also one of the most deeply entrenched.
And it seems to work in Iraq right now. And it's not just "US-media-promoted", as you say.
--MSK
Posted by: MSK | December 17, 2006 at 09:29 AM
I'm cautioned by what you say. Looks like you also have been at this battle longer than I have.
Posted by: Badger | December 17, 2006 at 10:40 AM
"your break it you own it"- Not so, YOU BROKE IT, AND NOW IT OWNS YOU.
Posted by: ptc | December 19, 2006 at 03:08 PM
Maybe it's just me, but the guy in the tank looks to me like Brezhnev, with those eyebrows. Is it supposed to be Bush? It doesn't look remotely like him.
Posted by: Gary Farber | December 25, 2006 at 10:11 PM