What do foreigners demand from our Arab land? Was it not enough for them to loot and rob us of our resources?
Are they not yet satisfied with the blood of our children that was shed on our lands?
Shouldn’t they pity us for our inability to resist them, and let us live peacefully with our children?
Or do they think that we are used to submission and humiliation?
As our prominent poet Al Mutanabbi said, “Whoever accepts humiliation deserves more... as the wound will not afflict a lifeless body”.
Erdogan in Turkey, Khamenei in Iran, Putin in Russia.
These leaders, after their empires faded and collapsed, feel that they live in countries that do not fit their dreams and aspirations.
They are trying to revive the glories of their ancestors, and so consider our land as their inheritance.
Erdogan has clearly said that the cities of Misurata, Idlib, and others are Ottoman cities. I think if he goes that far back in history, he will also claim ownership of Mecca and Medina.
Just as Iran does not hide its ambitions and is still seeking to restore its ancient glories, similarly Putin whose army swept Chechnya, Georgia, and Crimea, is now reaching out to Tartous in Syria, in addition to paving the way for a military base in Libya.
With every disaster and defeat that afflicts us as Arabs, I hear phrases such as “The region is experiencing an unprecedented crisis “.
We have heard this during Egypt’s June defeat, the Lebanese civil war, Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait, the American invasion of Iraq, the Arab riots in Tunisia and Egypt, the wars in Syria, Libya and Yemen, the climax of Iranian militia activity in four Arab capitals: Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, and Sana’a, and finally the Turkish expansion in northern Syria and in Libya, Qatar, Somalia, and others.
The 9/11 attacks in 2001 in the US paved the way for modern war led by Washington in Afghanistan.
This sparked even more hostile reactions against the US until “the world split into two camps,” as Al Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden said. Then the leaders of the US decided to destroy Iraq under the claim of chemical weapons. The rest of the story is well known.
After 10 years, we reached the famous Arab riots encouraged by the Obama administration, which supported what it considered the forces of “Moderate Islam” as a way to convert our countries to the desired democracy. This gave the Muslim Brotherhood a “kiss of life” to ride the wave of revolutions and they were able to reach power in Egypt and Libya after they had controlled the Gaza Strip a while ago, but they failed miserably.
We should not exclude the Iranian regime’s failure to provide even the most modest requirements of life for its people; in addition to the Shi’ite militias’ destruction of life in countries like Iraq and Lebanon. Did we require all this bloodshed and sacrifice to know once again that religious regimes are not suitable for managing state affairs and people?
Could the US predict how its scenarios in our countries would end during the Obama administration? Does the US genuinely want stability in the world?
Or does it still work, according to the theory of its former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who clearly said, “It is not in our interest to resolve any conflict in this world but to seize the game and harness it to our advantage”?
Can Washington really not resolve conflicts in places like Libya? Does it really not realise that Libya’s instability has a negative effect on southern European countries? Or does it want to see a weak Europe drown in its problems?
If countries like Turkey, Iran and Russia feel that they live within the blinkered political and geographical boundaries of their expansionist dreams, shouldn’t we, as Arabs, maintain a similar project to protect and fortify our borders and defend ourselves from any possible attacks?
akram@fp7.com