Half-Men Arab Leaders, Reckless Arab Leaders, and Royals Kissing Cheeks

Are Arab Leaders Really Trying to Out-man and Un-man Each Other?

Comment and Analysis

Half-men! Who are these half-men? And which part of them is un-manly? Is it the upper, middle, or lower (ouch) half?? The last one would be grounds for divorce, at the least.
This term has dominated Arab media and private discussions like no other in recent months. The term was used by Syrian President Assad to describe some Arab leaders who he said betrayed the Lebanese resistance (i.e Hezballah) during the Israeli invasion and rooted for Israel to win. This has infuriated some Arab leaders who are seen as those Assad was referring to, mainly the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and their conservative allies. Their media retaliated by calling Assad and Hezballah 'reckless' and accusing them of taking orders from Iran. The Syrians retaliated by saying that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and their allies take orders from the United States and Israel. So there!!
Incidentally, can a leader be a half-man and reckless at the same time? Seems highly unlikely, unless we are talking about a physical....peculiarity.

Now does all this means that if you are an Arab leader these days, you have a choice to be either a half-man or a reckless adventurer? Or is it a choice between being an agent of the United States and Israel and an agent of Iran? It is getting confusing. There is a touch of 1984 to all this, there has always been a touch of 1984 to Arab politics. I mean the OLD 1984, the 1984 of 1948. Are you less confused now?

The Arab foreign ministers met in Beirut last week, ostensibly to discuss solidarity with Lebanon- after the battle was over, of course. The Syrians boycotted the meeting in protest of something or the other. The Arab media in the Persian Gulf region claimed that the ministers secretly gave Syria an ultimatum and a choice: choose between us or Iran. Except that there is no war and no open declared conflict of any kind between the Arab states and Iran! So if there was an ultimatum, it is not clear what it meant.

Promptly after the meeting, the Emir of independent-minded Qatar made clear what he thought of the presumed new Arab position by flying to Damascus and meeting with Assad for a tete-a-tete. Now Qatar too is the target of attacks in the recently not-so-bashful Saudi media, for meeting with another Arab leader. Qatar is also home to Aljazeera TV, the most popular Arab news television which tends to cover controversial political topics that are taboo in conservative Arab states but are loved by Arab audiences bored stiff with seeing their everlasting rulers kiss each others' cheeks (no, no, the other cheeks) on state-controlled Television.

Hezballah has stolen a march, again, on others, including aid donors and the Lebanese government, by promptly providing aid for all Lebanese whose homes were damaged by the Israeli bombings. Some Gulf Arabs sneered that the amount of $ 12,000 is a pittance by their standards. The Hezballah were quick to start clearing roads and repairing bridges. (I think maybe most Arab governments should hire Hezbollah engineers to do their roads and highways...faster and much much cheaper that way, and probably more honest as well).

The anti-Hezballah Arabs hint that the aid money is Iranian, and hence it is somehow tainted. Most others ask: why is it tainted if it is Iranian but not tainted if it is infidel money from the West? Of course the impoverished Lebanese of Southern Lebanon or South Beirut, the main victims of the birth pangs of the New Middle East, don't give a f...ig about the source of the aid. They need it now.

Cheers
Mohammed