Interesting article in the Washington Post a few days ago dealing with the view of the USA and President Bush in various Arab countries. Nothing all that new. However, anyone even remotely interested in where things are at in this troubled world cannot be other than concerned about the ways of the Americans and the impact of that on the peoples of the world in so many ways. With Australia so closely aligned to the US it's a sobering thought on how Australia is now viewed in Arab countries [has anyone gone to the trouble to find out?] - and Muslim countries in our region of the world.
There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives? In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t...
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