Media and Middle East Briefs

Any regular reader of mine would probably know that the media and the Middle East are two of my fixations, and today there was a lot happening on both of these fronts.

RICHARD COHEN at the Washington Post summarizes why we must not have illusions about Hamas:

"But the hard truth is that culture and religion matter, and we should not expect moderation just because that's how we would react. Toto knows the truth. The Middle East is not Kansas."

And thank Allah for that. The last thing the Middle East needs is more Kansas-style religious fundamentalism.

TWO PROFESSORS of Middle East Studies (and bloggers), Juan Cole and As'ad AbuKhalil give their own reactions to Bush's Mideast gibberish in yesterday's State of the Union. They're a lot like what I said, just with a lot more detail and intellectual heft, and in AbuKhalil's case, more wonderful sarcasm.

I urge you to read them both, as Cole and AbuKhalil are two of the best sources for Middle East news and opinion on this side of the Atlantic. Choice excerpts:

Cole: "Bush's main accomplishment in the Middle East since 9/11 has been to strengthen Muslim fundamentalist parties everywhere in the region."

AbuKhalil: "But the lack of seriousness of Bush's "push" for democracies is best exemplified by this sentence: 'Saudi Arabia has taken the first steps of reform -- now it can offer its people a better future by pressing forward with those efforts.' One of the most oppressive states on earth, and certainly the most misogynistic and religiously exclusivist, is praised for cosmetic steps that it took in the last years, and which did not affect the fundamental monopolization of power by an unelected royal family, and their allies in the clerical establishment."

AN INTERESTING piece in Britain's Guardian about a media conference in the Middle East, sponsored by al-Jazeera.

THERE is nothing more irritating to me than when a CNN anchor talks about "Arab opinion," as though Arabs are monolithic. Arabs are one of the most politically and religiously divided people in the world, and to think that they all react the same way to certain events, playing up this myth of an "Arab street," is just plain foolish. CNN also likes to bring on Arab correspondents, typically from the pro-U.S. al-Arabiya station, which mainly functions as a mouthpiece for the Saudi royal family. The mere idea that these journalists can speak for all Arabs is even more ludicrous than the idea that Dick Cheney can speak for all Americans.

BUSH said today that the U.S. would defend Israel against Iran. How pointless and unnecessarily provocative. Even if that is our policy, why state it? Doesn't he know how that sounds to many in the Middle East? Besides, Israel is a big boy, with its own nuclear arsenal and the strongest conventional army in the region. Iran wants no piece of Israel, despite Ahmadinejad's rhetoric. It's just that--rhetoric. Doesn't anyone else realize that the Iranian leader is just using scary talk to frighten his citizens for political gain? Haven't we seen that enough in this country to know how to recognize it?