A reply to A Comment To My Article “Arab Spring”
Dear friend,
First of all I thank you very much for your comment. I am very happy that I have at least someone with whom I can exchange views. As to your mention that I have a different perspective than most Americans, the reason that I have been in the United States for 40 years is that I am thankful to the American army that freed us from the Germans in 1942. The battle took six months, and many of my good American friends died. I became very engaged and loyal to America. At my age of 11, I was engaged and I served the American Army more than anyone can think. This is from my background.
Arab Spring
You say it was inevitable. This is Obama’s thinking, that we Americans should rescue the world. In fact, people were very happy, even with the dictators. They were not dictators like Hitler or Mussolini. The Arabs loved their leaders and they were loyal to their leaders. They were not deprived of anything and did not seek a revolution. I visited Tunisia under Bourguiba and under Ben Ali. The population lived like we, here, even better. They had freedom and happiness. There was no divisiveness between parties, like we see today in the United States
If you read Obama’s Cairo Speech, you will understand what I am talking about. He thought that by encouraging the Arabs to revolt, they would be better off. However, knowing Arab history and their way of life, I know that it completely different than our way of life. Our democracy and way of life is anchored in Jewish and Christian religion, starting with the prophet Samuel, when he told the twelve tribes who wanted to have a king, “you don’t need a king, God is your king” and they assembled their tribes and voted (which is equal to democracy).
The Arabs love a strong leader. We are the ones who manipulated and encouraged them. Obama said many times to Ben Ali to go, to Mubarak to go, and to Kaddafi to go. By saying this, the US gave the people false hopes that America would stand by them. At that time I had the same opinion as you, when you said the Americans should not mix themselves in other countries’ affairs. Many times we remove a leader and substitute him with another, just because he is agreeable to us and then we help the people to accept him through publicity.
Do you know how these populations are now? They are victimized by the religious governments, they live in fear and their women can no longer wear western clothes. Their lives were completely turned around. I am very happy that you brought up the question, as most Americans are not aware of the consequences of US policies abroad.
In reference to Benghazi, it was the US that initiated the actions in Libya, by pushing the French to go ahead and the US would “lead from behind”. I am sure that you heard this expression. That means that we sent cruise missiles from our vessels and created the no-fly zone, but did not “put our feet” there, while letting the French do the job. Meanwhile we encouraged the revolt in Libya. Among the rebels was Al Qaida and many other groups that we could not identify. Meanwhile we indirectly helped the rebels with our actions. Furthermore we did not secure all the war material such as planes, tanks, canons, machine guns, bombs, chemical weapons, trucks etc., etc., which quickly found their way to Gaza and to Syria and fell into the hands of terrorists. Many made millions with these transactions, such as Qatar. Of course they had enough money to buy Al Gore’s television stations, which will expose our population to their propaganda.
Now as to Benghazi in particular, this was neither an Embassy nor a Consulate. It was a place where secret meetings took place to help various warriors with the weapons, including Turkey. The so-called ambassador was killed by the Al Qaida.
As for Egypt, after three battles against Israel they eventually made peace with Israel. Mubarak was the second in command after Saddat. The entire country was happy and lived peacefully. Only the Muslim Brotherhood did not accept the military leadership. Mubarak had been the commander of the Egyptian air force when Abdel Nasser was the leader. I have a lot of respect for Mubarak, as after Saddat was killed by the Muslim Brotherhood, he respected the peace agreement with Israel. He was an excellent partner for the United States and for Israel, as he maintained the peace in the Middle East for thirty years. Even Syria didn’t challenge Israel because Mubarak was keeping the peace.
Now the Middle East is like a hurricane. Mr. Morsi, who is now at the head of Egypt, it no less and no more a dictator than Mubarak was, only the people were living in peace during Mubarak. Today, Christians can no longer live in peace in Egypt as they are attacked. It is up to you to decide, which situation is better, before or after the “Arab Spring”?
As for Israel, it was not a concession by the Allies. They had some remorse but they did not help the Jews. The Jewish Brigade fought alongside the British against the Germans. They were just one Brigade in the beginning. By the end their strength had much increased as they added people who were just liberated from the concentration camps. After the war, they all went to Israel. The person who is writing these lines has been there at that time. Israel has been in existence for three thousand years. The Jews always inhabited what the British gave the name of Palestine.
As for Syria In my view we already lost the battle. Before we even decided what to do, the Iranians have already their feet in Syria with their army, with their material and even with their listening station in the Golan. The Russians are well engaged with their large fleet and military hardware supply.
Copyright 2013 Emile Tubiana
When you said that “the Jewish underground played a major part in winning the war with Germany”, I am not aware that the Jewish underground played a major part in winning the war with Germany, but I am aware that some Jewish people particularly in the United States played a great role for example in decoding the Japanese and some German codes and of course worked for the Atom Bomb.
I agree with you that the Vietnam War was not necessary and should have been avoided.
In reference to Germans that killed their own citizens who were not with Hitler, I’m aware of that.
You wrote that President Obama is faced with the dilemma left over from the Cold War. Here I disagree with you. Obama was free to develop any policy he wanted he succeeded to do the Healthcare and other.
You said: “I wish people would quit blaming him for things that he cannot control.” The president is the one who decides what to do. Do not forget, we live in a democracy and everyone is entitled to his opinion, which I call the “freedom of expression” which makes the human beings feel free and comfortable.
In politics, there is no “right” or “wrong” as everyone has his own view and opinion. Only the future can tell.
The Middle East has been a powder keg forever. You only have to go to the Bible to read about the many wars fought so that the Jewish people could conquer land previously occupied by other people.
I have no doubt that the Jewish underground played a major part in winning the war with Germany. You can be commended for having a part in it. One fact that most people don't know is that Germany killed about ten million of its own citizens in place many of them concentration camps because they opposed Hitler. These people were not Jewish.
I can use the Cold War as an example. We were in a face-off with nuclear weapons. It seemed that communism was taking over the world (similar to the way that extreme Muslim religion seems to be taking over today). During that time I was active in civil rights where nonviolence gave black people rights that were denied for over a hundred years from the time they were freed as slaves. I opposed the Vietnam War for the same reason that I oppose involvement in Middle Eastern turmoil, including saving Israel in the case of a major war there. What eventually happened when the two superpowers realized that they couldn't unleash nuclear strikes on one another, led to a peaceful revolution within the Soviet Union and, eventually, communist China, leading to the way they are today.
President Obama is faced with the dilemma left over from the Cold War when the United States freely gave aid to countries (mostly just to their dictators) that we thought would hold off the Communist threat (not the Muslim or terrorist threat). There is no way diplomatically that he can get out of all of these agreements easily. I wish people would quit blaming him for things that he cannot control. Some ideas are just bad, like the cost of providing security for every school, government facility, church or synagogue that might be threatened by terrorists. We can also no longer police the world or provide security for all these countries.
The Arab spring is not over. It may take twenty, thirty, or even a hundred years, like American slaves becoming really part of American society, but steely oppression, whether it be from within or from without, always loses in the face of determined opposition, particularly if it is nonviolent.
We have a global village with the Internet. Youth will prevail. Old ideas and ideologies will die of neglect.
Ron
Love ya!
Jane