The Jordan Times

Palestinian schism widens after failure of coalition talks (click on)

Palestinian students from the American University and Fateh supporters shout slogans backing Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas near the northern West Bank city of Jenin

RAMALLAH (AP) — Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday rejected demands that his Hamas-led government resign and called for the resumption of talks to form a national unity government with President Mahmoud Abbas' Fateh Party.

Tensions between the two parties have grown in recent days, with Abbas saying that coalition talks — aimed at ending a crippling foreign aid boycott against the Hamas-led government — had reached a "dead end." On Friday, the PLO's Executive Committee, which is dominated by Fateh, called on Haniyeh to step down to make way for a new premier who could resume coalition talks with Abbas.

Speaking at a news conference during a trip to Qatar, Haniyeh said that suggestion was "only creating chaos in the street." "[Abbas] cannot make any decision regarding this without consulting Hamas, because Hamas is the main party in parliament," he said.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the call for Haniyeh's resignation amounted to "a coup." The Islamic group won an overwhelming majority in parliamentary elections in January, while Abbas was elected separately last year, setting up government paralysis and leading to tensions in the street.

Who's kidding who here? Democracy is a slap in the face to any citizen of the Middle East

Arabia is 'structured' with many Imams, Ayatollahs, Kings, Queens and Clerics. All these leaders received their authority based in religious precept with millennia of doctrine of which they derive their rights. There is no changing the Middle East and especially the Sunni populations there.

Bush is acting out of desperation of his own political survival and NOT the best and immediate interests of people in Arabia. Democracy around the world would be his mantra to harness the American understanding of fairness and liberty. Fairness and liberty have no definition in Arabia outside the understanding that Muhammad brings to life.

Sharia law (click on)

Susie Steiner explains the Islamic legal system which has sentenced a Nigerian woman to be stoned to death (click on)

Sharia law is the basis of the Iraqi Constitution. It is also viewed by The West to be oppressive and curel. It is the way of Arabia. No one is going to change that except the heirarchy of the Arabian people.

The Honorable King Hussein of Jordan recognized the extremism in the laws that govern the most pious of his people. He wanted to move past that and in doing so brought a moderate voice to his people of which King Abdullah is attempting to carry on his hard work.

Queen Noor (click on) brought a great deal of insight to her husband. She helped bridge the gap of West and Middle East. That influence is not outside of the laws of Islam. Women are not without power, but, they are channeled through their legitimate spouses.

New U.S.-Middle East Partnership To Fight Breast Cancer. (click on) It is through efforts such as these that compassion will win the hearts of Arabia and it's women.

Among the most progressive men in Arabia besides King Abdullah and his spouse Queen Raina (click on), pictured in this link with the Turkish Prime Minister and his spouse (We all know about Turkey and the recent visit by the Pope. Right? To help bridge the void. Yes? Yes.), is Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Abdullah Lauds Women’s Role in Society (click on)

“Saudi women are playing a great role,” said Abdullah. “They make fruitful contributions toward the country’s comprehensive progress in various sectors,” he added.

Abdullah made this comment while receiving women participants of the Sixth National Dialogue Forum at his palace in Riyadh separately.

“During their meeting with the king, the women voiced their views on the forum’s topic and other issues concerning them. They thanked the king for his efforts to empower women and strengthen their role in society,” the Saudi Press Agency said.

It is not my intention to recreate the work of King Hussein or his beautiful wife, it is my intention to stem the possibility of the delusion that Bush's America will ever instill a democracy void of religious authority in the Middle East. It won't happen. These countries are not colonies seeking the right to be free. These are sovereign authorities under the blessed right to exist as dictated by the lineage of Muhammad.

I doubt sincerely the brevity of these powerful leaders have entered The Iraqi Study Groups idea of sovereign authority. It is high time we saw the Middle East's stability for what it truly is and not what Bush's ideology dictates it to be.

The reason President Mubarak of Egypt stated to 'try' and 'hang' Saddam Hussein would be a mistake is because it is viewed by the people of Islam as a desecration of authority. Regardless of the appropriate nature of his incarceration and his sentence to death by hanging as per Western Precepts, it is still a very destabilizing event that would lend potential to extremism and not a deterrent to it.

Russia's decision here is easy, it believes in stable political blocks which is also the view of China in many ways. Neither Russia or China see threat to their sovereign governments so long as there are stable governments in the world. I don't believe any of the Russian statements siding with Mubarak are based in trade potentials, although I find President Putin's expanding interests in the region rivals that of the USA. President Putin is not interested in Middle East oil, he has plenty of his own, however, he interested in providing a stabilizing force that gives Bush plenty of pause.

If The West is to conquer the world and instill democracy globally it will be at war for a long, long time. The Crusades will be a walk in the park compared to Bush/Cheney ambitions to capture the Caspian Sea (click on).

(Yeah that's right this is a link to The University of Michigan where Bush tried to 'take them down' by attacking their Affirmative Action Program. Bush is an idiot that believes he has power to 'deliver' to his base by intimidating the American dream and threatening authority with his ideologies. He's a treasonist. I know that doesn't play well, but, he is. He seeks 'power' in authority not granted him by the USA Constitution, but, only power granted him by his crony majority Republican House and Senate. One can easily extrapolate the concept of treasonists to the whole lot of them, actually. In a recent statement to the newly elected Senator Webb with a son in Iraq, a democrat that ran for office with the understanding the troops have to come home, Bush asked, "So how is your son doing?" It was not a statement of concern, but, a threat by the authority of a Commander and Chief. In other words, Bush didn't appreciate Senator Webb's victory or his view of Iraq, so, Bush could easily seek an opportunity to put the Senator's son in harms way to make an impression of the MISTAKE of Senator's Webb's choice of troop deployment out of the region. Bush with the power to murder. But that is off topic and simply an opportunity to make a point about the psychotic nature of this USA President. Bush doesn't seem to understand 'Vengence is mine saith the lord.)

THE ONLY SOLUTION to any liberation, as The West sees it, for the Middle East is to uphold it's sovereignty while respecting the monarchies and dictators of that region. We have seen remarkable changes in those countires, Libya is completely disarmed when once a terrorist training ground and haven, Jordan is more Western than Middle Eastern and many countries in the region, although very angry with Israel at the moment, have recognized it's right to exist and now it would seem President Mubarak feels Egypt is ready for a freely elected democratic society.

I will remind that also in play at this time are the extremists, including in Egypt "The Muslim Brotherhood" (click on). We have also seen an attempt at a democratically elected Palestinian Authority and the ascension of Hamas. It's a very difficult call to say democracy in it's Western Interpretation is a good idea. I am still unsure what the motivation behind the Egyptian elections were, except perhaps Bush's military threat, although I trust President Mubarak's good judgement. It's a fine line to walk in the Middle East when freedom comes at the end of a gun rather than through the consent of sovereign authority.

Democracy isn't all that when there are international standards to live by, such as the Human Rights doctrines of the United Nations (click on), and the vigilence of editors of newsprint sincerely interested in keeping high moral standards for such commissions by the loyalty and patronage of readers that make it all worthwhile.

When democracy fails and takes back human rights as it has with the detainees at Gitmo, it gives credence to the idea that dictatorships have equal standing and the average citizen of any country has no hope of liberation. In many, many ways, to numerous to name here, the Bush battle cry for democracy has only served to mask a growing threat to the world and not it's liberation. Democracy as it exists under Bush has betrayed the trust of the world's oppressed and in other ways has created a loyalty to terrorist networks such as al Qaeda who now seem to hold promise rather than threat.

The new majority in the USA House and Senate should not underestimate their promise to return the USA to a standing of liberated. Although it comes with a tone somewhat conservative the view of the world as once valued by it should be very clear: The USA is not interested in killing or carrying out liberation, but, interested in the rights of every human being to be happy within their own lives while wiping out poverty, disease and all the opportunities terrorists use to spread their credo which includes benevolent economic developement.

Make no mistake, the elections of November 2006 are seen by the world as a return to a USA that holds high moral standards and the ability to carry them out through generous international programs bringing increased quality of life and promise to children. It's important beyond simple expectations that the Democrats act on that understanding.

The Muslim nations of the world need friends among Americans and not people that come as if friends carrying guns. We need to return in a very loud and single voice, most frequently noted in Hillary Clinton speeches, that states, we believe in the human potential and not the destruction of faiths or governments.

I hold a great deal of hope for the new majority legislature and expect them to live upto the world's expectations of a return to the USA as they knew it and not cowering to Bush's so called authority. I see overriding vetos a regular occurrence and to that end the House and Senate leaderships have a very important role in maintaining their party's loyality to Democratic outcomes and not Bush's neverending demands for more spending and a military out of control.

The Middle East isn't in as much trouble as some would make it out to be. Iraq has problems but more over it has friends in the USA that would see it stable FIRST to stop the killing and willing to stand steadfast in it's patience to be vigilant to all it's hopeful outcomes. Stabilizing Iraq under an authority the citizens approve is most important. If one will note many countries with monarchies of lineage also have Prime Ministers and President's without the benefit of those lineages, a Western example would be Britain.

I hold a great deal of hope for Iraq, either as a unity nation or one that has sought a different path with three separate sovereign authorities. However. I don't see stability in any region without the consent of it's right to a lineage of religious authority close at hand. If any religious authority is deemed 'Anti-American' it is because to date our President has been anti-religious authority and completely "W"rong in doing so.

Good night.

Bush Calls Democracy Terror's Antidote

Bush the infidel ! ... and his army of infidels. The puppet leadership of Iraq. What right do they have?

By Jim VandeHeiWashington
Post Staff WriterWednesday, March 9, 2005; Page A16

President Bush said yesterday a fledgling democratic movement that he sees spreading through the Middle East is essential to defeating terrorism, and warned Syria and Iran against thwarting the "momentum of freedom" and fomenting instability in the region.

"The chances of democratic progress in the broader Middle East have seemed frozen in place for decades," Bush said at the National Defense University at Fort McNair. "Yet, at last, clearly and suddenly, the thaw has begun."

Following up on his inaugural pledge to "end tyranny around the world," Bush demanded that Syria immediately withdraw its troops from Lebanon, called on both Syria and Iran to stop terrorist activities in the region, and directly pressed for open presidential elections in Egypt.

Speaking at a war college where Dwight D. Eisenhower and Colin L. Powell studied, Bush, for the first time, claimed some measure of credit for the democratic changes taking place in the Middle East and sought to explain how these developments will make the United States safer from terrorists. In the past months, Iraq and the Palestinians held democratic elections, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signaled their intentions to open up their voting processes -- although in a very limited fashion -- and the Lebanese people took to the streets and forced the resignation of the Syrian-controlled government.

Events, some largely outside Bush's control, are setting the tempo for democracy in the Middle East as much as the president's policies. Lebanon, a nation rarely mentioned by Bush until the popular uprising, dominated yesterday's speech, while Iraq, the central focus of U.S. foreign policy, received only passing mention at the end of the address.

"All the world is witnessing your great movement of conscience," Bush told the people of Lebanon. "The American people are on your side. Millions across the Earth are on your side."

Bush, who views the events as vindication of his policy, is hoping to build on recent developments by putting pressure on Syria and Iran to relent to international demands, and by pushing Cairo, Riyadh and others in the region toward democracy. "No matter how long it takes, no matter how difficult the task, we will fight the enemy, and lift the shadow of fear and lead free nations to victory," he said. He called authoritarian rule the "last gasp of a discredited past."

The president sent a stronger message to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who recently announced plans to open up elections in his country to other parties even though his government will control who participates. Bush, putting Mubarak on the spot, delineated what he would consider acceptable conditions for elections in Egypt: "freedom of assembly, multiple candidates, free access by those candidates to the media and the right to form political parties."

Bush condemned Syria and Iran for their ties to terrorists, and for the first time, he publicly accused Syria of harboring the group responsible for a suicide bombing last month in Israel. "America and other nations are also aware that the recent terrorist attack in Tel Aviv was conducted by a radical Palestinian group headquartered in Damascus," he said.

Aides said the president considered this an important speech on terrorism at what he called a "time of great consequence." He enlisted adviser Michael J. Gerson, the author of Bush's most memorable first-term addresses who was recently promoted to a top policy position, to help craft the carefully worded speech, White House aides said. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), a supporter of Bush's policies in the region, was rewarded with a front-row seat and a mention by Bush.

Throughout the speech, Bush said the spread of democracy is crucial to defeating terrorists and safeguarding the United States from another attack. "It should be clear that the advance of democracy leads to peace because governments that respect the rights of their people also respect the rights of their neighbors," he said. "It should be clear the best antidote to radicalism and terror is the tolerance kindled in free societies."

Picking up an argument he made throughout the 2004 campaign, Bush said America is safer is because the administration is targeting terrorists and regimes that harbor them. "When terrorists spend their days struggling to avoid death or capture, they are less capable of arming and training to commit new attacks," he said.

Bush praised several allies, including Britain and Pakistan, for stepping up efforts to track down terrorists, even as Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, remains at large. "Many governments have awakened to the dangers we share and have begun to take action," he said.
The president acknowledged that there are still many obstacles to democracy in the region. With successful elections behind them, the Iraqis are struggling to put together a democratic government amid continued violence and ethnic and religious strife. The United States, which has suffered more than 1,500 military deaths since invading the country almost two years ago, has more than 135,000 troops there helping to defeat a persistent insurgency and to get the new government running.

In his speech, Bush did not mention the estimated 500,000 protesters who took to the streets of Beirut yesterday to condemn the United States -- not the Syrian government. White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters that the president was "glad to see people peacefully express their views," but that the protest served as a reminder of the hostilities Bush -- and democracy -- face in many areas of the Middle East.

Bush did not signal whether the United States will assume a larger role in international talks to verify that Iran is not building nuclear weapons, but he prodded that nation to follow the trends of its neighbors. "We look forward to the day when Iran joins in the hopeful changes taking place around the world."

Some Democrats criticized Bush for glossing over how he will prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, as well as how he intends to protect U.S. borders, ports and buildings from terrorists. "He did not mention the two great, unfinished reform projects we must complete if we are to be safer: reform of our intelligence capabilities, and the protection of our biggest homeland security vulnerabilities," Sen. Jon S. Corzine (N.J.) said.

But Bush said there is a larger purpose to his strategy. "We are also determined to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."

The Family Tree of a King includes Muhammad, The Messenger of God

One might also notice the lineage of the most Honorable King Abdullah of Jordan includes Emirs and Kings of Mecca.

Long about now, I would expect everyone observing this blog to ask themselves, why are so many leaders of sovereign Arabia royalty that survives millennia.

Muhhamad the Messenger of God (click on)

The King of Jordan starting with King Hussein (click on) became a progressive leader in a society mired in historical significance to the religious region of the Middle East. It was King Hussein that made it clear to all his brothers that a world of modernism was the place where Arabia would succeed.

The current King of Jordan, Abdullah, is an important man and not just because he is the JUST King but because he seeks religious purity and consolidation of many divisions of the teaching of the Quran which in some instances allows for extremist and loose interpretation of Muhammad's lesson. He seeks to speak to Islam in one voice and not a cadre of interpretations. After all, Muhammad had only one voice in his lifetime and that would be the one true voice of the Quran.

THREATS AND RESPONSES: PERSIAN GULF; United Arab Emirates Urge Hussein to Give Up Power

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

The United Arab Emirates today became the first Arab country to call for President Saddam Hussein of Iraq to step down, presenting the idea to a summit meeting of Arab leaders as the only way to avoid an American-led war and the devastation it could cause the Iraqi people.
''The Iraqi leadership should decide to give up power in Iraq and to leave Iraq,'' the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, declared in a statement issued here, saying he wanted to propose ''a way out of this complicated and dangerous crisis.''

The sheik's proposal -- which would offer Mr. Hussein and his senior lieutenants immunity from prosecution in exchange for stepping aside within two weeks -- jolted a special meeting of the Arab League here on the Red Sea, where leaders of the league's 22 members gathered to debate how best to forge a unified response to the Iraq crisis.

Far from showcasing Arab unity, though, the gathering exposed the profound divisions over Iraq. The league ended its meeting tonight without formally considering the emirates' proposal, prompting an unusually sharp rebuke from the president's son, Abdullah bin Zayed.
''War is imminent,'' he told reporters after the meeting. ''And there is no way we can push the Americans and the British away from it. Unfortunately, the Arabs did not have the courage of talking about it.''

The United Arab Emirates have become a close ally of the United States, providing access to their airfields and buying advanced American fighter jets. Although they are not among the larger Arab states, their president, known as ''the wise man of the Arab world,'' has considerable influence, especially among Arab nations along the Persian Gulf.

Mr. Hussein has insisted that he will never step down, and it appeared highly unlikely that the United Arab Emirates' call would change his mind. The Iraqi foreign minister, Naji Sabri, ridiculed the proposals as ''dirty ideas'' sponsored by the Bush administration.

In a speech to the league late this afternoon, the vice chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, Izzat Ibrahim, also vowed that Iraq would defend itself against what he called an American campaign to dominate Iraq and destabilize the entire Arab world.

''Damn this policy of aggression!'' he told the delegates. ''Damn this policy of occupation!''
Nevertheless, the proposal for Mr. Hussein to resign underscored his weakened position, even as leader after leader warned the United States today not to launch an attack on Iraq, saying the consequences for the region would be grave.

''We are still discussing it,'' the Saudi Arabian foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, said at a news conference moments after the sheik's proposal first circulated inside the conference hall. ''I call it an idea. It is not an initiative.''

He added, however, that the proposal had been made in good faith, suggesting that the idea had broader support among some Arab leaders.

''We are sure, knowing the Emirates and its president, Sheik Zayed, that they only care about the integrity of the Arab nation,'' he said.

As the prospects of war have mounted, President Bush and his aides have repeatedly said that Mr. Hussein's departure could avert war. On Thursday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell suggested that the Arab League should consider asking Mr. Hussein to leave, or at least call forcefully for Iraq to comply with United Nations resolutions.

The league ended its meeting with a declaration strongly opposing an American-led attack on Iraq, calling for a peaceful solution and saying that ''the neighbor countries will not participate in any military operation'' against Iraq.

The latter was itself a delicately worded compromise, because several Arab states have already allowed the United States and Britain to mass troops and weaponry within striking distance of Iraq. Those countries, including Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, strongly opposed language proposed by Syria that would have explicitly forbidden such assistance.

Sheik Zayed, who is ailing, did not attend the meeting today but submitted his proposal in a written statement. His son, the United Arab Emirates' minister of information and culture, said Kuwait and Saudi Arabia supported the idea during discussions today, while others expressed support behind the scenes.

In his statement, Sheik Zayed said that once Mr. Hussein stepped down, the Arab League and the United Nations would govern Iraq for a ''transitional period'' until a new government was formed ''according to the will of the brotherly Iraqi people.''

In preliminary talks before the meeting today, Arab foreign ministers and diplomats discussed the possibility of Mr. Hussein stepping down, but the United Arab Emirates was the first to broach the idea publicly.

In a sign of the sensitivity to creating a precedent for calling for the removal of any Arab leader, the league's secretary general, Amr Moussa, refused to discuss the proposal during a news conference tonight.

''We are not concerned with the change of regimes,'' he said testily. ''That is not our job. That's it.''

A senior Egyptian official said that while the proposal by the United Arab Emirates was not debated at the meeting today, ''it will reverberate outside of it.''

The meeting today had been scheduled for later this month in Bahrain, but President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt lobbied to hold it early, hoping to forge a united Arab position. Even beyond the United Arab Emirates' proposal, the meeting instead laid bare long-standing rivalries and tensions among Arab states.

At one point, the president of Libya, Muammar el-Qaddafi, began a long soliloquy on the events that followed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, saying that Saudi Arabia's leader, King Fahd, had agreed to allow American bases on Saudi territory and that those bases remained today.

That prompted an angry rebuke from Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, the king's brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, who pointed emphatically at Mr. Qaddafi and accused him of coming to power on the backs on colonialists.

''Saudi Arabia has never been working to support U.S. interests,'' he replied.
Mr. Qaddafi did not relent, saying the entire Arabian Peninsula had become ''an American protectorate.''

Around that moment, television cameras broadcasting the meeting to journalists outside -- and to millions in the Arab world via Egypt's official television network -- went black, and the rest of the meeting was closed.

A short time later, the league issued the final declaration, sidestepping the divisions apparent today.

The declaration welcomed Iraq's first steps to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspections while calling on Mr. Hussein's government to increase that cooperation. It also said the inspectors should be given more time to complete their work -- a position held by France, Germany and Russia, which are resisting American pressure to declare Iraq in material breach of United Nations resolutions.

The leaders also discussed sending a delegation to Baghdad to mediate, but they failed to agree even to that. The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, said sending a delegation only to Baghdad would put the onus on Iraq, when it should be on the United States.

Russia in Mid-November agrees with Mubarak in that Saddam should not be hanged, however, not liberated either

Egyptian president in Moscow for three-day visit (click on)

MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti) - Egypt's president arrived in Moscow Wednesday for a three-day official visit expected to highlight bilateral trade and civilian nuclear cooperation, as well as the situation in the Middle East.

Hosni Mubarak will meet with top Russian officials to discuss broader trade and economic cooperation, including in the energy sector, Egyptian Ambassador in Moscow Ezzat Saad said.
In February, Russia and Egypt opened a joint car-making plant near Cairo, the Egyptian capital, to assemble 3,300 Russian Lada cars a year. Boris Alyoshin, head of the Russian Federal Industry Agency, said the two countries might also seek to create free trade zones.

Mubarak's visit to Russia is also expected to consider Russia's proposal to construct a civilian nuclear infrastructure in Egypt, following a resumption of talks on the issue in late January.
Russia's Saltanov said Mubarak will also discuss the current critical situation in the Middle East, including in the Palestinian territories, Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan.

"Egypt is a key country in the region, and it is our major partner in the Middle East," Saltanov said. "It is very interesting for us to hear the opinion of such an authoritative politician as Hosni Mubarak."


Outside View: Russia's Mideast influence (click on)
By MARIANNA BELENKAYAUPI Outside View Commentator

MOSCOW, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has flown to Moscow for a visit. The Russian-Egyptian high-level dialogue being what it is, visits by the head of one of the leading Middle Eastern and African countries to the Russian capital no longer cause a sensation -- they have already become routine. Yet only recently the arrival of high-ranking leaders from the Eastern countries to Moscow was invariably commented on as "the first for many years, historic and marking a turning point." This stage is now over. The old contacts with the Middle East, lost in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, have been restored, and even new partners found.

Russian-Egyptian cooperation is perhaps one of the most remarkable examples of Russia's return to the Middle East, first of all, economically. Russian statistics show that bilateral trade in goods and services in 2006 totaled $1.6 billion. In the first eight months of this year, it increased 52 percent year-on-year and reached $953.3 million, up from $500 million in 2002.

Nevertheless, against the background of Soviet-era projects, such as the Aswan High Dam, today's Russian-Egyptian cooperation seems modest. But it is based on profit and is in no way ideologically motivated. Cairo and Moscow are considering joint projects ranging from gas pipeline construction to nuclear power. Time will show which of them will materialize.
Unlike economic matters, political issues are not as clear. Ahead of his Moscow visit, President Mubarak gave an interview to the Russian Vremya Novostei newspaper. In it he remarked that "Russia has restored its interests in the Middle East and regained its influence in the region." But perhaps his words are just lip service?

No doubt Russia's interest in Middle Eastern issues is great today. It is actively participating in the work of the Quartet of Middle East intermediaries of Palestinian-Israeli settlement together with the United States, the European Union and the United Nations. Its position was largely determined when the U.N. Security Council drafted its resolution on Iraq after the United States and the United Kingdom decided to restore legality in Iraq following the deposition of the Saddam Hussein regime. Still, how far can we go in saying that Russia can exert a considerable influence on the situation in the Middle East?

The most salient example is Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation of Hamas, which won Palestinian parliamentary elections, to Moscow in February 2006. Russia took this
extraordinary step despite the movement's boycott by Israel, the United States and the EU in order to break the deadlock on Middle East settlement. Did it succeed? No, it did not.

There are other examples -- an attempt to ease the situation around Syria following the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in the winter of 2005, proposals for an Iraqi-to-Iraqi dialogue, and search for ways of financing the Palestinian National Authority bypassing Hamas. Most interestingly, many of Moscow's ideas were sooner or later taken up by other parties to settlement -- in the Middle East or Iraq. True, more often than not, they no longer looked like Russian initiatives. But the Russian Foreign Ministry does not object as long as they work. Which does not always happen, and not only where Russia is concerned.

Today no one can boast that they know the right way to resolve deadlocks in the Arab-Israeli peace process, or to restore political stability in Iraq. Even Hosni Mubarak, a veteran of Middle Eastern politics who has been in office for exactly a quarter of a century, when asked by Vremya Novostei how the Iraqi problem can be solved, answered: "God knows." Perhaps the same response applies to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Although all intermediaries are proposing concrete solutions, no one knows how to implement them in practice. Cairo, Moscow, Washington, and Brussels are all trying to make their contribution but to no avail --there are too many undercurrents. And all attempts end in failure.

So one can speak neither of Russia's real influence in the Middle East, nor of its helplessness in the region. Unquestionably, the United States, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia have far greater influence on local events than Russia, but ultimately all of them are equally helpless. Single-handed, nobody is in a position to find the key to resolving deadlocked regional issues. This is far too challenging a task even for joint efforts.

Egypt's Mubarak: Hanging Saddam could ignite Iraq

Posted 11/9/2006 6:27 PM ET

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's president came out strongly against hanging Saddam Hussein, saying in remarks published Thursday that it could make Iraq explode into more violence. But Iraq's prime minister said the execution could take place by the end of the year.

The statement from President Hosni Mubarak of Eygpt broke an uneasy silence among Arab leaders over Sunday's verdict by an Iraqi court, which convicted Saddam for the killings of some 150 Shiite Muslims after an assassination attempt against him in 1982.

Mubarak, a regional heavyweight and a top U.S. ally, appeared to speak for many in the region who are uneasy about seeing a former Arab president tried and sentenced — no matter how much they disliked Saddam's regime. Analysts suggested Arab leaders are worried about the precedent an execution would set, and said Arab publics often identify with their leaders.
"Carrying out this verdict will explode violence like waterfalls in Iraq," Mubarak was quoted as saying by state-run Egyptian newspapers. Hanging Saddam "will transform (Iraq) into blood pools and lead to a deepening of the sectarian and ethnic conflicts."

Saddam has appealed, and is being separately tried for genocide in the deaths of about 180,000 Iraqi Kurds, mostly civilians, during a crackdown in the late 1980s.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki confirmed this week that both legal procedures would go on simultaneously and that Iraq's three-man presidential council is pledged to allow Saddam's hanging if the court rejects the appeal.

"The way I understand the law that we passed ... the execution of the sentence should happen within a month, one month," al-Maliki told the British Broadcasting Corp. "I expect it to happen before the end of this year."

Leaders in Saudi Arabia, like Egypt a regional powerhouse and U.S. ally, have all but stayed quiet about Saddam's sentencing. The presidents of Libya and Syria have also avoided personal comment, though the Syria goverment said it opposes the sentence because it was delivered while U.S. troops were occupying Iraq.

"The court acted under the shadow of occupation," Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said Sunday. "Therefore, the entire court is rejected because the occupation itself is rejected."
Jordan took a neutral line. "As far as we're concerned here in Jordan, this is an internal Iraqi affair," government spokesman Nasser Judeh said this week.

While many in the Middle East rejoiced at Saddam's ouster in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, spiraling violence in Iraq and the nearly unprecedented public trial against an Arab ruler have left many in the region dubious.

"Saddam's year-long trial has shocked Arab leaders, including those who are against him, as well as the masses," said Egyptian political analyst Diaa Rashwan.

"We've witnessed leaders being assassinated, but never being judged in the Arab world," he said, adding that many Arabs also perceived the trial as taking place at the whim of the occupying U.S army.

Other analysts alluded to a peer solidarity among Arab rulers.

Dalal el-Bizri, a Lebanese sociologist and political columnist, noted the "vast authority that Arab leaders have, their endless stay in power, their cohesion."

Mubarak has been at the helm of the most populous Arab state since 1981. He has repeatedly warned against worsening violence in Iraq, and voiced concern about tensions spilling over to the rest of the region.

He and Saddam, who rose to power in 1979, rarely shared the same views during the decades they both spent in office, but in 1991 Mubarak offered the Iraqi leader a haven in exile to avert the Gulf War.

Saddam declined, and Egypt sided with the United States during the war. Mubarak also initially condemned the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, but blamed the offensive on what he described as Saddam's failure to cooperate with the international community.

El-Bizri said Arab populations tend to strongly associate with their presidents. "Their presence is felt everywhere. It causes a sick relationship between the people and their leaders," she said.
"No matter how despotic a leader is, he becomes a symbol of his country, or even synonymous with it," she said, explaining why many Iraqis and other Arabs were uncomfortable seeing an agitated Saddam arguing in the Iraqi court.

Some hoped the former president's lengthy prosecution and sentencing would pave the way for more accountability in the region.

"Saddam Hussein deserves to be punished for the crimes that he committed against all the Iraqi people," Walid Jumblatt, the leader of Lebanon's Druse community, told reporters. He said Syrian leaders also deserve punishment for allegedly killing former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

It's Saturday Night

"Chaos Dies" from the album "Time to React" (1995) by Alligence

Charging in so blind, To manipulate our lives
What our eyes now see, Is not what was meant to be
Feeding off the pain, A game for the insane
Exploiting shallow truth, Is a profitable abuse

Shred your life
Take your mind
Strip your soul
Rob you blind

Blinded by words - blinded by faith
Feeding of controversy - feeding of hate
What is the truth? - What are the lies?
A past left behind - when chaos dies

Trubulent are the times, and and cutting are the lines
That we everyday, our thoughts are swept away
Diggin up the dirt, Inflicting constant hurt
The price to be paid, a life moulded into shape

Shred your life
Take your mind
Strip your soul
Rob you blind

Blinded by words - blinded by faith
Feeding of controversy - feeding of hate
What is the truth? - What are the lies?
A past left behind - when chaos dies

Take a look around - Take the time to see
The course of your own actions as thoses of others