Author: MandarinTangerine

Qatar has been singled out by several other Gulf countries for contribution to “terrorism.” The rift widens as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE have blocked Al Jazeera news sites and have made it difficult for travel to Qatar. The rift has the potential to spread unless Kuwaiti efforts at peace-making can resolve the crisis. Why did Qatar get singled out for terrorism in the region? Wow!

How did this craziness get started and what’s keeping it going? Bahrain first accused Qatar of spawning regional terrorism, and the rumors spread. Then, communications by Rex Tillerson and President Trump appeared to be in disagreement. The conflict may be fueled by our own legislative action HR2712 “The Palestinian International Terrorism Prevention Act of 2017,” which is supported by Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Israel. The US sponsors of the bill have received more than one million dollars from Israeli donors (according to Al-Jazeera).

And now have we injected ourselves into this mess. We need to join Kuwait in moderating the controversy.

Let’s not forget our largest base in the Middle East resides in Qatar with 10,000 of our personnel. We can’t afford this trouble.

The famine and cholera epidemic (>500 deaths) in Yemen are part of the acute news coming from this, the poorest of the Arab countries. As we have said, few outside Yemen have much interest, The UN has so far failed to raise the funds needed to stave off the famine.

But what about the chronic or longterm effects of the famine? Animal studies have demonstrated that early malnutrition lessens ultimate brain size. While it is difficult to extrapolate these data to humans, the effects of malnutrition to the degree seen in Yemen may have considerable longterm effects on the society in terms of the cognitive development of children. Will the effects be discernible twenty years from now? No one knows. Will Yemen ever really recover?

Is this another victory for Al-Jazeera, that they would be blocked by none other than the Saudis? Although Al-Jazeera was not blocked by the US, the news group saw no point in remaining active in the US. They withdrew from the US some months ago. Thus, Saudi Arabia once again joins with our nation in the character of our news coverage.

Al-Jazeera must really run good stuff if the Saudis block it.

And the Al-Jazeera journalist, Mahmoud Hussein, has been held by Egypt for almost six months.

What’s the story behind these stories? Are we hearing more echos of the Sunni-Shia conflict? Or is it simply a restriction of information flow?

Cholera is now reported  in Yemen with 200 cases in the capital Sanaa.

Cholera only occurs in such large numbers in situations where the population is already in a depleted nutritional state. The only effective management is better nutrition and clean water. The vaccine is relatively ineffective.

That these cases occur in the capital of the country means Yemen is continuing on its downward spiral.

Reporting of diseases in probably not accurate in outlying areas at this point.

The fact remains in play that there is little reason for the world to be concerned about Yemen – no oil, minimal other resources, and no land that anyone wants.

Is the end in view?

I feel we, as Americans, should apologize to the rest of the world for the current state of US cable news, specifically Fox and CNN.

Plutarch quoted Socrates, “I am neither an Athenian nor a Greek but a citizen of the world.”

Our two primary cable news are so focused on the turmoil in US presidential politics that they have pretty much dropped any detailed consideration of international news. They are no longer really news networks.

If we want international news, we must turn to Al Jazeera, the BBC, or lesser US choices.

Muslims encounter all kinds of problems from Americans, and particularly American Christians. Not the least of which is the American distaste for the Arabic word for God, Allah. The word Allah has become connected solely with Islam itself, and therefore when the word is used, all kinds of unpleasant images are evoked in the American mind.

Bu we should know that Allah has been used by Arab Christians for centuries. And Allah is contained in ancient Arabic translations of the Scriptures.

While there several theories of the etymologic derivation of “Allah”, these theories are irrelevant to its present day usage.

The question then arises as to our understanding of the character of the Islamic Allah versus the Christian Allah. Is it the same God each refers to? And that’s the real issue.

As the West worries about the results from the French election, perhaps our real concerns should rest with coming election in Iran on June 14.

The hard liner, Aminadinejad, was rejected from the process by the Council of Leaders. The current president, Rouhani, is running again, but he may lose because he has failed to deliver on the economic promises expected from the nuclear deal.

Al Jazeera recently published interviews from six representative citizens. Although the individuals were from differing segments of society, their chief concerns were in two areas: personal freedom and economic security. Sounds like the US, doesn’t it?  No one mentioned Islam, Israel, or their relation to the United States.

It may take years for the thread of freedom in Iran to take over the whole cloak.  But the citizenry is ahead of the theocracy.

Let’s watch the results with interest.

The solution to the Syrian “civil war” remains elusive, perhaps unachievable. It’s the Syrian people and rebels versus Assad, Russia and Iran, with ISIS an added force allied only with themselves. How have the Syrian rebels have lasted so long? That’s the real mystery.

The US interest has been transient, ineffective, and uncertain in goals. Of course, the West applauds the recent US strike following Assad’s use of poison gas. There was no choice but to take this step. But what next? Beyond inserting US forces, I have no idea what we could do to reverse the apparent course of events.

Russia and Iran are committed to Assad emerging as the leader of Syria. Russia has a vital stake in Assad remaining in power: the only Russian naval base on the Mediterranean at the port of Tartus.

And both Russia and Iran can claim the role of maintaining order in Syria, as they have been “invited” by Assad.  Our intervention would, therefore, be “un-invited.” The US once again faces the choice of another proxy war, much like the one being conducted in Yemen between the US and Saudi Arabia on one side and Iran on the other.

One might argue that the US failure to intervene with troops at a much earlier date might have carried the day and defeated Assad. But considering subsequent events after our intervention in Iraq, that alternative was avoided.  The result of intervention with US troops was totally unpredictable.

Perhaps there never was a solution for Syria.

Crisis in Faith – How God Shows Up When You Need Him Most hits the streets this week. Our book tells the story of God’s care for us during the Kuwait hostage crisis when Iraq invaded the little Gulf State in 1990. It’s a story of how God imparted faith to my wife and me.

But the book also tells about Muslim friends who took care of us during our years in Kuwait and their concern for me during the invasion. They hid me from the invading Iraqis and sheltered me in their homes at great risk to themselves .

Given the current US fear of Muslims, the book would be a good read for Americans just to see how to see how most Muslims really are – not at all like the picture often displayed in the news.