Blood Borders- an Islamic Vatican City

A week ago, I revisited Ralph Peters' article Blood Borders. In that post I talked about effects of the Big Bang we created in the region with the invasion of Iraq and the larger War on Terror. I particularly focused on the possible partinioning of Iraq into three autonomous regions, the insurgency in Baluchistan and the dangers that await us as we continue to see the effects we unleashed.

In that same article, Peters had a very interesting proposition, mainly he wanted to establish an Islamic Super-Vatican that encompassed the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. In the article, Peters diagnoses one of the main problems in the Middle East as follows:

A root cause of the broad stagnation in the Muslim world is the Saudi royal family's treatment of Mecca and Medina as their fiefdom. With Islam's holiest shrines under the police-state control of one of the world's most bigoted and oppressive regimes — a regime that commands vast, unearned oil wealth — the Saudis have been able to project their Wahhabi vision of a disciplinarian, intolerant faith far beyond their borders. The rise of the Saudis to wealth and, consequently, influence has been the worst thing to happen to the Muslim world as a whole since the time of the Prophet, and the worst thing to happen to Arabs since the Ottoman (if not the Mongol) conquest.

Understanding the revolutionary nature of his proposal, Peters' acknowledges that "non-Muslims could not effect a change in the control of Islam's holy cities," however he argues, that "the Muslim world could become much healthier and less radical if Mecca and Medina were ruled instead by a rotating council representative of the world's major Muslim schools and movements in an Islamic Sacred State" or what he describes as a sort of Muslim super-Vatican where the future of Islam can be debated rather than just decreed. Another positive outcome of this would be the fact that in introducing debate into the holiest places in Islam we would also force Muslims to again address debate regarding Ijtihad, or "the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the legal sources, the Qur'an and the Sunnah" which fell out of practice thanks to the efforts of the "Asharite theologians, who saw it as leading to errors of over-confidence in judgement." According to some historians, "the closure of the door of ijtihad" led to the decline of philosophy and the sciences in the Muslim world.

Apparently Peters is not the only one who thinks that the al Sauds control of Mecca and Medina is one of the main problems within Sunni Islam today. According to Winds of Change the President of the Reform Party of Syria has a similar idea. Unfortunately, Winds of Change references another site as having the Syrian reformer's proposal and this site requires a subscription to read the article so it is unclear whether Farid Ghadry got this idea from Peters, or if the reform party developed it on its own. Given the wide coverage Peters Blood Borders article has received in the Muslim world, it is plausible that this is the source for Ghadry's own proposal.

In any case, we can take this as either an indication of the reach of Peters article, the continuing ripples of the Big Bang we initiated accross the Middle East, or both, one reinforcing the other.

Read More...

Snippet only...

Blood Borders revisited

About two months ago I wrote about Ralph Peter's paper in the Armed Forces Journal entitled Blood Borders. His main argument was for the redrawing of borders in the Middle East that would better reflect the ethnic, tribal and religious make-up of the region. This he argued would address one of the main problems left over from the era of colonization, when Western Powers carved up the region to suit their interests, creating in the process states made up of distinct peoples that had no history of living under one government. Peters' understanding how radical this proposal is, argued that "Correcting borders to reflect the will of the people may be impossible. For now. But given time — and the inevitable attendant bloodshed — new and natural borders will emerge."

At the time of my last post I noted some of the problems attendant to his proposition, mainly, that although the idea sounded great in theory, it was unlikely that people would take it lightly, particularly in countries that stand to loose (according to his re-drawing of the region) people and lands. Sure enough, the reaction to his paper from the Muslim world was one of "alarm and disgust." (See also here.) According to these articles, countries that are in the chopping block on Peters' piece, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, have engaged in back-channel diplomacy to craft a strategy that would protect them from any US attempt to carry out this plan. That said, it seems as if Peters' plan is carrying itself out, even as the United States tries to figure out itself what steps it will take next in the region, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine where our original plans have either stalled or are running contrary to our own wishes.

In his paper, Peters talks much about the state of Kurdistan that would need to be created in the region to redress a failure on the part of the colonial powers to recognize the existence of 36 million people that were carved among four different states (Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria). This, it seems is now happening on its own. It is beginning in Iraq where the Kurds for all intent and purpose already have an independent state in Northern Iraq. Southern Iraq is also fast becoming its own independent entity, following Peters' piece, becoming an Arab Shia state. That leaves "Iraq's three Sunni-majority provinces as a truncated state that might eventually choose to unify with Syria." Tom Barnett seems to agree with Peters' argument with regard to Iraq, and the concept of redrawing the boundaries of the Middle East. However, he goes even further, by arguing that not only Iraq, but also Afghanistan, Pakistan and Lebanon are "fake states" which will eventually cease to exist. As such, Barnett argues that we need to "stop fighting the inevitable and start planning for what comes next." As stated earlier, it is here were Barnett and Peters differ, for where Peters sees the birth of a Greater Lebanon (Phoenecia reborn), Barnett sees a "fake state" that will also have to be divided among the Druze, Shiites, Sunni and Christians living there. Similarly, in Afghanistan Barnett sees an unnatural state that will have to be divided between its North and South (with the south gaining the NWFP from Pakistan), a proposition which is slightly at odds with Peters who sees it loosing only the provinces around Herat to Iran, while gaining Pakistan's North West Frontier Provinces and incorporating them into a larger and united Afghan state.

To be sure, Barnett's division seeks to find a way around the resurgence of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan which this administration's allowed through sheer neglect of the country following our invasion of Iraq. That said, however, it is instructive to note how even theorists who agree on the concept of redrawing boundaries in the Middle East can disagree on where those boundaries lie. The reason, I find this important is because it points to the fact that redrawing such boundaries or pushing for such a policy will be far harder than it seems, since the people and powers of the region will likely have more reasons to either oppose such redrawing, or at the very least support it only in so far as it benefits them.

I stated earlier that Peters seems to be right in arguing that many of these boundaries will be redrawn over time, particularly in Iraq. Similarly in Pakistan, the Pakistanis signed a peace treaty with North Waziristan (and the Taliban) not only because the Pakistani army was fed up with the casualty rate it was suffering against its once ally, the Taliban, but also because the Pakistanis needed to move more men to Baluchistan were the insurgency against the Pakistani government was growing more powerful. Given the growing Baluch insurgency, it is possible to see how Baluchistan can one day separate itself from the state of Pakistan, completing yet another piece of the puzzle in Peters' new map. At the same time, the Kurds in Iraq, who for now remain tentatively committed to a federal Iraqi state, were they to become independent would immediately send a shockwave of change in its immediate region, with both Turkey and Iran seeking to prevent their own Kurdish populations from joining an independent Kurdish state.

As Barnett said earlier, given the shifts in the Middle East that have emerged in large part due to the September 11 attacks and our response, including the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, we can no longer take the boundaries of the region to be static, but rather need to look for emerging alignments and shifts and so accomodate our strategy in this long war. Given the many vested interests in the area, by most of the World's powers, the coming decade will be one of not only momentus change, but also one fraught with danger, particularly with regard to our country's stubborness in refusing to deal with Iran, the one country with perhaps the most power in the region that can either make it easier for us to navigate this current, or very painful should we choose an all out confrontation. Either way, however, one thing is for certain, the Middle East and greater Muslim world will not be the same as it is today, a decade or two from now, be it with respect to boundaries or to the social, economic and politcal situation.

As a cautionary note, however, it is important to remember that nationalism, particularly ethnic nationalism are very powerful tools that once unleashed are difficult, if not impossible to control. To see that, we just need to take a look at the ramnifications of Montenegro's decision to separate from Serbia, and what is being dubbed, the coming of the micro states. As Peters points out in his piece, "no adjustment of borders, however draconian, could make every minority in the Middle East happy," particularly those he himself admits will be left out of such redrawing of the region, "Middle Eastern Christians, Bahais, Ismailis, Naqshbandis and many another numerically lesser minorities." One he did not mention, but which would likely add more fuel to the fire of the Israeli-Syrian-Lebanese conflict would be the Druze, whose population is divided among all three states. Once begun, what's to stop other minorities from starting their own insurgencies (with what will likely be nascent democracies; or those most susceptible to insurgency and terrorism) from seeking to further redraw the map to establish their own micro-states, in the same manner that Chechnya is trying to separate from Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan, the Basque from Spain and a host of others in Europe still fighting for their own self-determination.

Read More...

Snippet only...

Site Maintenance and new blog

As many of you know, I've been updating this site to the new blogger beta. I'm mostly done with that endeavor. I've checked the site on Firefox 1.5 and Internet Explorer 7 RC1 and it looks great, sidebars are were they need to be and everything is sized appropriately. However, I'm still having a problem with the coding for IE6 which for some reason ignores my left sidebar, and shifts my main content to the left, moving also my right sidebar below the main content making the site look sloppy and unattractive. I'm still working on that, but I suspect it will be a while before I can work out the kinks in the code. Please bear with me for a while.

Until I can fix the problem with IE6's inability to handle most CSS coding, please use either FF 1.5, Opera 9, Netscape 8.1 or an alternate browser for better functionality.

In addition, I wanted to use this post as an opportunity to introduce a new site I've created. The site is tentatively called New Yorker in DC's Blogging Notebook, the address is http://nykrindcnews.blogspot.com. I created the site to be an aggregator of the most important online news sources dealing with international affairs which I use as sources for my posts. It is similar to my Newswatch page, except that unlike that one all the coding in this blogger account is mine. In time I will phase out the Newswatch site and move more all content to the Blogging Notebook. Please take a look at the new site and provide me with feedback regarding its content and what I can do to improve its usability.

I hope it serves new and established bloggers in keeping track of the most important events happening around the world.

Update

I've just checked the new Blogging Notebook site using Internet explorer and much to my chagrin found that IE6 could not read it. This is yet another indication of how far behind the times IE6 really is, and how much Microsoft needs to hurry to complete the new IE7. Please use any browser other than IE6 to access the site.

Update 2

I've been working on both this blog and the blogging notebook and think I've getting closer to working our the kinks with them. I checked the blogging notebook site on Opera, IE7, Firefox 1.5 and IE6 and it seems to be working properly. As for this site, I've finally gotten IE6 to recognize that I have a second sidebar, unfortunately it reads it as being far off to the left of the page. As before, in IE7 and Firefox the sidebar is placed correctly when viewing the blog. I will attempt once again to get IE6 to read the page properly. This is the closest I've gotten so far, I think I'm almost there.

Read More...

Snippet only...

Remembering 9/11

Today is September 11, 2006 five years since that fateful day. Every year, around this time, I like most Americans relive the events of that day. We remember where we were at 8:46 am when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. I was in Manhattan, on the No. 5 train heading to work (I was heading to work a little late because I had gone to vote earlier that day in the New York primary). I heard the first reports of a plane hitting the World Trade Center from people taking the train at 59th Street just a few minutes after the incident. What most said was that a small plane had hit the World Trade Center, and that the news were comparing the accident to one that had occurred in the Empire State building many years ago. I remember that although everyone who came into the train said it was an accident, I was not entirely sure. At Grand Central more people came in reporting on the "accident" saying that there was a lot of fire and smoke coming from the building, still they said it was an accident. I wanted to find the nearest radio, TV to find out what was going on but being in the train, all I could do was wait for my stop. I got off in 14th Street to transfer to the No. 6 train. and got off one stop later at 8th Street. I looked south on Broadway and saw the plume of smoke coming from the trade center, and remember thinking that there was too much smoke for that to have been a small plane. Be that as it may, I had to get to work, but before that I needed to run to the bank. I walked to the bank on 8th and Broadway in the opposite direction of the Trade Center. As the teller was processing my transaction she stopped cold, looked at me and said, "oh my god, another plane just crashed into the World Trade Center." At that moment my worst fears were confirmed, I knew that this had been no accident but was rather a deliberate attack on our country. Still I hoped that I was mistaken, so when I came out of the bank rather than head towards my job I walked down towards Washington Square Park, and from there to LaGuardia Place, where you could get a direct unobstructed view of the Trade Center. Upon seeing that sight, I knew we were at war.

Just as I was taking all of this in, and staring at the Trade Center along with the crowd of students that had gathered there, I heard a familiar voice crying somewhere around me, I turned to look and saw an acquaintance from one of my classes at NYU. She was talking to one of the NYU guards, and saying that she needed to get home. I went to where she was, she turned to me and said "my uncle works in those buildings." She then proceeded to ask me to help her catch a cab, she said she had been trying for a while but had had no luck. I asked her where she was going and she told me that she was heading home. We left Washington Square Park, walked towards Broadway (heading east) and and then turned on Astor Place looking for an empty cab. Finally, on the corner of Astor Place and Cooper Square we were able to hail an empty cab. She immediately got in, we said a prompt goodbye and she was on her way.

I headed to work after this, calling friends and family on my cell phone to verify that everyone was okay. Due to the attacks, and heavy call traffic it was difficult to get to anyone. I was finally able to get in touch with my girlfriend at the time, and she told me, "the pentagon's just been hit." Her words pierced through me, and as I struggled to take it all in all I could say was "shit, shit, we're at war."

I walked into work, and saw the fear in everyone's face, the disbelief at what was taking place. All I could think of saying when I walked in, was "it was al Qaeda." We all talked about what was going on, and in the midst of our conversation, I said "they tried to take them down before, 1993, and they survived, and today they are still standing," just then, one of my co-workers turned to me and said, the South Tower has collapsed; the time was 9:59 am. Tears immediately filled my eyes, and anger every part of my being. I was not the only one, as we all struggled to cope with what had just happened, we began to think about what we would need to do in case we could not leave the city. Our boss decided to send me and a co-worker to the nearest place with a TV to find out more information, as our Internet connection at this time began to fail. We went to the only place I knew that had TVs, a pub on Irving Place and 15th Street called Shades of Green.

We walked in, and found the place empty except for the immediate vicinity of the bar, where the TVs were. We found two open seats available there, sat down and watched the footage of the first tower collapse...it was too much to bear. We immediately ordered a shot of whisky and gulped it down almost before the server finished serving it. We had a second and then headed back to work to prepare for the long day ahead of us, in terms of preparing the office in case we needed to remain in the city for a day or two. The rest of the day was filled with sorrow, anger and a feeling of impotence at what was going on. I remember eventually all of us deciding to try to leave the city any way we could. Some people walked across one bridge or another, others up to relatives apartments in northern Manhattan. I eventually arrived home that day at around 8:30 pm. I walked into my house, looked at my parents and hugged them. I spent the rest of the day analyzing what had happened, and watching video of the towers from the time they were hit to the moment in which they collapsed to Mayor Giuliani's press conference when he said that the death toll would likely be more than anything any of us could bear. I did not go to sleep till well after 12 am on September 12.

Just writing about these events is hard, so many emotions well up in my being as I write, remembering the pain, the anger and fear I felt that day. I think most of us have to deal with the feelings of that day, the desire for revenge, for justice to be done on those who had planned and carried out these heinous crimes. We applauded the President when he stood on the rubble of the World Trade Center and after having the workers say "we can't hear you," responding "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."

Rather than continue rehashing what has happened since, I will leave this post as it stands, as just one more post of the many there will be today remembering the events of that faithful day.

To the families of those people who lost loved ones in the attacks, to the first responders who have died since and those who are currently suffering as a result of the dust they inhaled while cleaning up the World Trade Center area searching for survivors and the bodies of those who did not make it out, please know that we will always remember, we will never forget that fateful day. To the families of the many soldiers currently serving overseas, those who have been wounded, and those who've paid the ultimate sacrifice, I want to thank you for the service you have given our country. We won't always agree with the decisions of those in power, particularly with regard to the strategies pursued to defeat the enemies that harmed us and continue to plot still today, but we know that you serve and are ready to serve to protect our nation and to avenge those we lost five years ago today. For that, Thank you.

Today is not a day for politics, or political hackery, so to all those bloggers, politicians and pundits from both the right and left I ask to please respect the memory of those we lost five years ago today, because they were neither just republicans, nor democrats, they were first and foremost, Americans.

Never Forget

Read More...

Snippet only...

Site Maintenance

I am currently transferring my site to the new Blogger Beta, as such, many of the changes that I had made to the site are gone. During the coming week I will be reintroducing most of the elements of my older template. Till then, this standard blogger template will have to do.

Update

I'm almost done tweaking the blog code to get the effect I want. I've encountered a few problems, as I'm sure you've noticed. First, in Firefox, I can't get the Archives or anything below them to come up on the page right under the Profile. This does not happen in IE7, it seems to be solely an issue with Firefox. If anyone knows how to tweak the code solely for Firefox, please let me know. The second problem is found in IE7. For some reason, IE7 reads the main header as being scrollable, hence you can scroll up and down it once the page is loaded. I tried to tweak it, but again had no success. If anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. I'll continue working on this throughout the weekend and into next week, till then, please pardon the appearance of the site.

Another Update

I fixed the issue with the scrolling header I described above, but have still not figured out what to do about the sidebar in Firefox. I've also encountered a problem using IE6. For some reason, IE6 does not read my site as having a second sidebar and it does not appear, though everything else seems to work perfectly fine in it. I submitted a suggestion to the blogger team to make it easier to add a second side bar to any blog since I'm sure I am not the only one who has tried to do this. We'll see where that goes.

Read More...

Snippet only...