If TheNew York Times is capable of printing on its pages such a sinister, undiplomatic and uncivilized piece of writing, where do you go to get your news and reach your assessment of today’s world?! I am referring, of course, to Thomas Friedman’s article "As Ugly as It Gets" that was published on May 25, one day after the announcement of the U.S its new plans to expand "secret Military Acts in Mideast Region" which claims to give up the term "war on terror" only to give the Pentagon and CIA a free hand to use Black Water contractors "to both friendly and hostile nations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa to gather intelligence and build ties with local forces. Officials said the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate" (see NYT, May 24, by Mark Mazzetti).
Friedman, in his article, went beyond the minimum border of courtesy to heads of states by accusing the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of being a deep moral disappointment whereas, Lula represents an inspiring example to millions of young generations all over the world. To appoint himself as the judge of "proper" democracy and to classify Iran, Venezuela, Brazil and Turkey, all of which are democratic countries, of not being democratic means that his yardstick is the faulty one and not these countries. Moreover, he wanted even to incite a "green revolution" in Iran, similar to the "orange revolution" that was incited, hailed and supported in the Ukraine and has just recently reached its demise by the power of the people of the Ukraine and the power of democracy that is not compatible with the "democracy" promoted by Freidman and his likes, who know nothing about our religions, and live in their cozy, safe havens thousands of miles away from the areas they are disturbing and condemning to permanent conflicts, to death and destruction.
Friedman and his likes couldn’t care less about the death and destruction in Iraq, about the daily crimes perpetrated by Israelis against the Palestinian people and about the daily shelling of Gaza by Israeli warplanes which also violate the Lebanese airspace on a daily basis, because the objective of the new American policies is to help Israel be rooted in the Middle East, regardless of its shameful and dangerous crimes against indigenous Arabs, its disgraceful prisons, in which sadist settlers practice the ugliest forms of torture against prisoners, including hundreds of women and children, as testified by Israeli newspapers and human rights groups. Over and above, there are the Israeli racist and apartheid policies which have just been confirmed to be rooted in its close relations with the apartheid regime in South Africa in the book: The Unspoken Alliance: Israel’s Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa, By Sasha Polakow-Suransky.
The noise made about Israel’s attempt to sell nuclear warheads to South Africa aimed, in part, to provide cover to something more dangerous and sinister mentioned in the book, which is the Israeli deep-rooted racism against Arabs and Palestinians, which is more dangerous and humiliating than the racism of South Africa (see Haaretz, 25 May, Akiva Eldar, “Who says Jews and racism don’t go together?”
Thomas Friedman has nothing to say about the definite nuclear heads that Israel wanted to sell to the South African apartheid regime since the 1970s, but he highlights a vague phrase of experts saying "it would only take months for Iran to again amass a sufficient quantity for a nuclear weapon". Iran, which is unable to enrich Uranium to 20%, while a nuclear weapon needs 90%; Iran which religiously considers the possession and use of Nuclear weapons a crime; Iran which is a signatory of the NPT, while Israel is not, poses such a danger to Freidman, but not Israel!!!
Friedman does not see the millions of Arabs threatened by the Israeli nuclear weapons. For him, for US administrations and Western governments in general, they do not exist. What is important for them is “Israeli’s security”, while the Arabs’ security is a nonissue. He prefers that Iran never get a bomb, and says: "the world would be much safer without more nucleus heads, especially in the Middle East", but what about the nuclear heads that Israel already has and the massive arsenal it possesses and is using to kill, uproot and exterminate the indigenous Palestinian People. Freidman concludes by saying that those who foster real democracy in Iran are on the side of the angels but any one who supports the Iranian regime will one day have to answer to the Iranian people. But who has now to answer to the Palestinian, Iraqi, Afghani and Pakistani People?
Had Iran, Turkey, Brazil and Venezuela supported Israel’s crimes today and declared that they do not support the Palestinian people’s right to freedom, contributed to blockading Gaza rather than lifting that blockade, we would have heard on the same day that Iran is democratic and that these countries have become “friends” and “allies”. The Western criterion for democracy in the Middle East is insuring Israel’s security. Regimes have understood this well; and that is why Freidman and others are lashing out at Iran.
The newly announced clandestine military activity agreed by the Pentagon and the CIA for the Middle East and beyond warns of a new era of instability more dangerous than the launching of war on terrorism because it aims to reshape our world and countries and even our culture and morality according to a group of contractors pursuing a totally different agenda with no regard to the indigenous people, values, culture and morals. The world is again divided into those with us and those against us, but with the efforts to recruit some of the indigenous local people to give "orange revolutions" and "green revolutions" a legitimate cover. We seem to be heading towards a more dangerous future and it helps no one to have Freidman and his likes as its proponents.