Why Washington is always missing the point on the Middle East

Because they rely on wrong informations .
I was reading this article by Marc Lynch, trying to analyse why the Arab springs have not taken place yet, not in full swing at least, in the countries of the Gulf .
The reasoning evolves around the issue of absolute monarchies .
It goes completely off track .
I am sure, as I read on his biography, that he is a great academic, but I assume he has no experience on the ground .

First of all, we can't forget the role played by Western powers prior and during the springs, and so we need to consider the different type of relation, each European country and America had with the rulers and governments of Maghreb .
Different relations mean different impacts on their economies as well, other than the political level .
The monarchies of the Gulf have always been more independent in their alliances with the West .

Then there are different traditions and culture .
The tribal environment in the Gulf is pretty different than that of Northern Africa .
This turns also into different approaches toward life, which is one of the reasons why, there have been light revolts which up to now brought no real revolution .
The rulers in the Gulf area deeply know his people and always worked for them .
Never took away from them the wealth coming from the oil, and never gave it to them just as money .
But they always gave them the best in terms of services, such as schools, hospitals and benefits .
Contrary to what was happening in Africa, they did their best to empower their people .
This is something probably unknown here, due to negative reports from the press, but it is the reality .
And the religion as well, despite differences in sects, unites people with their rulers .

Monarchs in the Gulf never gave up on their relationships with the people .
They always worked for them but of course made mistakes .
This is why in any kind of rebellion from Oman to Bahrain, the rage of the people was mostly against corruption of the middle men without holding rulers responsible .
There is a small number of persons who think otherwise, but for now they are a minority .

This is the point that few in the rooms of power in the West, cannot understand .

Why I will not read Matt Bissonette book

I am not sure anybody out there is interested, but I just want to make my point .

After I converted to Islam, I started to have problems with my family .
It was issues I hadn't seen coming, because of the way religion is lived, here in Italy .
True that very few are practicing Catholics, and even less know exactly what's being taught to them at schools and churches, but Catholicism is a sort of talisman, something each national is born with, without asking .
So cutting with it, for an Italian, often means also to cut with roots, a part of them at least .
It became so uncomfortable to live with my family, that I decided to move to the M.E.
There things unfolded also worse, because for how much one loves the culture, he or she will never be part of it .
And Islam is only a part of Arab culture, important but just a part .
There in the Gulf, I had the opportunity to challenge myself, to know different people, to appreciate other aspects of life .
But all in all, it was an awful adventure .
My local sponsor cheated me, a guy stole all my money, most of the people I thought to be friends, just turned their back, and I had to rush back home .
I had gone there with a bunch of money and dreams .
Had to go, also blacklisted for three years, because a dishonest person asked me for money, big money, left me without visa and ran away .
I entered like a princess and went out like a beggar, all this because a bastard took advantage of my silly good heart .
After two years I am back home, I'm still missing the place and people and trying to go there again but with no positive outcome .
I rejoined my family also sewing fractures there had been between us in the past .
Actually I am not happy, but at least I'm alive and that's a lot .

In all these years and carrying on with tribulations, I've always thought that my disgraces had been caused by only one person : Osama bin Laden .
If he hadn't done what he did, I was thinking, I would not have even tried to go out .
In reality bin Laden was just a symptom .

The real disease is that Italians are not used to deal with differences .
Multiculturalism is an unknown word to them .
They cannot come to terms with the fact, that despite being raised in this culture, one can be perfectly happy by adding to his/her interests another inclination, like a different religion, or also can come from a mixed background .
In Arab lands instead, they haven't realized that Arabs are just leaving aside their religion, they behave as if they were not Muslims.
They cheat, they lie, they misbehave as if they had no morals .
These were the real causes of my troubles, other than the fact that I was not good in making choices .

Along with the years I've been pondering on the happenings of my life and on how they were related to the world events .
In the same way that, I was telling to myself the tale that bin Laden was responsible for my tribulations, on the other hand, I was listening to political and police experts, sociologists and media persons and understanding that OBL was the root of all evils .
And also, every time there was some story or details around him and his family, the way he started, the way he was thinking or speaking, I was just listening .
I listened to each kind of theory about his life and misfits  and about his capture .
I learned about his background, his evolution (if it can be defined thus), his wives and children, his habits, everything .
When he was captured and killed I spent hours in front of television and computer to know details .
So I was thinking it was finally finished .

But the next day I woke up and realized it was not .
People in my country are still racists and bigots (many not all), Arab Muslims still prefer beer to prayer (many as well, not all) and Obama is still there blabbering about terrorism and launching drones, specially at elections time .

So I realized that the problem was not Osama bin Laden .
He was just a tool in the hands of God, to let us understand we have problems and we must solve them, following His way .

I don't think this book either, will change anything .
And I will not buy it, despite being passionate of police operations .
Also the true name of the author, reminds more of a baguette than a war hero .
And last but not least, Penguin is the editor of books which I used to read when I was at school .
My school memories are not that good .

So here are three good reasons not to read mr. Bissonette, or Mark Owen book .
No easy day is more the story of my life, than that of a chap who killed a coward in a hole .
With due respect .

Rage

I was reading the US department statement regarding the pussy riots verdict, on Alec Ross Facebook wall .
And I was highly disappointed .
Other than the fact that entering a church and shouting against Mr. Putin, can't be called as an example of freedom of expression, one needs also to acknowledge that Russia is not a third world country with a puppet government as Americans tend to point .
Russia is a sovereign country . It can't be urged to review a verdict, as it was issued by a court which is highly qualified to do that .

When living for some time in the M.E., one develops a certain feeling of disappointment .
It can be against bureaucracy or sponsorship .
In general it is against injustice .
If you are not inclined towards rage, sooner or later you will become .
It's mostly against Israel or the USA .
People in the West think that it is a specific attitude of the Muslims .
In my opinion it is something cultural, rather due to history .
It comes from frustration, to see how things are not that good at home and outside also, and will never change .
The Palestinian issue, is of course the genesis of this frustration .
If one ponders, it can't be just a coincidence or bad luck, and not even the governments mismanagement only .
People see how their rulers are dependent on America and British governments, which on their part, are tied to Israel, and come to the conclusion that it is all their faults .
Local governments know this, and try to use it for their own benefits, so people's rage is against America and not against them .
On the other hand, they use al Qaeda threat, or at least they did before the springs, in order to convince the US to remain on their soils and to provide more arms .
It is a snake biting its tale .
It is all around the fact that Gulf governments have never been able to establish a partnership with Western countries, based on terms of equality .

Marrying the CIA

She was relieved by his response: I didn’t marry the CIA. I didn’t marry the State Department. I married Carol Ann Fleming.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/08/17/3461351/wife-mom-spy.html#storylink=cpy

charlotteobserver

Difficult to think it was exactly like this .
Marrying someone who's been hiding the truth for some time, doesn't exactly feel that comfortable .
But I'll leave it like that, same as all the extraordinary things which were part of Carol life .
I started to follow her blog when I was living in the Gulf .
At the time she was working for some local television .
I was imagining she hadn't been an ordinary diplomat, rather an agent of influence, as this has been the role of her blog in those days, together with all the other bloggers on the state department galaxy .
Nevertheless she contributed to give to the world, and without putting lipstick on it, the true image of Saudi Arabia and Arabs in generals, which is not that of terrorists or camel travelers, a stereotype still trendy, here in the West .
Carol is a great woman who has lived many lives .
May Allah be with her always and protect her path .

Thicking faster

Israel is a small country with certain capabilities located in Iran's backyard. And Israel, not the United States, is threatened almost weekly, if not daily, with annihilation by Iranian leaders.
Iran official: Israeli threats of imminent strike are mere 'psychological warfare' - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper

Small but powerful .
I don't think this is just psychological warfare .
Israel would have liked to launch a strike since many months now, but America did not allow .
And not much for generosity, rather due to the economic crisis .
Here in Europe our system is on the verge of collapse .
We can't afford a strike on Iran, with an ongoing war in Syria .
And still we are counting the costs of the so called springs .
Obama is between two fires : the Israeli lobbies he needs to be re-elected, and Euro crisis .
If we go down, America comes with us .
And for the record, their banks and debts started all this .
Ideally, but war is never thus, if Arabs fix Syria, and Israel sets things with Iran, all well that ends well .
But I very much doubt it .

Update :

A he handed in his official resignation, Dichter also explained the move in a post on his Facebook page, stating that his decision to accept the role of Home Front Defense Minister was a decision to serve the country in the best way that he could. jpost

Not a peaceful guy .