UNRAVELING THE MIDDLE EAST MESS

I just spent some time this morning listening to Chuck Todd on his MSNBC show: The Daily Round UP. If his soliloquy wasn’t so tragic, it would have been ludicrous. What was so tragic was both his lack of understanding of what is going over on over there and his attempt at “sin twisting” by twisting his lack of understanding into a matter of “hate Obama for not doing something”. The truth seems to be that Obama is the only one who actually seems to understand what is truly going on and how to solve problems. For example, all Todd really did was to trip and stumble all over the myriad problems in the Middle East. Of course, unlike Senator McCain and his Republican colleagues who have a solution, which is to use our “big guns” to beat everybody up until they behave, as “we” would like. This last point isn’t to just people like McCain but includes some intellectuals such as Charles Krauthammer, as he explained in his book Doing Things Right. He bases his philosophy on a business modal, which is dominance by greed, the Reaganomic modal; according to this philosophy, everything works best if all the money is at the top. As the Middle East and undeveloped countries makes clear, that buries but does not address the root problems.

# Chuck Todd had no solution, or even a suggestion for a solution. He repeatedly demonstrates he does not understand Obama policy. Usually there are two warring factions but the problem has been especially complicated in the Middle East, there are three major factions. Obama bases his policy on these three warring factions: Shi’a and Sunni Muslims, and those who want democracy. Of course, certain people want to include Christians verses Muslims in the conflict but Christians are such a minor faction in this part of the world they do not take center stage. In addition, there are people who insist on including the Jewish faith in the mix because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but the politics of territory dominance is the basis of that “sub” conflict and not religious differences. Obama has reduced the main conflict to “democracy” verses “caliphate” and is acting accordingly

Clearly, this is a politically sensitive issue because the universal question is; are we ruled by God’s law or are we ruled by secular law? In either case, a society defers to what the majority of the people want, which sounds strange when we talk about caliphate form of government but that is what it is. If the people in a governing unit what ever it is: tribe, state, chiefdom, nation, etc, want to allow a few self appointed religious leaders to choose their political leaders that is what they do. This has evolutionary precedents in hierarchy dominance (peck order) and in our well-honed sense of survival, both of which are bestial. Our intelligence has given birth to democracy for which colonial United States can take credit, a change from a spiritual sense in the  form of God or royalty to the pragmatic sense of one-man one-vote replacing God with a majority. This is so blasphemous to religious people that they either reject this idea completely or accommodate both forms of government at the same time, even if they are in direct conflict as they are, or they reject God. Even the justices of the Supreme Court of the United Sates can not understand the principle of separation of church and states; in fact,  that is why five of them were selected to be justices.  

Obama embraces the middle road because that is the only practical thing to do. Few people seem to realize that is what the so-called “Arab Spring” is all about. Krauthammer, for example, seems to think it means U.S. business hegemony over the world. The world is flat. People around the world are seeing on TV and Social media the successes of America. All of these fundamental changes in evolutionary biological behavior are changing; family structure, women’s rights starting with women’s suffrage, xenophobia starting racial desegregation, and crime and punishment starting with the independence of secular law for religious law are pulling us out of the past; they are humanizing. You cannot stone a woman to death for adultery in the United States, kill her for being victim of rape, or prevent her from going to heaven by raping her. You cannot shoot someone because you don’t like them, at least that was the case before stand your ground laws were passed in the more primitive states.

Look at Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, or Iran for a start. As it turns out Egypt is the clearest example of the conflict. The people rioted for the right to vote for a new leader; that happened and they elected a man who said he was nonsectarian. He lied. With power, much to the disgust of the Egyptian people, he advance his Muslim sect over other sects. More riots cause the military to take over the government. The military appointed a leader that suppressed one religious sect over another—it was no surprise that there are more riots. Under a flood of anti Obama rhetoric, the Republican haters of all decisions unless they make them, blame Obama for not stepping in and forcing the
Egyptian people to do what we want. They are not capable of seeing what Obama sees, which is that the people have to choose democracy over other forms of government or it isn’t democracy.

As the result of not understanding the religious-political divide, George W. Bush set up a sectarian government in Iraq next to a country, Iran, which is opposed to that governing sect. Of course, the people in Iraq just like the people in Egypt are going to add to the internal turmoil by trying to overthrow that “religious” government. In addition, sect members from neighboring Iran joined in the fight against the American installed president of Iraq. Add to this, individual groups of mix of terrorist rebel and now add John McCain in the United States media screaming to give sectarian groups arms so they can fight for democracy, which is exactly what they do not want. Most of the individual groups have sectarian leaders that favor them; they want power while the general population flees the country because they are tired of war and want democracy, which is called “Arab Spring”. Now add in oil companies, then add Stephen King from Iowa and Allen West from Florida who hates Muslims no matter what sect they are, then Karl Rove and the well funded political Republican hate machine and top it off with Chuck Todd confusing the American people because he has a voice but absolutely no understanding of what is going on and you can appreciate what Obama is up against. The amazing thing is Obama remains calm and confident while under unprecedented siege; he is in control—the mark of a real leader.

Ask any Republicans you know why they hate Obama and they have no logical answer—none—zero. I asked one and he told me because of what he does. Which begs the question, what is it he has done that so up set you. His tail chasing response was response that he hates him because he has done nothing; he doesn’t do anything. What on earth is the logic of criticism of Obama for what he hasn’t done if he hasn’t done anything. In fact, even the speaker of the House of Representatives is saying he is suing the President for executive actions. It has gotten so bad that they are blaming him for what they, not him, “haven’t done”. This is the old Rove trick; attack your enemy’s strengths. Obama, a

Democrat is head and shoulder above them in domestic affairs and foreign relations that is in governing and that embarrasses them.

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