Here’s
the perfect parable for understanding not just the contemporary Middle
East but the wider world today. So far, it’s only being covered in the
Finnish media which, I assume, means nobody outside that country knows
about it.
Two
unarmed Finnish soldiers assigned to the United
Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) were observing along the
Israel-Syria border from the Syrian side. Armed men stopped their car.
While the two Finns didn’t speak Arabic they were quickly made to
understand that the men wanted their UN vehicle and their other
possessions.
Similar things have happened to Belgian and Italian soldiers in the UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon.
In short, the supposed representatives of the
world’s community were being mugged and they could do nothing about it,
or at least nothing but to give in.
A Finnish officer explained that the men weren’t in fear of their lives; the gunmen just wanted their property.
Now
let me make it clear that I’m not criticizing the two soldiers. What
are you going to do when you are unarmed and terrorists with guns hold
you up? Yet this little story struck me as incredibly symbolic on
several levels.
The
world is constantly held up by terrorists and nowadays it tends to give
in, if not to the specific operations to the narrative being imposed on
it. We do see rescue operations sometimes—as in the Algerian army’s
disastrous “rescue” in which all the technicians being held hostage at a
gas field were killed—and sometimes we don’t, as in Benghazi while the
U.S. government stood by as men it had sent into a dangerous situation
were murdered.
Yet
what happens is that even if the terrorists don’t always win in their
military operations they succeed in intimidating the West to hand over
its intellectual property—by suppressing its own debate—and sometimes to
pay tribute money as well.
As a
reward for failing to fulfill its commitments and cheering on terrorist
attacks, the UN’s General Assembly assigned non-member state status to
the Palestinian Authority. Billions of dollars of U.S. aid go to
Pakistan, which helps the Taliban and shields al-Qaida. Arms are handed
over to Syrian Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Turkish
government backs a terrorist group to create a violent confrontation
with Israel (the IHH in the Gaza flotilla) and President Obama declares
that regime to be his soul mate. Even after an official report that
Hizballah carried out a
terrorist attack in Bulgaria, the European Union won’t put it on the
terrorism list.
There
is a long list of such items. Terrorism mugs the West and gets paid off
as long as it doesn’t overreach too much. Not attacking the World Trade
Center is enough to make some group America’s “friend.”
One
reason the West tends to yield is that it is unarmed. Not literally, of
course, But unarmed in terms of its ideas, analysis, and understanding.
As for a
good case study, take Lebanon, a few miles from where the two Finns
were mugged. In 2006 the UN and the U.S. government promised Israel, as a
condition for ending its war with Hizballah, that a much-enlarged UN
force would
keep Hizballah in southern Lebanon and help stop arms’ smuggling from
Syria to Lebanese terrorists.
Hizballah
has walked all over the UN (UN Resolution 1701) and the U.S.
commitments without any cost. UN observers have been regularly
intimidated by Hizballah, which has moved back into southern Lebanon and
built new fortifications. See here and here. The UN and the White House
have not only done nothing but they haven’t even criticized Hizballah
for this behavior.
General
Alberto Asarta, the Spanish general who commands UNFIL forces in
southern Lebanon, cannot praise Hizballah highly enough. The area, he
explains, is "the best and most stable in the whole of the Middle East”
thanks to Hizballah’s cooperation. It is "the most successful model when
compared to
the experiences of other UN peacekeeping missions around the world."
And Hizballah has actually helped combat terrorist groups that sought to
attack UNIFIL. Indeed, the cooperation with Hizballah is called—I kid
you not--“The Partnership against Radical Islamic Terrorism.”
Memo to police forces: This could be a model for The Partnership against Crime to be formed in alliance with the Mafia.
Did I mention that having won the
last Lebanese elections—with a little help from violent intimidation and
assassination of opponents—Hizballah now runs Lebanon? And did I
mention that the new CIA director, John Brennan, is an apologist for
Hizballah and has advocated normalizing relations between the United
States and that terrorist group?
And, of
course, unless hit with an Israeli air attack, Syria and Iran smuggle
any weapons into Lebanon they wish without U.S. or UN objection or
blockage. The effect of this smuggling is not only to set the stage for
future Hizballah terrorism against Israel and a possible war, but helps
to guarantee that Lebanon will continue to be in the hands of a
terrorist group that is closely aligned with Tehran and advocates
genocide against Jews.
Oh, and Israel is supposed to be the bad guy because it defends itself against muggers.
It’s
bad enough to be mugged repeatedly but it’s even worse to provide the
weapons and money for the assailants while also praising them. But
that's precisely the moral of
the story as far as Obama Administration policy is concerned: Except
for a few exceptions who won't play nice (i.e., al-Qaida) if you're nice
to the terrorists and they'll be nice to you.
Professor Barry Rubin, Director, Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center http://www.gloria-center.org
The Rubin Report blog http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/
He is a featured columnist at PJM http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin/.
Editor, Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal http://www.gloria-center.org
Editor Turkish Studies,http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=t713636933%22
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