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Old 06-17-2007, 10:17 AM
Zeno Zeno is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
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Default The Middle East is in Flames

According to this article anyway: The Middle East is in Flames


Among the points made in the article:

"Extremists are scoring the most points. "Gaza is the latest evidence that most of the trends are pointed in the wrong direction. It's yet another gain for radical forces. It's another gain for Iran. It's another setback for the U.S., Israel and the Sunni regimes," said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and State Department policy planning chief during President Bush's first term. "The United States has not shown that moderation pays or will accomplish more than violence."


A second danger is that conflicts now overlap. "You can't look at Lebanon or Iraq or the Palestinians or Syria or Iran and try to deal with them separately anymore. You could have 10 years ago. Now they are politically and structurally linked," said Rami Khouri of the American University of Beirut.

Khouri said the United States deserves a good share of the blame for a confluence of disasters spawning pessimism and anger across the region. "

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There are of course simmering conflicts in autocratic Egypt and the horn of Africa is becoming an area of more intense conflict. Pakistan is rapidly becoming more fractured and Musharraf is barely able to hold power. The Taliban are growing in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Armageddon, apparently, is on the horizon. And then Jihad can cleanse the souls of all the world's Holy Warriors.

-Zeno
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