By Abdulillah
Some of the stuff that has been going on lately, for some reason or another, I find perplexing if not bordering on the absurd. I guess these are the signs of the times we are living. Here are some of these signs as I see them.
• The US has closed it embassy’s all over the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa (now to reopen almost everywhere except in Yemen) all said to have been done a precaution against possible terror attacks from Al-Qaida. This is said to be based on credible intercepted intelligence by the US National Security Agency (NSA). Yes the same one that Snowden the rouge leaker worked for but fled and now in asylum in Russia.
One wonders if these mass closing were really aimed at giving more latitude for escalated drone attacks in the Yemen, where backlash and hatred of these drone attacks is clearly been demonstrated and lawlessness is prevalent. Or maybe it was because it was to get Snowden off the main news pages as this is a major embarrassment for this highly secretive agency. Or yet maybe it was to celebrate Obama’s birthday which was on that the Sunday after the first day of closing and they wanted to give the workers off for the 27th day of Ramadan, also revered by many Muslims as one of the possible Nights of Power. Or maybe it was just to save money by giving their entire diplomatic work force the entire Eid holiday off since little work gets done during this time anyway.
I know this sounds a bit sarcastic but tell me it is not so that the story of Snowden and the Meta- Data collection of each and every phone call made to and from the US and its spying on its people and all other countries including those that are listed as “friends” of the US did not fall from the front pages of the news. Even to the point that when Obama canceled his meeting with Putin recently little was said or written. Or for that matter that the drone attacks did not increase in Yemen after the closings. Coincidental… Maybe, but doubtful.
In all fairness their might have been some very credible intelligence (It has been recently reported that it was intercepted conference call between many of the far flung Al-Qaida affiliates, but nothing has been reported about any specific attack), but to close that many in States that clearly had very good security around these embassy’s is a bit over the top. One would believe that having a diplomatic presence on the streets of these nations, both for on the ground intelligence and face to face interaction and cultural exchange is the goal of any diplomatic mission.
One thing for sure, those who wanted to drive a wedge between the Arab populations and the US have won out. It will only get easier for them to cause more trouble in the future, if every time some warped person wants to cause havoc he only needs to pickup the phone and call his other warped friends. Or it could just be like I stated earlier; just be a sign or prelude to some form of new cover-up of embarrassing news or an escalation of attacks.
• The IMF has apologized to Greece for its demands of austerity. A great article was written recently by Yousef Mansur about this measure in the Jordan Times. The thing that gets me about his article is the fact that we have so many people on our government payroll. I have always wondered why it is necessary to have so many on the public dole. Why can we not start cutting back on some defense expenditures and moreover reduce as promised some ministries and government personnel. I know that we cannot do all of this quickly but we should be phasing some of these cutbacks overtime. Using some of the savings to pay back our debts and for childhood education and the establishment of newly sponsored government infrastructure projects that may assist in developing new jobs and new tax revenue as well as overall stimulation of the economy. Alas I am afraid we will never admit to the fact that we are a people destined on the reliance of government jobs that serve little purpose to the overall economy but a drain of the public treasury.
• The inability of our government to mobilize its efforts for reformation, where it seems that once those who seek elected office get in, they cannot seem to get themselves off the front page of the newspapers for their silliness; where many get bogged down in stupid behavior such as bring guns to work and brandishing them, not showing up for work and asking for things that the rest of us people who pay their wages do not get, even to the point of absurdity; where they will argue ad-nausea about who get to travel abroad on the next trade mission, not to discuss trade but to spend the time frolicking away from work. I guess they feel if they buy gifts abroad this constitutes trade. Amazingly sad isn’t it.
• The inability of our policy makers to understand that every legislation either will hurt one party or the other. Both parties cannot be winners; this starts with the landlord tenants laws to those of the agricultural that do not reflect free and fair market pricing, or the social security net that will not survive because of low retirement age and rising benefits.
• The on-going Palestinian peace process that no one really believes in, not because no-one wants peace but that peace without justice is not what this is about. It is more about the continuation of a farce where the strong party can state “see we are trying” but in reality are not because everyone can see they continue to usurp more land for settlements. That is bad enough, but worse they want acknowledgment that not only these settlements are included in any negotiation as theirs to keep and control, but that their state is acknowledged to be ONLY Jewish, when so many “others” have lived there for so long. I do not know about what you believe, but if this is not the worse form of Apartheid then I do not know what you call it, it surely is not democratic nor is it any form of inclusiveness, but exclusiveness. Couple this with a broker supposedly a middle man who is really not playing it squarely down the middle, we get a peace process that is not only farcical but an absurdity in fairness and justice. One can see that the only way that this party understands is by the law that states “might makes right” as such; should only be treated with what it understands, even if one loses, because it is better than dying by a thousand times like a coward.
• The, on-going battle of the liberal verses the conservative in our society, typically along the elites and low classes demarcation lines. Where one party believes that if it wins, it has the right to exclusively marginalize the other, where no one wins but the outsider who wants only to enslave the people in servitude to his desires and whimsical fancy. Divisiveness and division are his main tools yet we cannot recognize this due to our lack of education and unity.
• Last but not least our inability to actually hold cancer making cigarette and tobacco companies responsible for any costs towards public health related to cancer and even more burdensome taxation. I do not know about you, but if someone told me he was going to kill me slowly by placing some poisons or carcinogens into each meal I ate, I surely will not let him get away with it, moreover I would not allow him to do this openly.
We best wake up before all is too late and we find ourselves in chains that we built and placed by our own hands.
God Bless Jordan and its People
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