Opposition to imperial domination

Well at least someone's happy about the anti-Islam-film riots:

The only surprise is there aren't more violent protests in the Middle East....

This is the start of the blowback from US and western attempts to commandeer the Arab uprisings. Something similar is likely to happen in Syria. The invasion of Afghanistan more than a decade ago not only didn't destroy al-Qaida, it spread it into Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen and north Africa, and today the flags of its offshoots are flying across the Arab world....

Since launching the war on terror, the US and its allies have attacked and occupied Afghanistan and Iraq; bombed Libya; killed thousands in drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia; imposed devastating sanctions; backed Israel's occupation and dispossession of the Palestinians to the hilt; carried out large-scale torture, kidnapping and internment without trial; maintained multiple bases to protect client dictatorships throughout the region; and now threaten Iran with another act of illegal war.

The video is manifestly only the latest trigger for a deep popular anger in a region where opposition to imperial domination is now channelled mainly through the politics of Islam rather than nationalism.

No prizes for guessing the author.

Comments

[Kellie]

So he'd prefer the protests to be about something other than what they say they're about, and most likely for some of those organising them they are, but it's remarkable how much easier it is to get people on the street about this kind of thing than about military action in Iraq or whatever.

There was a bit of testimony to the Iraq Inquiry that I was very struck by at the time. Even though the effect of Abu Ghraib had been earlier described as 'significant' by Maj Gen Andrew Stewart, when Lt Gen John Cooper was asked about the effect on Iraqi opinion towards British troops of prisoner abuse allegations in the media, he said:

"The only issue I remember having an impact on the ground was the publication of the Danish cartoon. Everything else was manageable and could be dealt with through sensible negotiation and debate with our Iraqi local interlocutors."

http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/transcripts/oralevidence-bydate/091215.aspx

http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/transcripts/oralevidence-bydate/091209.aspx

[sackcloth and ashes]

Milne was happy to support imperialist aggression against Muslims in the 1980s, when he belonged to the tankie faction of the CPGB.

[Bob-B]

So all would be well in the Islamic World if only the US would adopt a policy of isolationism. Sunnis and Shiites would become best friends, women would be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, Assad would stop killing his people, anti-semitism would vanish, gays and Christians would be welcome, and of course pigs would fly.

[JC]

Milne was a fan of Slobodan Milosevic, the great Islamophile, wasn't he?

[Sinister]

I wouldn't have won a prize even if there were any. I thought it was John Pilger. Odd how they all sound so similar to one another.

Right, I'm off to get helplessly taken up by the 'toxic tide of Islamophobia I feel sloshing around me at all times.

[DaninVan]

And on a brighter note!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-19/iran-cleric-pummeled-by-badly-covered-woman-after-warning-her.html

[Dom]

Another bright note:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/they_called_him_ismail_NvkIeRrZGvp7TO64l0qttJ?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Editorials

Sometimes God is great!

[Martin Adamson]

The Charlie Hebdo cartoons here

http://www.bivouac-id.com/billets/les-nouvelles-caricatures-de-charlie-hebdo/

[Mick H]

Thanks for that. Yep, they're nicely offensive.

[JC]

"The Charlie Hebdo cartoons here"

Very French. Spot the reference to Jean-Luc Godard's "Contempt" in the third one down.