Friday, May 16, 2008

"The Post-American World" | U.S. in need of legitimacy

Friday, May 16, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

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"The Post-American World" | U.S. in need of legitimacy

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2004417474&zsection_id=2002119537&slug=zakaria16&date=20080516

By Alan Moores

Special to The Seattle Times

Even if we Americans already know that our country has lost some of its game over the past, say, eight years, Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria delivers this message in an altogether new, almost buoyant context.

"This is a book not about the decline of America but rather about the rise of everyone else," he writes in the first sentence of "The Post-American World" (Norton, 292 pp., $25.95).

It's about a China whose economy has doubled every eight years for the past three decades; a young and vibrant India emerging from debilitating poverty; a Russia newly flush with oil revenues; and strengthening economies worldwide, from Europe to the Middle East to Latin America.

These countries are not only wealthier, they're also expressing themselves in "new narratives," as Zakaria calls them, from more self-assertive diplomatic stances to an explosion of non-English-language media to a circumvention of the U.S. nexus in favor of greater multilateral trade.

Zakaria doesn't see these changes as inherently bad — for instance, he calls the economies of China and India, with their low-wage work forces, the "two great global deflation machines."

Rather, it's how the U.S. adapts to these changes that concerns him most.

America might have far to go, starting with the way we treat other cultures. Zakaria tellingly quotes Briton Christopher Patten, former European commissioner for foreign relations, who describes the arrival of American Cabinet officers to a conference abroad: "Hotels are commandeered; cities are brought to a halt; innocent bystanders are barged into corners by thick-necked men with bits of plastic hanging out of their ears. It is not a spectacle that wins hearts and minds."

This attitude is certainly an embarrassment, but given that America is also capable of creating the Marshall Plan, facilitating an Egyptian-Israeli peace accord and serving as an "honest broker" globally, such imperiousness may not be permanent.

More worrying for Zakaria seems to be our predilection for isolationism vs. internationalism, a tension being fully played out in this year's presidential primaries.

Reading Zakaria, it's hard not to reference Thomas L. Friedman's seminal 2005 "The World Is Flat," which sounded an alarm over the growing global competition America faces. If Friedman's study was more urgent in its call for a new American competitiveness, Zakaria is more sanguine in that respect.

He argues that our economy and military are strong, our educational system dynamic (Friedman's thesis notwithstanding) and our trade mechanism vital. (Oddly, the elephant in the room — global warming — is left largely untouched.)

Departing from Friedman, Zakaria emphasizes a need for America to restore its legitimacy. "The United States has every kind of power in ample supply these days except one: legitimacy. ... Legitimacy allows one to set the agenda, define a crisis, and mobilize support for policies among both countries and nongovernmental forces like private business and grass-roots organizations."

Illustrating the point of America's lost legitimacy, the author recently reminded PBS interviewer Charlie Rose that 19 years ago, pro-democracy demonstrators erected a likeness of the Statue of Liberty in Tiananmen Square. That probably would not happen in a demonstration there now, he argued.

Arab women need to have a larger role in the media

Muhammad Ayish

Last Updated: May 12. 2008 8:44PM UAE / May 12. 2008 4:44PM GMT

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080512/OPINION/198289821/1080&template=opinion

The media’s handling of women’s issues has always generated heated debates in different communities around the world, and the Arab region is no exception. This week, a pan-Arab panel of media practitioners and experts convened in Abu Dhabi under the auspices of Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the head of the General Women’s Union and of the Family Development Foundation, as well as chairwoman of the Arab Women’s Organisation, to exchange views on how to enhance women’s representation and professional presence in the media industries.

Clearly, the meeting underscores Sheikha Fatima’s keenness on supporting women’s causes not only in the UAE, but across the Arab region.

In 2002, the Abu Dhabi Declaration on Arab Women and the Media noted the leading contribution of the UAE to women’s advancement as a central component of the country’s development strategies. It also made reference to the growing role of the media in building up public opinion and publicising the remarkable achievement of Arab women in all walks of life, saying that women should be accorded appropriate representation in media content and offered professional opportunities of access to media institutions.

Although the Abu Dhabi meeting represents yet another milestone in the UAE’s endeavours to empower women to be active contributors to their communities’ development, the event carries far more profound significance. Participants discussed a draft Arab Women Media Strategy slated for initiation at the forthcoming conference of the Arab Women’s Organisation in mid November in Abu Dhabi on the role of women in human security.

The new document represents a different approach, with programmes of action to bring about changes in women’s relationships with the media. Over the past two decades, the representation of women in the media has figured high on national and pan-Arab public agendas; however, most of the initiatives to address this problem have been shrouded in political rhetoric, lacking in strategic visions, and failed to adopt a true pan-Arab posture.

This time, the convergence of clear visions about women’s empowerment and the bright achievements of the Arab Women’s Organisation in promoting more active roles for women in their communities, are bound to generate fruitful results.

The renewed interest in bringing about positive transformations in women’s roles — both as objects of media content and as media practitioners — seems to reflect some grim realities in this area. According to reports released by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem) and the Tunis-based Centre for Arab Women Training and Research (Cawtar), Arab women still have to make a lot of progress before they are able to leave enduring marks on the public sphere.

One Unifem report noted a considerable increase in the number of women entering the field of media across the region. However, this increase does not seem to have improved the way women are represented. This could be because of institutional media policies, professional values, or advertisers’ demands, the report acknowledges.

In June 2006, Cawtar released its long-awaited Arab Women and Media Report that revealed striking findings about women’s images, especially on the satellite television channels, in advertising and magazines. The report noted that women continue to lack appropriate access to senior media positions involving editorial decisions, staff recruitment, and budget allocations.

It also found that the way women are portrayed seems to be out of line with the huge advances achieved by Arab women in public life as politicians, educators, engineers, lawyers, and medical practitioners.

It seems unfair to blame these problems regarding the role of women in the media solely on long-established industry practices. Social and cultural inhibitions are also important factors to consider as large sections of the community continue to hold serious doubts about women’s entry into the media professions — despite the quite amazing dominance of women enrolling into communications studies programmes in the region.

More than ever, it is time to recognise the contributions to the development and sustainability of the media industry by women. For the next few decades, Arab women, like others in many parts of the globe, are likely to continue to be objectified, commodified and stereotyped in the public sphere. But when we think about the superb endeavours of visionary women leaders in the region such as Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak in supporting women’s empowerment, we can be assured that the true face of the Arabian woman will eventually be visible at the end of this dark tunnel.

Prof Muhammad Ayish is Dean of the College of Communication, University of Sharjah

In Qatar, Muslim, Jewish clerics meet

By BARBARA SURK –

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i3FochTBbRXIDPCZMKD9_v0aEWxwD90MJMT80

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — More than a dozen Jewish rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as this conservative Muslim sheikdom opened one of the Gulf's first scholarly centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue.

The rare meeting of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars in the heartland of conservative Islam is another sign of Qatar's efforts to present a moderate image as it bids for the 2016 summer Olympic Games. It's also part of a broader push by Arab governments for interfaith dialogue, even though most still do not recognize Israel.

The talks were not entirely smooth, and politics and disputes over the Palestinian issue did inevitably intrude, said Rabbi David James Lazar, leader of a synagogue in Tel Aviv.

Yet, the benefits for him were huge, he said — especially the ability to make personal connections with Arabs and Muslims "who otherwise I would have no contact with."

"For some it's their first chance ever to hear, not only an Israeli but to hear a Jewish rabbi speak ... And so one of my responses is trying to tell them the story of the Jewish people, which often they have not heard. The Holocaust," he said.

"I hear their story as well," he said. "It's an exchange of stories."

Another attendee, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, chairman of the Muslim Jewish Forum in Britain, commended Qatar for "being brave" by holding the conference.

"We know that hosting rabbis and an interreligious forum can be controversial in the region," said Gluck, whose group is based in a part of London where Jewish and Muslim communities sit side by side.

Some Qataris did criticize the gathering.

"This openness to other faiths creates confusion among our people and jeopardizes our identity," said one preacher at the local Fanar Islamic center, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

But other Qataris consider this and other changes made by Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al Thani as progressive and credit him for social and economic reforms since 1995.

Two months ago, the country also allowed the opening of its first-ever Catholic church. It has had low-level ties with Israel through a trade office for 12 years although it does not recognize Israel, and recently also invited Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to speak at a conference on democracy.

Ibrahim al-Nuaimi, the director of the interfaith center sponsored by the ruling family, said the goal is to "promote joint studies of academics from three faiths to foster understanding and peace."

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who heads Vatican's council for inter-religious dialogue and attended the conference, praised Qatar's efforts to include Jews.

"As religious leaders, let us promote a sound pedagogy of peace, which is taught in the family, mosques, synagogues and churches," Tauran said.

Efforts at interfaith dialogue got one of their biggest boosts when Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah met with Pope Benedict XVI last November at the Vatican.

In March, the Saudi king then made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews — the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and symbols.

The moves, however, come amid rising tensions in the region and with peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled. Many also believe there is a growing gap of understanding between the Muslim Arab world and the West.

Muslims have been angered by cartoons published in European papers seen as insulting the Prophet Muhammad and by the pope's baptizing on Easter of a Muslim journalist who had converted to Catholicism.

The specifics of the Saudi king's initiative — and who would participate — still remain unclear, in particular whether Israeli religious leaders would be invited to a Saudi-brokered dialogue.

It also is unclear if the Saudi efforts would have any political component, or any eventual impact on stalled Arab-Israeli and Palestinian peace talks.

Lazar, the Tel Aviv rabbi, said he is no politician but will carry his warm impressions from the conference back to his students and synagogue — as he hopes Muslim clerics will, too.

Lazar said one Palestinian researcher at the conference confronted him about Israeli textbooks that were, in his words, promoting hatred of Palestinians among Israeli Jewish children.

"My challenge to him was, let us meet together ... and together we'll look at our textbooks, the Jewish textbooks, the Muslim textbooks and the Christian textbooks in Palestine and Israel — and together we'll find if they're educating children toward hate," he said.

Associated Press writers Pakinam Amer in Cairo, Egypt, and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Arab League talks seek to defuse Lebanon crisis

Hezbollah agrees to end blockade of airport; feuding factions to meet on power-sharing deal

May 16, 2008

Oakland Ross
Middle East Bureau

BEIRUT–Words finally replaced bullets here yesterday, as Lebanon's feuding factions once again prepared to settle their bitter differences in a semblance of peace – or at least to try.

"We want dialogue to save Lebanon's independence, integrity and institutions," Sheikh Naeem Qassem, deputy secretary general of Hezbollah, said in a televised address. "We want to work hand in hand in order to build a new Lebanon."

An Arab League delegation helped broker a truce yesterday between Lebanon's ruling coalition and several opposition factions, following nearly a week of intense and deadly armed combat between the two sides.

Under the deal, Hezbollah was to remove its blockade of Beirut's seaport and international air terminal, withdraw its gunmen from the streets, and agree not to use military force as a political tool in future.

Representatives of different Lebanese political and religious factions were expected to meet in Doha, Qatar, today for peace talks aimed at reaching agreement on power sharing and the drafting of a new electoral law.

Qassem said yesterday he welcomed a decision announced late Wednesday by Lebanon's pro-Western government to revoke a pair of security-related decisions that last week plunged the country into its worst spate of internal violence since the civil war that raged here from 1975 to 1990.

Yesterday, Lebanese information minister Ghazi Aridi said the government's change of heart should not be seen as caving in to armed pressure by Hezbollah and other opposition groups but as a reflection of its concern for the greater good of Lebanon.

"Since the government is greatly concerned with the higher interest, the government decided to approve the rescinding of the two decisions," he said in televised remarks.

But there was little doubt the pro-Western administration of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had indeed been forced to back down after Hezbollah militants overwhelmed the government's own paramilitary forces in several days of fierce street fighting in Beirut and other cities.

Armed clashes erupted in much of Beirut on May 7 after the ruling coalition said it was firing Gen. Wafiq Shouquair, chief of security at Beirut's international airport, because of alleged security breaches and also moving to dismantle Hezbollah's private telecommunications system.

Hezbollah denounced both measures as tantamount to acts of war and promptly sent hundreds of its well-trained fighters into the streets in a bloody show of force that left more than 80 dead and some 250 wounded.

As the Lebanese Armed Forces looked on without intervening, Hezbollah gunmen quickly overwhelmed a patchwork of government militias and soon controlled most of western Beirut.

Having made its point in blood, Hezbollah withdrew without mounting a direct challenge to the government's survival.

"Hezbollah stopped just at the entrance to the Grand Serail," a prominent Lebanese lawyer said, referring to the huge government palace in downtown Beirut.

Yesterday, the streets of the Lebanese capital presented an otherworldly study in contrasts, as urban sophisticates in the fashionable Hamra section of the city chatted on the patio of the Costa coffee bar or perused their laptop computers, as if oblivious to the tanks and soldiers still posted only a block away or at frequent intervals throughout the city.

Hezbollah said yesterday it would begin clearing the mounds of earth and other debris that have blocked many of Beirut's main access roads for more than a week, including the road to the international airport, closed for the past eight days.

Middle Eastern Airlines, Lebanon's flagship carrier, was expected to begin flying its planes back into Beirut late last night.

With a population of 4.2 million, Lebanon has been in a state of near political paralysis for the past 18 months because of bitter squabbling between the government and opposition.

The post of Lebanese president has been vacant since last November because the two sides cannot get together to vote for the position, even though they agree on the same candidate – Lebanese Armed Forces commander Gen. Michel Suleiman.