Newspeak of Middle East Politics: Winning is Losing. On Close Elections and American Magi Visitors
“Hezbullah, like Hamas in Gaza, blackmails the Lebanese voters into voting for it through providing the social services, education, and health services that the Lebanese government cannot provide. The same applies to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt…” A royalist-liberal (they have them in the Arab world) columnist on Elaph
So by this twisted logic of this writer, you should not vote for those who provide the basic human services, but you should vote for a government that does not provide these services. But we all agree that it is usually the economy, stupid- n’est-ce pas? So what is the deal here?
In Lebanon, winning is not clearly defined. It is almost like “winning” in Israel. In the latest Israeli election, Tzipi Livni and Kadima “won” the most seats, but Netanyahu of Likud won the nod to form a government. In Lebanon and Israel, winning can mean losing, and vice versa.
At least one angry Arab commentator has even suggested that Hezbullah actually prefers to lose the election, i.e. not get a majority that allows it to lead a government. Which also makes sense in a Lebanese context.
Who gets the real credit?
”Then to whom did Obama go while trying to explain his vision for a coming relationship with the Arab and Islamic world? Who was that genius the source of advice? Is he King Abdullah? And from Riyadh, where did he go but to Cairo where he met president Mubarak..and from Cairo he went to Europe, and not to Israel as US presidents normally do…” Written by a kin of the very same King, in the daily al-Riyadh.
You’d think it was one of the Magi looking in on the manger, looking for..…
I should not use that term “Magi”, it does not have the same good connotation it does in the West and in Christian scripture. It is often used by some rabid Arab media (usually among Salafis in some Gulf states) as a derogatory term for Persians/Iranians, and even Arab Shi'as- hinting at some dark force with pre-Islamic ties, whatever they are.
Cheers
mhg
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