A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Noted Belatedly: Obama Used "Persian Gulf" in Nowruz Greeting

I overlooked a subtle message in President Obama's Nowruz message to Iran the other day.

I've discussed on earlier occasions (here and here and here  and here and here) what I have called "the  [Insert Name Here] Gulf problem which has led to Iran protesting anyone referring to "the Arab Gulf,," or even, in the case of Google Maps, which tried to avoid the issue by labeling it "the Gulf," a form I sometimes use on this blog, complaining about that, as well as the airline Gulf Air. But one of the links above is to a case of a Saudi case which went the other way, in which a teacher got in trouble for using "Persian Gulf." In the Middle East Journal, I allow either, since I've learned Iranian authors will protest if you change it to just "the Gulf."

It got past me until now that in Obama's Nowruz message urging Iran to agree to a nuclear deal, he specifically appealed to Iranians "from the coasts of the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf."
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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

White House Marks Nowruz Early

Ten days early, the White House has celebrated Nowruz.

Note midway through, the First Lady (or her speechwriter) explains the haft sin to a crowd that presumably already knew what it was.

I wonder if the early marking of Nowruz had anything to do with the Republican letter to Iran?

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Sisi in New York: All is Forgiven?

Egyptian President Sisi's visit to New York for the General Assembly has seen him openly supporting the anti-ISIS colition (though has anyone noticed that ISIS spelled backwards is ...oh, never mind). And despite continuing anti-American conspiracy theories in Egyptian media, the US and Egypt seem to be one big happy family again:

Embedded image permalink
And apparently, General Sisi may be covering bases for possible once and future Administrations as well:

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

A Quick Take on Obama's ISIS Speech

A few off-the-cuff reactions to Obama's speech:

I like the emphasis on allies in the region having to bear the brunt of the ground war, since ISIS will try to make it a David vs. Goliath one-on-one with the US to win more recruits (which may be why they deliberately provoked the US by killing US journalists. If the US is too much in front here, we may just be helping their recruiting efforts and prestige among jihadis,

There was a lot of talk about a broad coalition of allies, including the Arab world, though only the Iraqi government (and the Kurds) were named. I well understand the sensitivities here, but I keep hearing the Arab world and our NATO allies spoken of.

A pop quiz for you all: 1) is there a NATO Ally which 2) happens to have a strong army, and 3) borders with both Syria and Iraq which are 4) adjacent to or near ISIS-controlled areas, and which borders happen to be 5) the very ones through which foreign recruits are reaching ISIS?

Very good, class. I knew you could get it!

I understand why the President and diplomats don't talk openly about Turkey. Turkey has no love for ISIS but it is suspicious of the Kurds (and vice versa), has supported more radical groups in the Syrian opposition than the West has, and has quarrels with much of the Arab world except Qatar. Anti-Americanism is running high.

And, given the recent transfer of power, it's quite possible that newly-elected President Erdoğan and newly-installed Prime Minister Davutoğlu, after less than two weeks in their new jobs, are sorting things out about who gets to do what. (Or is it one of those Vladimir Putin/Dmitri Medvedev things, where the power resides with whichever one is named Putin?)

Still, I'm sure this was discussed at the recent NATO meetings, since bringing down ISIS without Turkey could be difficult, as revealed by looking at comparative orders of battle or, well, even just a map.

Monday, September 9, 2013

A Footnote to Today's Talk of a Possible Syrian Deal

As President Obama's efforts to persuade Congress to authorize a Syrian strike face increasing resistance, there has been a flurry of interest today in a possible deal involving Russia persuading Syria to give up its chemical weapons and transfer them to international control in exchange for avoiding an American strike. Secretary Kerry seems to have floated the idea, perhaps inadvertently, but Presidents Putin and Asad have pursued the idea.

Whether this proves to be a solution to an increasingly uncertain deadlock or a false start, a trial balloon that is quickly shot down, one thing that I haven't seen noted by most of the talking heads is that retired Israeli Gen. Amos Yadlin, former head of Military Intelligence, suggested a deal along these precise lines more than a week ago.

As The Times of Israel reported on August 31:
Were Putin to offer to take Assad’s chemical weapons out of Syria, said Yadlin in an Israeli Channel 2 news interview, “that would be an offer that could stop the attack.” It would be a “genuine achievement” for President Barack Obama to have ensured the clearing out of Assad’s capacity, and that would justify holding fire, said Yadlin. For Putin, such a deal would also keep the US from acting militarily in a state with which Russia is closely allied.
I have no idea if Yadlin's remarks had any influence on the apparent trial balloon today, but if this actually brings results, perhaps Yadlin's remarks should be noted.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The Onion: "This Will Not Be Another 1456 Siege of Belgrade"

President Obama's repeated insistence that action in Syria will not lead to another Iraq or Afghanistan spurs The Onion to another great story: "Obama Assures Americans This Will Not Be Another 1456 Ottoman Siege Of Belgrade."

And a good thing, too, unless we're on the Hungarian rather than the Ottoman side. I'm glad I'm not the only one in this country who knows who John Hunyadi was.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

About That Sama ElMasry Obama Video: Some Historical Context on Sama

The US image in Egypt has been going through rough times lately, partly through confused messages and the fact that many secular Egyptians still blame us for allegedly backing the Muslim Brotherhood.

But one rather extreme expression of secular Egyptian anti-Americanism has gone viral in Egypt and has made it into the American social media over the past week or so. Many of those who have picked it up are Americans to the political right who, like many on the Egyptian left, claim President Obama is pro-Muslim Brotherhood. The video, "starring" belly-dancer/personality/satirist Sama ElMasry, is crude, rude, offensive, slanderous, and more, so naturally it's gone viral. But it also is being spread by people who've never heard of Sama ElMasry (which was everybody till a year or so ago), who has self-promoted herself into celebrity status by her Anti-Brotherhood songs and dances on YouTube in the past year. I thought I owed it to those Americans who are seeing this out of context to put this entertainer and her shtick into some sort of context. First, though, the Obama video (offensive for plenty of reasons, and no, I don't share her views):



Okay, you probably get the idea: Sama ElMasry is not subtle in her satire. This is getting passed around in the US with captions like "the most bizarre anti-American video you'll ever see" and the like. But what most people on this side of the Atlantic don't know is who this lady (I use the word out of courtesy) is exactly.

Sama has shown up on this blog before, back in March of 2012, when I posted about her using one of the more memorable titles ever to appear in this space: Now, the "Nose-Job" Islamist MP and the Belly Dancer, and the Growing Islamist-Belly Dancer Axis. That, in turn, was inspired by an even better headline in the Egypt Independent: "'Nose Job' MP Files Complaint Against Belly Dancer Who Says She's His Wife."

The story was simply that ... well, actually, there was nothing simple about it:
Former MP Anwar al-Balkimy, who recently resigned from Parliament after covering up his nose job with a fabricated assassination attempt story, filed a complaint Monday against a belly dancer who claims he married her in secret.
In his complaint filed to the attorney general’s office, Balkimy took legal action against Sama al-Masry for the “false allegations,” which he said harmed his reputation as a member of Parliament and a religious preacher.
Earlier this month, the Salafi Nour Party suspended the Balkimy’s membership after investigators discovered he had lied about being the subject of an assassination attempt to cover up a nose job operation he had received at a private hospital.
 Nose jobs apparently being haram under the Nour Party's version of Salafi Islam.

Sama was described as an actress and belly-dancer in most of the publicity surrounding the case, but her career seems to have been stagnating a bit before that 15 minutes of fame. Since then, though, her celebrity has been growing.

As Mahmoud Salem (known in the blogosphere as Sandmonkey) later explained after she released her first satirical YouTube video some months after Muhammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood took power:
The 32 year-old El Masry was briefly a television news presenter before launching her career as a singer, actress and belly dancer. She released three songs, none of which was a hit, and acted in three films. But then she rose to fame this year when she was rumored to be the wife of Salafi MP Anwar Al Balkimy. Once a member of the ultra-conservative Al Nour party, Al Balkimy was forced to resign from his seat in parliament in the wake of a juicy scandal: He was discovered to have fabricated a story about a violent carjacking to explain away his heavily bandaged face, following a nose job at a private hospital. 
. . .Despite her vagueness regarding the relationship (El Masry confirmed she was married to an Islamist politician but never stated explicitly who he was), when Parliament was dissolved last summer, she went to the building and smashed pottery on the pavement in front of it. According to Egyptian tradition, the act of smashing pottery symbolizes the permanent sundering of a relationship. El Masry then disappeared from the news, until this song came out on YouTube.
Act Thuggish [the name of her first YouTube video] did not amuse the Islamists, but their responses varied. Brotherhood leaders Mohamed Al Beltagy and Mahmoud Ghozlan complained that the freedoms won in the revolution were being abused by the secularists in a dirty war against the Islamists, but refrained from proposing any punitive action against El Masry.
Salem's links to the video no longer work, but he explains the approach:
Last week Sama El Masry, a famous Egyptian belly dancer, uploaded a home-made video to YouTube; it shows her in a skin tight outfit, swinging her hips seductively to a song rife with anti-Muslim Brotherhood political innuendo. The sexy little number set the Egyptian social media and political worlds ablaze — but not only because it mocked the prudish Islamists with the double whammy of gyrating hips and no-holds-barred criticism of the Islamist party. In a bizarre twist that could only happen in post-revolutionary Egypt, the dancer was also famous for claiming to be the ex-wife of a Salafi member of parliament.
Titled "Act Thuggish," the song became an instant viral hit amongst anti-Islamist Egyptians. It openly mocks the Muslim Brotherhood party's failed Renaissance Project, a much-ballyhooed plan to "energize" Egyptian society. It also skewers Brotherhood heavyweights — like Khairat El-Shater and Essam El-Erian, vice chairman of President Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party.
Those unfamiliar with Egyptian politics might find the symbolism in the video a bit obscure, but for most Egyptians it is pure comedy gold. The opening lyrics are derived from chants that were heard at the October 12 anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstration, called the Friday of Accountability; it ended with clashes between protestors and Muslim Brotherhood forces in Tahrir Square. Sama confirmed that the events of that Friday provided the inspiration for her song.
The entire video is replete with satirical images — like dancing with two meat cleavers, in a play on the Muslim Brotherhood's emblem, which features double scimitars crossed protectively over a Koran. Another section of the song is devoted to mangoes, a sendup of Morsi's boast about having kept his campaign promise to lower the price of fruit and other foods during his first 100 days as president.
Egypt’s vibrant and irreverent social media community loved the fact that this heavily satirical song was created and performed by a belly dancer. They immediately created an Arabic Twitter hashtag with tens of thousands of tweets in El Masry's name, with her online supporters hailing her as a symbol of the popular opposition and the revolution — a voice that spoke more clearly than most of Egypt’s secular politicians.
After that, she was off and running. Every month or so, sometimes more often, a new YouTube video went up, with Sama dancing and skewering Islamist politics, usually with references to current events, street humor, and with the sort of unsubtle and lewd (though rarely actually obscene) language seen in the Obama video. There is a fair amount of sexual innuendo, but she's never in a revealing costume and at times dances in niqab for effect. You can find many of the videos on YouTube, though unlike the Obama video most aren't subtitled in English, and even those skilled in Egyptian colloquial will miss many of the contemporary satirical jabs.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

King ‘Abdullah II: Backing Away from an Interview

King ‘Abdullah II of Jordan is next on President Obama's list for his Middle East tour, which moves to Jordan tomorrow. He'll be fresh from a bit of controversy: an article in The Atlantic by Jeffrey Goldberg, "The Modern King in the Arab Spring." It's a very candid interview in which the King is quoted on many of his neighbors, saying nice things about Netanyahu, not-so-nice things about Morsi and Erdogan (warnung if the rise of a "Muslim Brotherhood crescent" from Egypt to Turkey).

The damage control started almost immediately: a "senior official at the royal court" said the interview contained errors and inaccuracies (Arabic link); a royal Facebook fan page noted Goldberg had served in the IDF; in effect, the King (or that "senior official f the Royal Court) repudiated oarts of the interview.

There's a good analysis by Jordanian blogger Naseem Tarawnah here, and also more on the damage control here,

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Obama's Nowruz Greetings

It's the eve of Nowruz (actually, the astronomical solace is tomorrow, but the first of Farvardin, the Persian Calendar  New Year, is March 21, so when it's celebrated may depend on the country: it's not just Iran but Kurdistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, much of Central Asia, Zoroastrians and Baha'i everywhere, etc.) President Obama, ironically on the eve of his trip to Israel, recorded his Nowruz greetings to Iranians::

I'll post my own in due time.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

What's Bibi Thinking?

 An Israeli photo comment. Perhaps more on this theme later. Though I fear it isn't this simple.



Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Democrats and the Jerusalem Flap

I don't discuss US politics much here, though it's not always easy in a Presidential election year, and this is the first Presidential election since MEI started this blog. Opinions expressed here are my own, not MEI's, but I'm still not going to take partisan sides on US political issues, except as they involve the Middle East.

My Middle Eastern readers, however, may be puzzled by some of the rituals of the US nominating conventions, especially the strange events this afternoon relating to Jerusalem.

US policy, under Democratic and Republican Presidents, remains officially that the status of Jerusalem is a final status issue to be decided in negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians. As a result, the US Embassy in Israel, like other foreign Embassies (except for a tiny handful of Latin countries I think) remains in Tel Aviv. Our Jerusalem consulate exists in a sort of transnational status.

Nevertheless, every four years both major political parties declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Congress periodically votes to move the Embassy, but the President's foreign policy powers are then invoked to waive moving the embassy until a final status agreement.

For reasons still unclear (though this Laura Rozen column seems to explain it pretty well) the ritual declaration about Jerusalem was not included in this year's Democratic platform, despite otherwise extremely pro-Israeli provisions. Today an amendment from the floor was introduced to add the Jerusalem language, as well as a mention of God, which had also been omitted. The spin is that President Obama wanted these provisions included, but the result is to call attention to the ritualistic (and in real terms, rather meaningless) Jerusalem language. But it was done awkwardly, and the result was that the chairperson had to gavel through an alleged two-thirds majority on a voice vote, though only the truly faithful can hear two-thirds saying "aye" in the video below. It was handled rather poorly, but the result is not a change in US policy, just an invocation of a ritual shibboleth in American politics.

It has been asked, "why not just say that Jerusalem is the capital of both Israel and Palestine?" Good question.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Please, White House, Next Time Tell the Embassy ...

Twitter this afternoon:


He really is there, or at least at Bagram. They could turn on the news. Maybe they mean he's not actually in Kabul, but that seems a bit legalistic.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

"GOP to Nominate Netanyahu": Not the Onion, but Purim

The headline would be expected from The Onion: "GOP to nominate PM [Netanyahu] as US Presidential Candidate." Nor is it April Fool's Day, but it is Purim.

On a more serious Purim note, Marsha B. Cohen takes on Netanyahu's gift of the Book of Esther to Obama: "When Bad History Makes Bad Policy."

Monday, March 5, 2012

Please Don't Let This Be a Portent

Prime Minister  Netanyanu gave President Obama a copy of the Book of Esther after their summit.  Let us hope this is purely because Purim starts Wednesday, and not because by the end of the book, 75,000 Persians have been killed.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Bahrain's Pro-Government Press on "Ayatollah Obama"

If you thought the US had been a bit too restrained in its comments on Bahrain's suppression of protests, the pro-government Bahraini media don't think so; instead they're denouncing  "Ayatollah Obama" and the dangers of the staunch US-Iranian-Hizbullah alliance.

It would be amusing if so much were not at stake.

And, via the comments, Part One.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Thoughts on the Obama Speech

As I noted earlier today I was one of the few Middle East specialists who didn't hear President Obama's speech, since I was chairing a panel at the time. One result is that by the time I read the speech and watched excerpts, the evening newscasts and others of the commentariat had already weighed in. So I'm going to keep my comments to a minimum.

Most of the headlines have focused on Israel and the reference to the 1967 borders as the basis for a settlement, with minor land swaps. This was, and is, quite simply what has been the basis for negotiations since the process really began in the Oslo process. It was the basic assumption behind Camp David II, Taba, and every hypothetical peace plan since. It's been the basic assumption for years. Netanyahu's immediate — almost instantaneous — rejection and the knee-jerk reaction of Mitt Romney and other Republicans (and Fox News) have made it seem as if this is a major shift in US policy and a gauntlet thrown down before Israel on the eve of Netanyahu's visit to the US. Yet these parameters were already negotiating points for Israel, whether under a Labor Prime Minister (Ehud Barak) or a Kadima Prime Minister (Ehud Olmert). So why is this the headline?

The speech wasn't even mainly about the Israel-Palestinian issue: it was about Arab Spring. Whether the focus on the Israeli issue is just politics as usual or simply a Pavlovian reaction to any criticism of Israel, this wasn't what the speech was really even about.

I recognize, of course, that the decision to give this speech on the eve of Netanyahu's arrival was a gamble, since in Israel at least everything will be interpreted through the lens of the Netanyahu visit. I don't know why this particular timing was chosen, though I suspect the White House might have hoped to generate some positive press in the Arab world before the appearance of Obama speaking to AIPAC and Netanyahu addressing the US Congress.

The actual message of the speech, general and idealistic as it may be, is being ignored in the US coverage. I think so far the overseas coverage is a little better.

But overall, I fear the reportage so far is a microcosm of US preoccupation with the Middle East: whatever happens, whether in Morocco or Yemen or Bahrain, is passed through a filter of "Is it good for Israel?" The fact that should be obvious to anyone who has been watching events is that Arab Spring has almost nothing to do with Israel, or for that matter with the United States. I say "almost" because many Egyptian protesters did criticize the peace treaty with Israel, and the long US support for Mubarak. But these aren't what the protests were about.

At a moment of profound and fundamental change, which the President at least acknowledged and praised, much of the US coverage is still focusing on an issue the demonstrators are not, an issue which has long dominated decision-making on not just Arab-Israeli, but all Middle Eastern developments.

One final thought: while I think it was a good speech, and is being distorted in the commentary, I also think that the pre-speech hype was overdone. No one, not a Cicero or a Cato the Elder, could have transformed Arab perceptions of the Middle East through a single speech on general principles, and lived up to the anticipation that was built up prior to the speech. Someone — the White House PR folks, the media — raised the bar so high that a certain disappointment was inevitable.

And that, for now, is all I have to say on the subject.

Housekeeping Note on Obama's Speech

Because I had to chair an MEI panel on Libya that directly overlapped with President Obama's speech, I haven't yet read the speech. Though there are plenty of pundits in town who will comment with little more than a sound byte to go on, I insist on watching or at least reading the speech before pontificating. So stay tuned for comment later today when time permits me to view it.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Obama's Speech: First Take

Some initial thoughts on the President's speech [If you haven't seen it, transcript here; embedded video at end of this post.]:
  • While I'm sure the domestic debate will continue, I think it was a good speech in its attempt to say this is an international commitment; the goal is to get rid of Qadhafi but it isn't our military mission, which is winding down.
  • US interests and values were emphasized up front; regional concerns at the end. We can't bear the brunt alone. Perhaps a bit of overemphasis that it's NATO's issue now. NATO has decided to add protection of civilians to the military mission, not us. Last time I looked, we're a member of NATO.
  • Only a 30 minute speech (some say because ABC didn't want to preempt Dancing with the Stars): why from NDU rather than the Oval Office? Probably to assist military credibility.
  • I noted with interest that he said we had to act quickly to prevent the fall of Benghazi, a city of 700,000, "a city nearly the size of Charlotte." Why the choice of Charlotte? It' s a nice city, the banking capital of the South, but other cities in the 700,000 range include Fort Worth, Detroit, El Paso, Memphis, Baltimore, Boston . . . Do you suppose this could have anything to do with the 2012 Democratic Party Convention being in Charlotte? Surely just a coincidence.
Here's the video:

I'll Comment After Obama Speaks

President Obama is speaking at 7:30 to explain the Libyan operation to the American people. I'll post initial comments soon after he speaks.

Also, if I have any quick takes during, I'll post to the #MiddleEastInst Twitter feed. I'll sign mine MCD in case others are also tweeting it at MEI.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

"It Must Begin Now."

Obama's speech did not exactly say Mubarak must go soon, but it certainly showed an impatience with the hang-on-till-September approach, and explicitly called for opposition participation in the transition. I think it was a judicious but firm statement, in a situation where the US is in a dilemma between seeming to be an unreliable ally and seeming to support a leader who has lost legitimacy. As I indicated in the previous post, whether Mubarak leaves now or later may depend on his willingness to accept a real process of change, not having a few constitutional amendments and promising elections in the fall.

His praise of the Army also shows the recognition that they, not the 82-year old President, will decide when he must go.