Posted on 01/23/2006 7:51:55 AM PST by Dark Skies
AMMAN, Jordan, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Jan. 23
Jordan's al-Rai commented Monday that a recent audiotape by Osama bin Laden aired by Al Jazeera came after more than a year of silence and intended to send several messages.
The mass-circulation daily said bin Laden wanted to show he was still alive and has not been "killed by American bullets or from kidney failure, but remained silent when silence was golden."
The other message, it argued, was political, made when he offered a truce with the Americans, which the paper said bin Laden knew Washington would reject immediately "but hopes to accept it secretly, especially with the American trend to hold dialogue with the Iraqi resistance, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and even Hamas indirectly."
The paper, partially owned by the government, added the "de facto" message in what bin Laden said was that America is regressing and the resistance and al-Qaida is progressing. Thus, it said, al-Qaida's leader wanted to show the future for America is not promising and that it is better for it to minimize its losses by admitting defeat.
The daily predicted the Bush administration would use bin Laden's speech to muster support for President Bush and his policies because more threats of terrorism in America can facilitate the administration's task to "violate civil rights, remain in a state of emergency and support the president in his violent war on terrorism." Therefore, the Jordanian paper stressed, while the tape was intended to raise the morale of al-Qaida members that their leader was still alive, the primary beneficiary has been the American president.
London-based al-Quds al-Arabi warned against recent comments by French President Jacques Chirac threatening to resort to unconventional weapons against countries supporting terrorism.
The independent Palestinian-owned daily described Chirac's remarks as "frightening by all standards, because the dangerous and unprecedented threats are issued by the French president and because they violate all Western democratic principles."
The paper said Chirac meant the Muslim countries, starting with Iran and Syria, adding the French president did not realize that such threats could prompt Iran and other Muslim nations to seek possessing nuclear weapons to defend themselves. "We used to see France as the Western country that is the most reasonable in confronting the insolent policies of the current American administration," the paper opined, adding the French president's remarks were a dangerous shift that puts France and the United States in "the same basket in the view of many in the Islamic world."
It warned that when the French head of state threatens to use weapons of mass destruction against terrorism, "we will not be surprised if some of these terrorist groups resort to WMD in the future."
Lebanon's as-Safir daily said last week's summit between Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Damascus was calm and non-provocative.
The independent paper said it was a summit that was necessary for two countries being monitored by the international community as they wait for Security Council resolutions that will lead to a "new Iraqi road that starts with sanctions and ends with war." It added that although they avoided defiant rhetoric in their joint news conference, their summit was "not a sign of Iranian and Syrian surrender to the international campaigns."
However, the paper stressed, it was a common warning that their alliance, "which was shaken a bit because of the American occupation of Iraq, can be deepened again, which may lead to American worries and escalate their (American) regional plans."
London-based al-Hayat said the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections this week may pass calmly and without violations, but the real problem and danger lies in the weakness of the Palestinian Authority.
The Saudi-financed daily said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas seems tense and worried because "no one shares the responsibilities he carries or is supporting him." It said the Palestinians elected Abbas as their leader and the factions cooperated with him, "but the Americans and Israelis should have taken his accomplishments into consideration to help him. Instead, they placed their conditions with the new chapter that Abbas opened" after the death of Yasser Arafat.
The Americans and Israelis continued to focus on "dismantling terrorism," the paper continued, saying this standard was not objective and ignores the realities of Palestinian society and their struggle against the (Israeli) occupation. It said that perhaps Abbas should think about calling for an international conference aimed at finding answers to where the peace process and the future of the Palestinian state are heading.
Egypt's al-Ahram daily commented in its editorial on the summit of the Organization of African Unity that opens Monday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, saying Africa cannot afford differences on secondary issues at the expense of major challenges facing the people of the continent.
The semi-official paper said differences on whether Sudan should assume the rotating chairmanship of the OAU should not be an issue that takes up time because Africa's problems are numerous and are not confined to the turbulence in Darfur. It warned there was the "ghost of resumption of the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the escalating conflict between Sudan and Chad and a resumption of civil war in the Ivory Coast."
The mass-circulation paper said there was also the issue of growing tension in the Western Sahara, the spread of AIDS and "corruption that is draining the African economies."
It's always tense while the clouds gather. Iran can still stand down and start down the path of rationality.
Yup. Unless rationality is defined by devout islam, in which case Ahmadinejad is perfectly rational. While many have called him a nut, he is only a nut from the western point of view.
There's the Palestinians for you...lecturing us about "Western democratic principles." They are the ones who want to "push Israel into the sea", who endorse chopping off the hands of theives, and who view democracy as a "tool of Satan."
for later read
send the freak where ssssilence is ethernal!
News World acquired UPI in 2000 from a group of Saudi investors. News World was founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church.
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I also found it interesting that the new CEO of UPI and numerous other Moonie operations is one Dr. Kwak. Quite fitting.
Thank you DS for posting this.
Foreign press reporting should be a regular feature here at FR.
Reading Arabic and Muslim papers will give us insight into the thinking of the crazed mullahs of Islam.
Anybody need a hobby?
Again, well done.
Thx SdlV! Much appreciated.
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