Malaysian PM: Lebanon crisis can spark off a new wave, page 1

This may be obvious to quite a number of people, but I'm more than certain there are those who would disagree. Anyway, read on.

PM: Lebanon crisis can spark off a new wave

By MAZWIN NIK ANIS and FLORENCE SAMY

[email protected]

PUTRAJAYA: The present crisis faced by Lebanon can spark off a new wave of terror as angry and disappointed people join the ranks of terrorists and cause the situation in the Middle East to escalate.

In voicing this fear, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said: “These people will take their own action in the form of revenge, or whatever they deem fit. This is our concern.”

He told a press conference at the end of the one-day meeting yesterday of Friends of the Chair of the 10th Islamic Summit Conference to discuss the Lebanon issue that terrorism in the Middle East was driven by the situation in Palestine and Iraq, and now Lebanon.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Bold emphasis mine.

Last week there was a massive protest by thousands of people from all walks of life (not just muslims) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre while the Asian Regional Forum was in progress. A lot of the protestors were pissed off that the Government invited US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the talks.
Thousands protest against Israeli aggression

The protest leader, Khairy Jamaluddin expressed their sentiments in a letter published by the New Straits Times on the 29th of July.

Out of the Cage: Do the right thing, Condoleezza

Khairy Jamaluddin

Madam Secretary:
YOU were and remain unwelcome in Malaysia because you really should have been elsewhere. You should have gone straight from Rome to Beirut and then to Damascus in order to secure an immediate ceasefire to Israel’s brutal attacks on Lebanon.

But then, you’re not interested in a ceasefire, right? You had a chance a few days ago in Rome to agree to an immediate cessation of violence, but you were having none of that.

Two weeks ago, at the United Nations, Qatar sponsored a Security Council resolution that demanded Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza, another killing field that you have encouraged your ally to create, but you had to exercise your first veto in almost two years. In fact, you were the only country in the Security Council to exercise the veto.

[...]

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

It's a pretty long letter. Click the link to read the full text. But suffice it to say that anti-American sentiments in the country are at an all time high. No need to mention Israel, because the overwhelming majority here have a very low opinion of the Zionist regime.

As far as I can remember, there's never been a flag burning here in this country before. Or at least it's never been publicized. I remember a time when people were so supportive of America. The current crisis in Lebanon has certainly added fuel to the flag-burning fire. The following article nails it pretty accurately:

No road map seen anywhere, not even a road sign

By BUNN NAGARA

A CLEAR policy is always helpful, especially in times of crisis. The worst of all is a vague bundle of gut reactions lopsided with bias to one side.

Yet that is precisely the situation in an Israel-ravaged Lebanon for the United States, both the most powerful country in the world and the one with the greatest influence on Tel Aviv. If any country can limit or stop Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon’s civilian population, the United States can.

It is not as if Washington has tried and failed, because it has yet to begin trying. The effect of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visits to Beirut and Jerusalem this week, if any at all, has still to be seen.

On Monday Rice arrived in Lebanon proclaiming what the world already knew: a ceasefire is urgently needed. Yet on the same day, President George W. Bush in Washington said he opposed a ceasefire, because – as Israel had put it – Hezbollah first had to stop launching its Katyusha rockets.

For Bush, it was necessary to get to the root of the problem – and it was those evil Katyusha rockets. For many others however, the root looked more like the ongoing Israel-Palestine problem.

The Israeli journalist and former Knesset member Uri Avnery said Bush only recently wanted Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon, and now he wants Syria to intervene to rein in Hezbollah. Does anyone, including Washington, know what Washington wants anymore other than what Israel wants?

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

(sorry mods, I know that last one is longer than the 3 para limit, but I believe the first 6 paras are quite important and should be posted anyway, since most people tend not to click on the links, in my experience)

I know, I know. You all probably are trying to figure out what in God's name is this thread supposed to be about? It's simple. I'm simply drawing attention to the fact that what the US Government and its allies are doing of late is making them lose friends and supporters very quickly. That might be obvious to a lot of people around the world, but I get the impression from this site that a lot of Americans are either:

(a)unaware of it or
(b)couldn't give a rats behind about it.

If you are the latter, move along then. If you are the former, what can you do about it?

Before I end this post, here's another article by the same writer above that's quite a good read:
How to lose hearts and minds, friends and allies