UAE
Posted at 7:55am on Jul. 7, 2008 Promising signs: United Arab Emirates forgives Iraqi debt, will send ambassador.
Well. "Promising" to folks who actually want to *win* this war.
By Moe Lane
(Via Hot Air) This is a good sign:
UAE to cancel Iraq's $7 billion debt
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- Dubai has forgiven the nearly $7 billion Baghdad owes it, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced Sunday.
UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan promised to "put out these debts," appoint an ambassador to Baghdad, and "help Iraq building the holy shrines that were targeted by the terrorists," al-Maliki said in a written statement.
As Ed notes, a lot of this is tied up in Shi'ite / Sunni relations, as well as the al-Maliki government's relationship with Iran (and how to minimize it), and the improving security situation in Iraq generally, including the improving political situation. It is to be hoped that other countries in the region follow suit, both in the debt forgiveness and in improved relationships with Iraq. As Jordan has already named an ambassador, with Kuwait and Bahrain expected to follow, this may be less of a forlorn hope than one might fear.
Moe Lane
PS: I should be fair and note that, yes, if we had listened to Barack Obama the UAE would never have withdrawn their ambassador in the first place. Mind you, that'd be because Saddam Hussein would still be in power - but then, you can hardly expect the junior Senator from Illinois to be more concerned about dead Kurds, Shi'ites, and Marsh Arabs than he is about the upcoming American Presidential election.
One must have one's priorities in order, after all.
Posted in Debt Forgiveness | Foreign Affairs | Iraq | UAE — Comments (0)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 2:33pm on Oct. 24, 2007 Not The Image We Need
By streiff
Back in April I posted on Nancy Pelosi's slide into dhimmitude. As a constitutional officer of the United States she denied her own religious tradition and her status as a human being with equal rights regardless of her sex in order to assuage muslim sensibilities.
If anything I feel stronger about the utter wrongness of this episode today than I did then.
I feel no less strongly about First Lady Laura Bush's photo op in the United Arab Emirates, above, but for different reasons.
Read on.
Posted in dhimmitude | Laura Bush | UAE | War — Comments (42)/ Email this page » / Read More »
