by James Petras
. . . The key motivation in Washington's and the European imperial troika's
(England, France and Germany) embrace of what their press and officialdom
hail as "moderate" Islamist parties has been the collapse or weakening of
their long-term client rulers. Faced with the ouster of Mubarak, in Egypt,
Ali in Tunisia and Saleh in Yemen, mass protests in Morocco and Algeria, the
US-EU turned to conservative Muslim leaders who were willing to work within
the existing state institutional framework (including the army and state
police), uphold the capitalist order and align with the empire against
anti-imperial movements and states. In Egypt, the Freedom and Justice Party
(FJP) (the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood), in Tunisia the
Renaissance Party, in Morocco the Justice and Development Party have all
indicated their willingness to serve as reliable partners in blocking the
pro-democracy movements that challenge the socio-economic status quo and the
long-standing military-imperial linkages.
The Islamist collaborators are called "moderate and respectable" because
they agree to participate in elections within the boundaries of the
established political and economic order; they have dropped any criticism of
imperial and colonial treaties and trade agreements signed by the previous
client regions - including ones which collaborate with Israel's colonization
of Palestine.
Equally important "moderate" means supporting imperial wars against
nationalist and secular Arab republics, such as Syria and Libya, and
isolating and/or repressing class based trade unions and secular-left
parties.
"Moderate" Islamists have become the Empire's 'contraceptive of choice'
against any chance the massive Arab peoples' revolt might give birth to
substantive egalitarian social changes and bring those brutal pro- western
officials, responsible for so many crimes against humanity, to justice. . . .
The US and EU have openly unleashed their fundamentalists allies in order to
destroy independent adversaries in the name of "democracy" and "humanitarian
intervention", a laughable claim in light of decade long colonial wars of
occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. All target regimes have one crime in
common: Using their national resources to develop modern secular states -
independent of imperial dictates.
. . . wherever US imperialism faces leftists or secular, modernizing
anti-imperialist regimes, Washington turns to retrograde Islamic leaders
willing and able to destroy the progressive regime in return for imperialist
support. Such coalitions are built mainly around fundamentalist and moderate
Islamist opposition to secular, class- based politics allied with the
Empire's hostility to any anti-imperialist challenge to its domination. . . .
Emblematic of "moderate Islamiist" collaboration with US-EU imperialism is
the role of Qatar, home to the "respectable" Arabic media giant, Al-Jazeera,
and the demagogic Qatari "spiritual guide" Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi. Sheik
Youssef quotes the Koran and Islamic moral principles in defense of NATO's
8-month aerial bombing of Libya, which killed over 50,000 pro-regime Libyans
(themselves Muslims). He calls for armed imperial intervention in Syria to
overthrow the secular Assad regime, a position he shares comfortably with
the state of Israel. He urges the "moderate Islamists" in Egypt and Tunisia
to cease any criticism of the existing economic order, (see "Spiritual
guide steers Arabs to moderation", Financial Times, December 9, 2011 - p5).
In a word, this respectable Muslim cleric is NATO's perfect Koran-quoting
"moderate Islamist" partner - a dream come true. . . .
FULL TEXT
James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton
University, New York. He is the author of 64 books published in 29
languages, and over 560 articles in professional journals, including the
American Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research,
Journal of Contemporary Asia, and Journal of Peasant Studies. He has
published over 2000 articles. His latest book is War Crimes in Gaza and the
Zionist Fifth Column in America (Atlanta:Clarity Pres 2010)
Enver Masud, "The Family: The Secret
Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power," The Wisdom Fund, May
25, 2009
"Letter to President
Obama about Libya," Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy
(CSID), March 14, 2011
Ian Johnson, "Washington's Secret History with the Muslim
Brotherhood," nybooks.com, February 5, 2011
Pepe Escobar, "Libya Endgame: Divide, Rule And Get
The Oil," Asia Times, March 25, 2011
M K Bhadrakumar, "Next, Regime Change in Syria,"
Voltaire Network, August 30, 2011
Tom Heneghan, "Arab Spring stretches "Islamist" tag to its
limits," reuters.com, December 19, 2011
VIDEO: "Qatari Emir
secretly visited Israelis," presstv.ir, January 19, 2012
"The badly kept secret of Israel's
trade throughout the Muslim world," themarker.com, January 19, 2012
[Persian Gulf countries are slowly, steadily probing their options in the
Asia-Pacific to diversify their external relations that have been
traditionally riveted to the West. With Europe in serious disarray and the
US in decline and its reputation in the Middle East significantly dented,
this trend is likely to become pronounced.--M K Bhadrakumar, "Sheikhs
fall in love with renminbi," atimes.com, January 24, 2012]