Prior to the Eruption of the grapes of wrath

02Mar08

RESPONSE PAPER

After reading the first chapter of Ibrahim Saleh’s “Prior to the
eruption of the grapes of wrath in the Middle East”, one cannot but
notice the stress upon the dilemma that exists in the Middle East due
primarily to the religious-political entanglement of the policies
implemented there (whether they are from outside forces or inside,
directly or indirectly), and the consequences of which have resulted
in the epic battle of cultures and civilizations between and among all
the key players at stake. This intensifying crisis that plagues the
region and its people is attributable mainly to geopolitical and
ideological factors that have been part of this vast region’s history
since the establishment of politico religious theologies (aimed at
achieving religion based aspirations) such as Zionism, Islamic “Umma”
and the virtual assemblence of church and state. Naturally, such a
clash is inevitable with or without its documented prophecies, for it
is the same region to which all three Abrahamic religions take root.
As a direct consequence of being so deeply rooted in such a
concentrated territory, all of the religions have boasted claims and
counter claims to the same slices of land, essentially contesting who
of them is the righteous occupier of that land. Defiantly each
self-righteous religion believes that it is they whom God has promised
victory, and rationally, such strong convictions call for bloodier and
longer conflicts. That is just the way it is (or meant to be). Al Aqsa
mosque, with Solomon’s temple believed to be buried underneath it, is
a great example for all three religions claim it is their holiest
place of worship. It has even been referred to as the most expensive
piece of real estate for that reason; Muslims believe it is where the
“Isra and Mi’raj” took place, Jews contest it is where King Solomon’s
tomb is buried, and Christians have a ventured interest in it as well
as they suppose (similar to the jewish claim) that it is the location
of Solomon’s tomb and its official discovery acts as just about a
prerequisite for no other than the second coming of Christ! In this
response paper, the main points previously stated above, will be
elaborated on further and peppered with highly opinionated reaction
that may either be willingly agreed upon or vehemently rejected.

The first point worth mentioning revolves primarily around the
geopolitical dimensions of the Middle East with regards specifically
to its strategic location and natural resources. It is no secret that
60 % of the world’s oil wealth is concentrated within the borders of
the Greater Middle east region, and correspondingly it is a virtual
fact that the primary driving force of the global economy is oil.
Therefore it shouldn’t be labeled as a conspiracy theory to suggest
that this thirst for oil greatly influences the political agenda of
any industrialized country. To corroborate this grave connotation, a
state of the union speech given by president bush in 2005, where he
said, “Americans are addicted to oil” is rather revealing given the
implication of how addicts would do just about anything to get their
fix. However, it would be rather naïve to suggest that all political
decisions, especially with regards to the Middle East, are driven by
oil, for the Middle East benefits tremendously from an enormous
variety of other raw materials.
Anther geopolitical factor that seems to attract empires, countries,
all the way down to trade merchants and private contractors is the
geopolitical position of the Middle East. Situated in the strategic
heart of the world, all throughout ancient and modern times, that
region has been regarded and perhaps even revered as the most
important passageway for trade as well as an extremely decisive
location for military bases. At the end of it all, the notion boils
down to this, if one power doesn’t act upon their strategic interests,
another country will. That’s the silent note that plays behind all the
complex words and sentences of Darwin’s “survival for the fittest”
rule. The question is who is fittest? Is it the USA with Christianity
and so called “democracy” shaping their moral values and spreading
thereof? Or could there be a resurgence of a communist ideology that
puts the former Soviet Union back on the map? Perhaps present-day
China’s booming economy will drive them to annaialate anybody that
stands in their way of satisfying their economic needs? Or maybe just
maybe Arabian culture with Islam commanding its survival and paving
the way for global unification is who will be the fittest when it is
all said and done? Who is fit to take advantage and benefit from the
geopolitical ramifications of controlling the Middle East, and who is
the weakest link whose culture and belief system will parish like
those before it?

The second point definitely worth mentioning focuses on the
ideological dimensions of the Middle East and the extent to which they
have grown virtually inseparable from the political directions and
foreign policies of all the key players involved. Ibrahim Saleh, sheds
light upon the Christian belief of an Anti Christ, mentioned in the
Book of Revelations and how it is (and has been for the past century
in particular) gravely dominating Western policies towards this vast
region, with the state of Israel naturally being at the forefront of
it all. All throughout post biblical history, whenever someone with
global name recognition spreads evil to the world (evil as they see
it), he has been labeled as “The Anti Christ”. These people included
Julis Cesar, Hitler, and perhaps most notably the prophet Muhammad.
However, there are a few prominent Muslim scholars who have attributed
the authorship of the Book of Revelations to either Saint Paul himself
or his dedicated student, Luke. They along with 32 priests of the
highest eminence it must be added believe that this was originally a
prophecy about the coming of a final prophet (Muhammad) and they use
the following descriptions from biblical text as evidence to support
their claims; according to the Book of Revelations, the Anti Christ
will ‘lead the peoples of the dessert to victory’ and those followers
alongside himself will ‘be dressed in white robes of cloth’. Indeed
the prophet Muhammad led his peoples to victory, indeed his followers
were dressed in white robes of cloth, however the scholars responsible
for this claim maintain that certain words were altered in a specific
way, to maintain the church establishment and denounce any other
prophet that comes after Jesus as a ‘false prophet’ or worse the Anti
Christ. However without diving deeper in these disagreeable and highly
disputable ideological conceptions, the main point is that for the
second coming of Christ according to mainly western Christians, the
state of Israel must survive as a homeland for all Jews, and hence
their blind support for the Zionist establishment.

There is an almost invisible line that separates conspiracy theory
from conspiracy fact. The word conspiracy itself derives from the
Latin language and simply means to ‘breathe together’. As result
whether the west is conspiring on an ideological/geopolitical premise
with their Zionist partners all around the world, is a theory or
whether it is a fact, is largely defined by the media, as the
terminology of breathing together is a vaguely illusive term to say
the least. Nevertheless, everybody is entitled to their own theories
so whether the Christian-Jewish or specifically Western-Israeli
collaboration is a conspiracy or not is up to them, however one
shouldn’t be entitled to their own facts. The process of
decision-making in the west is done through corporations, specialized
scholars and technocrats, who are consistently biased in favor of a
Jewish establishment in the heart of the Middle East, that’s a fact.
The current Bush administration’s stated objective of creating a new
middle east or the previous bush administration’s stated objective of
establishing a ‘New World Order’, is also an undeniable fact.
Imperialism of the Arab world by the west, and the preceding Crusades
on the Muslim world by Christian kingdoms, is as well an undisputed
fact. Whether these present or historical patterns translate into a
“conspiracy” per say, against the Middle East and the Muslim world is
actually besides the point. The point being, these events have been,
are, and will most likely continue to take place for subsequent
centuries to come.

The events of one day September the 11, have granted the USA pretext
or to use a more politically correct term rationalization for an
extended presence in Central Asia as well as an international green
light to freely conduct counter terror operations worldwide.
Interfering in Arab internal affairs has become an outright obligation
to prevent another attack on American soil from taking place.
Intervening even in religious teachings, especially with regards to
jihad, has been overwhelming. The irony here is that it was the US in
the first place who encouraged religious preachers to stress upon the
“armed struggle” aspect of jihad and rally up Muslim fighters behind
the cause of defending Muslim land against the “infidels”, as it was
in their interests to do so back in the 1980’s, when the Soviet Union
intended to use Afghanistan as gateway for further military presence
inside the middle east. The ramifications of that day are still felt
today and were used as a justification for a more active role
overseas, and it was a head on a silver platter for president bush
whose main campaign promise in 200 was that the US under his
leadership would not be involved in world affairs.

“Just as Pearl Harbor was used as a reason to press the button on
Japan, 9-11 was used as pretext to invade our Muslim land. What is
perhaps most disturbing is that in both cases, the US government had
well advanced knowledge of where and when the attacks would take
place, and yet… Time was on their side, and yet….With regards to
9-11 in particular, there were numerous occasions and opportunities to
halt the attacks, yet again they chose to do absolutely nothing.
Silence was their honorable course of action”! Seif Allah Khaled Seif
El Nasr.

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