A funny thing about these Middle East governments – I think most members of the USG know that they’re at war with us in one way or another. Militarily, they’re no match for us at all, they couldn’t hold their own against Belgium, and yet we treat them as allies, or we treat them as something to be feared – despite the fact that they’re not.

In contrast, China is a match for us. Rumsfeld was criticizing the Chinese for building up their military forces today. The Chinese have an increased need for oil. The Russians and the Indian government have a lot of reasons to be afraid of certain oil rich Middle Eastern governments.

So, is there any reason why they don’t trust us?

It might come as a surprise, but there are a huge variety of reasons why the US is not the most popular country right now.

Some of it is simply political competition. Some of it is economic competition. Some of it is cultural, some of it is ideological.

But a lot of it, particularly in the Middle East, comes from a perception that while the US talks a good game about liberty, democracy, personal freedom, it does not actually support those values very well. One of the major complaints of liberal Arabs, in fact, is that the USG does not live up to its own promise.

When I said that Giuliani already addressed this issue, I was talking about this quote, from his address to the United Nations in October 2001:

“Let those who say that we must understand the reasons for terrorism, come with me to the thousands of funerals we’re having in New York City–thousands–and explain those insane maniacal reasons to the children who will grow up without fathers and mothers and to the parents who have had their children ripped from them for no reason at all.”

I assumed that, since this blog was about the US/Saudi relationships, you’d be open to discussion about the US/Saudi relationship, but apparently I was wrong. So, why don’t we talk about something completely different?

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia – The Russian, Chinese and Indian foreign ministers agreed Thursday to intensify joint work against terrorism and underscored their common approach to international affairs – often seen as a bid to counterbalance what all three countries see as U.S. domination of world affairs.

The trio met in Russia’s Pacific port of Vladivostok, near the Chinese border, a venue that emphasizes Russia’s place in Asia.

“We are cultivating practical cooperation between the three states in the struggle against new threats and challenges … international terrorism, drug-trafficking and other forms of organized crime,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh.”
…

After all of the support we’ve given to China, Russia and India, why do you think they’re doing this?

Terrorists, many of whom were Saudis, conducted those attacks. Your persistence in trying to equate terrorists with either all Saudis, the Saudi government, or “Saudi Arabia” however loosely you construe it, is not welcomed here.

Giuliani rejected a $10 million donation because he didn’t like the political statement that followed it, and for good cause. An after-the-fact string got attached, making it impossible for him to accept it.

But to pretend that US policies–and particularly their implementation–regarding the Arab-Israeli issue did not play a part in generating anger throughout the Arab world is wishful thinking.

I’m not sure how much money the USG gives to Palestinians. The US House of Representatives voted for $200 milllion in March. The White House has apparently freeded $50 million of that over the past week.

Mary, this is probably your last comment permitted at Crossroads Arabia.

I think Rudy Giuliani already answered that argument.

How much money does our government give to the Palestinians per year, anyway?

Her real anger–and I base this on conversations I’ve had with her–is what has happened to Palestinians.

Regardless of the political rights and wrongs of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, hundreds of Palestinian children have been killed. And pictures of their deaths and their bodies are widely available throughout the Middle East. This isn’t “moral equivalence”, it is absolute equivalence.

And yes, I realize that suicide bombers don’t do much to rationally argue any point. They are very much part of the problem. But dead Palestinian babies are an equal part of the problem.