Obama En Simsons Raadsel

Naar aanleiding van de rellen tegen de anti-islamfilm 'Innocence of Muslims' is het buitenlandbeleid van Obama, en met name zijn beleid ten aanzien van de Arabische revolutie die inmiddels al twee jaar aan de gang is, zwaar onder vuur gekomen:

"US President Barack Obama's Middle East policy is in ruins. Like no president before him, he tried to win over the Arab world. After some initial hesitation, he came out clearly on the side of the democratic revolutions. … In this context, he must accept the fact that he has snubbed old close allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Egyptian military. And now parts of the freed societies are turning against the country which helped bring them into being. Anti-Americanism in the Arab world has even increased to levels greater than in the Bush era. It's a bitter outcome for Obama." (lees hier)

"Thirty-three years ago, when the Iranians invaded the US Embassy and kidnapped diplomats, president Jimmy Carter, instead of confronting the Ayatollah regime, “reached out” and sought to “engage” it. All he achieved was to embolden the radicals and intensify the humiliation of the US, ultimately costing him the presidency. Now President Barack Obama and his acolytes are repeating the same mistakes. His first international initiative was to address a gathering in Cairo which included members of the then-illegal Muslim Brotherhood. He undertook to reverse the “harsh” approach of his predecessors by reaching out and engaging all levels of the Muslim world." (lees hier)

Obama en zijn vele supporters, ook in onze eigen politieke kaste, media en academie, werden keer op keer door mannen en vrouwen die wel verstand hebben van de Arabische wereld en het Midden-Oosten gewaarschuwd dat dit precies wat hen en ons te wachten stond. Zoals Barry Rubin met een korreltje zwarte humor opmerkt, de mensen achter de huidige religieuze geweldsgolf die de wereld overspoelt zijn geen filmcritici, maar harde islamistische revolutionairen met heldere politieke doelen:

"There have been several such waves before, notably over Salman Rushdie, the 2001 attacks, and the “Danish cartoons.” Leaving some death and destruction in their wake, these waves of demonstrations then fade away bringing no significant political change. No amount of apology and groveling had any perceivable positive effect. This one will also end soon but the battle for political power in each country continues as does the decline in American credibility and influence.

The causes of these demonstrations are not some act of Islamophobia but the agitation of revolutionary Islamist groups that work systematically every day to build anti-Americanism, hatred of the West, and the loathing of Jews and Christians. As long as free speech exists in the West, there will always be events that provide pretexts for outrage [...] You cannot appease someone who is totally determined never to be appeased but to advance step by step to total power, the fundamental transformation of their societies." (lees hier) 

Ik moest in dit verband aan Simsons Raadsel denken: "Spijze ging uit van de eter en zoetigheid van de sterke." (Richteren 14, 14). Ook uit het kadaver van Obama's Midden-Oostenbeleid zou er wellicht nog spijze en zoetigheid kunnen komen: het glasheldere besef dat de poging om de islamisten te pacificeren een heilloze weg is. Als het zelfs de heilige Obama niet gelukt is om de moslimbroederschap in de Egyptische afdeling van Amnesty International te veranderen, dan zouden zijn geestverwanten toch moeten inzien dat er iets mis is met deze pacificatiepolitiek. Of ben ik nu erg naïef?