| Furthermore, Pan-Arab al-Quds al-'Arabi (which often panders to the Sunni Arab public) headlined that the new front “edifies the exclusion of Sunnis.” |
M. Mohsen inadvertently suggests that instead of "Anglo-Arabian Press Trust" one might refer to all the various partisan Sunninterni fishwraps as engaged in "pander-Arab[ic] journalism." That wording too, however, seems a tad unidiomatic to this former native speaker. It also fails to convey the substantive point that the panderers in question find it more convenient to work from outside the Greater Levant.[1]
Now as a matter of fact M. Talebani (Free Kurd quasipresident of the former Iraq) is quoted in this same summatorial as saying something oracular that must bear on the edification/institutionalization question somehow, even though I can't make out exactly what the bearing is:
| Many observers see the announcement of the coalition as a prelude to a new cabinet that will be formed exclusively by the Shi'a-Kurdish coalition. The creation of the front also signals that negotiations between Maliki and his opponents have reached an impasse. Meanwhile, Talabani insists, according to Az-Zaman, that the new front “is not a coalition, but an agreement,” adding that it remains open to any parties that wish to join. |
If I recall my Chicagoland English accurately, a ‘coalition’ would be a collection of human beings or a collection of such collections, and therefore presumably refer to some sort of armed band(s) in the context of Peaceful Freedumbia, like the posse or Kiddie Koalition that the militant GOP aggressed in with. An ‘agreement’ would refer to a document or an oral understanding, and, as far as my intuition goes, that word can never be a synonym for ‘group’ or ‘band’ or ‘posse’ at all. The quasipresident no doubt thinks in Free Kurdish, and he will have expressed his thoughts in dhimmí Arabic, and then M. Mohsen turns his words into the language of invasion. After a game of "telephone" like that, it is not surprising that one should not altogether grasp His Excellency's intended meaning.
The new Gang of Four certainly do possess a document of agreement, however, and what a gem it is! Slogger City translated it in full yesterday, and to compound our verbal discontents they captioned their translation "Only on Slogger / Full Text / The New Shi'a-Kurdish Alliance". Considering that half of the Gang of Four want as little to do with the former Iraq as possible, ‘alliance’ or ‘treaty’ or ‘pact’ seem suitable words for this edificational or edificatory document, one seeks a term that would also cover Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939. Yet the Sloggers themselves call it a mere ‘agreement’ in their subtitle! [3]
Maybe what we really need to learn is the connotations attached to whatever mental word of M. le Quasiprésident came out of the slogger as ‘coalition’? His Excellency assures the Green Zone and the world that "it remains open to any parties that wish to join," but almost certainly that only means that anybody who likes the gem as is may sign it as is without asking for any changes. They missed their window of editorial opportunity and now must take it or leave it. Since everybody who is anybody amongst the TwentyPercenter collaborationists has no doubt refused to sign already, the number of this gang is unlikely to be increased in that direction. The same probably applies to the Rev. Señorito al-Sadr and his juvenile delinquents. As its name suggests, the Virtue Party is capable of anything whatever, but then who seriously cares what Virtutarians do one way or the other?
But I digress into kibitzing myself before expounding all the treasures of Sunninterni commentary that the sloggers have laid out for us. We've already had "Many observers see the announcement of the coalition as a prelude to a new cabinet that will be formed exclusively by the Shi'a-Kurdish coalition," a dubious prediction that may be passed over for not being attributed to anybody in particular. M. Amer Mohsen adds more in that vein,
| Several Arab papers highlighted the lack of a Sunni constituent in the new front. Government sources had claimed, as recently as yesterday, that the Islamic Party (which controls the second largest Sunni bloc in the parliament) may join the new coalition, but negotiations with the party leader, Tariq al-Hashimi, broke down in the final hours. To accentuate the absence of Sunni representation in the new coalition, several Arab papers are referring to it as “the Shi'a-Kurdish alliance,” a term that may be as inaccurate as the “moderate” label that the leaders of the front are trying to promote. |
Evidently Slogger City's own headline editors "may be as inaccurate as" also! But I suppose M. Mohsen does not read his own e-fishwrap for summatorializing purposes. As to moderation, the Anglo-Arabian Press Trust apparently did not choose to call the Gang of Four "the anti-Sunni alliance." Perhaps they are saving that ammunition for later on, though.
Of course it is not merely the TwentyPercenters who have been shut out of quasipower, the TenPercenters [4] of the rootless cosmopolitan community are in limbo also:
| The “Front” also excluded non-sectarian parties - which are admittedly few and of limited popularity – a fact that its enemies are exploiting to portray the new coalition as a sectarian front. According to Az-Zaman, Iyad 'Allawi dubbed the participants in the new coalition as “the princes of sects,” and said that his party, the Iraqi List, was not invited to the negotiations because of its “secular” character. (...) Az-Zaman ... devoted its front page to displaying the attacks directed at the new front. According to the paper, officials in 'Allawi’s bloc described the Front as being led by “sectarians and racists, with Iranian sponsorship, against the national project.” |
Would M. le Dr. ‘Alláwí have attended the princely sectarian shindig if he had been invited? It does not seem likely, and even less likely that he would have attached his John Hancock to the great aedificational document. [5] The rootless ones continue to give the impression that they expect to be installed in quasipower due to the merit of their deracination -- deracination being the alone true "national project," as everybody knows.
"Sectarians and racists" does not sound exactly conciliatory, now, does it, Mr. Bones? This hostile attitude casts some doubt on their flair for politics and intrigue, as well as making quite plain that one can be a pious "secularist" and thoroughly westoxicated, yet still despise democracy.
Ah, why couldn't the Bushevik aggressors have just handed over all quasipower to the TenPercenters exclusively in the first place? What went wrong, Professor Lewis?
==
Speaking strictly for ourselves, I think the main thing to say is that this whole business is likely to turn out to be less important than either the Gang of Four or the TwentyPercenters or the TenPercenters account it. I should guess that there will not be any strictly Gang of Four quasiministry, mainly because the Khalílzád Konstitution makes it so damn near imposible to accomplish anythin' whatsoever through the formal mechanisms of "government." It does not really matter who the quasiministers are, or which armed band they adhere to, or even whether there exist any quasiministers at all. Ten or eleven out of thirty-seven quasiministries seem to be carrying on with a vacuum at the top, so why not thirty-seven out of thirty-seven? Everything of importance is located elsewhere, and elsewhere is where those who know how to keep an eye on the political ball will look. Among the native collaborationist politicians, however, only the Free Kurds, who happen to have their own Elsewhere conveniently marked on maps, more or less understand the true correlation of forces under the Yoke of Crawford. BGKB.
____
[1] To exclude the tonier quarters of Beirut from the Greater Levant may be an offense against geography, but as political sociology or spiritual analysis the exclusion seems pretty (ahem!) edifying. But God knows best.
[2] QA in particular panders to the remaining 318 Nasserites alive, so perhaps the conventional label is not unacceptable. More broadly, it panders to street Arabs rather than to the Arab palace people, which does set it a bit apart from the rest of the AAPT pack. However as regards the appalling and demented idea of an "Iraqi" neorégime that excludes all the Natural Masters and consists entirely of contemptible dhimmís, streets and palaces can unite to disapprove, even if their unity instantly collapses again as soon as they start proposing remedies.
[3] The literary gemminess of this monstrosity may be judged from a random lucky dip:
| 8) Deepening the cooperation and coordination between the federal government and the government of the Kurdistan region in the security and military area and in combating terrorism. 9) Increased cooperation between the federal government and the regional governments and the governments of the provinces not organized into regions, in the security, economic, political, and social fields, and in all other fields in what strengthens the federal government on the one hand, and what strengthens the local governments on the other, according to the constitution. 10) Agreement on the timetables for achieving the political, legal, security, and economic accomplishments. 11) Activation of Iraqi diplomacy to defend Iraq and its democratic experiment. |
It is rather like M. de Rome explaining why the Vatican prefers peace to war: everybody knows all about it already, yet the geyser of cheapjack verbiage can gush on indefinitely. At the end of the day, the Gang of Four firmly resolve to start doing in the future what they'd never admit that they have not been doing all along. Slogger City noticed this point and began its editorial introduction with a very well-positioned pair of shudder quotes:
| Four ruling Iraqi parties have agreed to a "new" political alliance and set of principles after intense deliberation. |
Modern Standard Arabic is a marvelous medium for devotees of the longius ut sit opus principle of rhetoric. Starting with a deep thought like, say, "There are three feet in every yard," one can abandon one's mind to all those endless synonyms and write seven volumes about it with ease. In ancient times, Arabic was acclaimed as the concisest of languages, which goes to prove Plato's point that the doctor who can heal you best must also be most suitable person to poison you.
[4] At this point rootless cosmopolitan collaborationist pols would probably get significantly less than ten percent of the inky fingers lifted for them, and I believe they were only nine percent in Khalílzád Pasha's last plebescite. But it's easier to use round numbers.
[5] But what if TenPercenters and TwentyPercenters got together? Silly question -- that can't possibly happen, because most of the TwentyPercenters are anticollaborationites, not to mention anti-one-another-ites. To be sure, the Occupyin' Party might yet decide to stumble in the direction of settin' up Dr. ‘Alláwí (or some clone) as their Pipesovitchian Pro-Democracy Strongman™. He would then be required to preside over lavishin' Affirmative Action™ upon all those poor misunderstood Arab Sunnis. That configuration, though not impossible, is scarcely to be described as an ‘alliance’ or ‘coalition’ between the rootless cosmopolitans and the Sunninternis of ex-Iraq, considering that only top-down imposition from Rancho Crawford could ever make it happen.
In any case, that scenario does not seem very probable at this late date. Boy and Party are probably saddled with poor M. al-Málikí for the duration. But we'll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment