My veto is bigger than your dreams

After nearly two decades of fruitless negotiations and faced with the prospect of an ever shrinking territory constantly gobbled by a powerful opponent with an unquenchable thirst for their land, the Palestinians have now decided to go to the United Nations and ask to be recognized as a sovereign state. although the overwhelming majority of member nations already recognize Palestine, and will vote in the UN General Assembly to admit the emerging Palestinian state, the United States threatens to veto the resolution under the pretext that only negotiations can bring about a Palestinian state. Negotiations that have only served as a long term delay tactic to keep the Palestinians talking while the Israelis build and expand settlements, eliminate Palestinian resistance and eradicate everything Arab from Jerusalem. This got me interested in the infamous veto power, a tool used by permanent members (USA, UK, France, China & Russia) to defy international will and protect narrow national interests. I do not intend to examine this erstwhile stabilizing tool in this posting in the hope of revisiting it in the near future, but I will examine the United States’  record visa-vi the veto.

Let me start by saying that the veto power was never used for an honorable purpose or a just cause, not even once. it is what I, as a father of two girls, can only describe as a superpower tantrum. Looking at the US veto record one notices that two countries benefited the most form its use, Israel and South Africa’s Apartheid regime (with occasional help from the UK).

The US vetoed and voted against the majority in the UN in about 25 resolutions aimed at South Africa’s Apartheid regime, you don’t believe me?

Here is the list

But this unwavering support for the repulsive and now defunct apartheid regime in South Africa pales in comparison to America’s astonishing and unconditional support for Israel and its policies however reprehensible and to the detriment of US interests in the region. Israel have for all intents and purposes become the sixth permanent member of the UN security council, constantly defying the will of the international community. Not only have the US blocked any possibility of holding Israel accountable for its actions, it also single-highhandedly stood in the way of any effort to grant the Palestinians any rights or protections. The veto speaks for itself. Here is an incomplete list of UN resolutions astonishingly vetoed or opposed by the United States in defiance of justice and world opinion and almost always alone.

Here is the astonishing list of US veto power used to protect Israel throughout the decades

isn’t it time for the veto power to be abolished?

Who is this man on the radio dad?

Last night, president Obama gave his long awaited jobs speech to a joint session of congress. As he began talking we lost power because of the thunder storm battering the Washington DC area and i had to listen to the rest of the address on my smartphone. I am usually attentive when president Obama has something to say but I just couldn’t focus this time. Despite it being the only source of entertainment (even my six year old daughter was listening) all I could think of is the fugitive Libyan president Colonel Gaddafi!! I couldn’t help but think of a speech i heard on the radio 25 years ago on a stormy night in a small village in the horn of Africa. We didn’t have power on that day either but that was because of entirely different reasons. I was a young boy then, bored out of my skull and playing with the dials of my father’s old shortwave radio in a race against a dying battery. i was looking for the BBC’s Arabic service when i stumbled on a station with a peculiar program. The program consisted of a single erratic voice time and time again struggling to make a point but never hitting the nail on the head if you would. The man was non other than Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, leader of the “Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya”. This was his version of Eisenhower’s fireside chats. I couldn’t bring myself to changing the station the same way one can’t help but strain his neck looking at the aftermath of a car crash. those were the days when Libyans and the Arab world were treated to hours upon endless hours of nonsense from the great leaders’ Green Book. I don’t recall most of the topics covered by Gaddafi on that night but i distinctly remember his disdain for Western democracy and Islamic sharia law. He reserved most of his scorn for Sayyid Qutb, leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood executed in 1966 by president Nasser. I was transported back in time to that dark summer night when after listening for about an hour, I asked my father, who is this man on the radio dad? my dad who was sitting on a prayer rug holding a rosary turned his head to me and said, this is Muammar Gaddafi, the leader of Libya may God have mercy on the those he rules. I was awakened from this trance by my daughter’s question, who is this man on the radio dad? I picked her up and put her on my lap and said, this is Barak Obama, my dear, our president, may god give him strength and patience.

(this post was composed on Friday, Sept 9, 2011 but posted today)