The Brunei Shuffle

This morning, from the Brunei Times, comes yet another example of Islamic world dysfunction and detachment from reality:

ONE could not help but feel heartened when reading the media reports over the weekend that Indonesia and Qatar had effectively blocked a UN Security Council's motion to condemn President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran for his remarks about the impending destruction of Israel.

Our neighbour Indonesia, which happens to be home to the world's largest Muslim community, said Ahmadinejad had not really threatened Israel. Qatar, the only Arab nation of the 15-strong council, said it had no instructions to approve the condemnation. The statement condemning Iran, penned by France, must be approved by all 15 council members. France's UN Ambassador vowed to try again on Monday to get the council to approve the statement.

If passed, the statement would have the council "strongly condemn the remarks about the destruction of Israel" attributed to Ahmadinejad, while reaffirming Israel's rights and obligations as a UN member. It would also "reaffirm that under the United Nations Charter, all members have undertaken to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state".

Indeed, the Iranian president had in the past made remarks about how "God willing, in the near future we will witness the destruction of the corrupt occupier regime", and how Israel's "Zionist regime should be wiped off the map". But there have been countries and state leaders who did not only make remarks but launched armed campaigns to obliterate legitimate, sovereign countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Speaking about maps, to so many state leaders, Palestine is a non-entity, not even a dot on the world's map drawn up in many Western societies because of Israel's Zionist occupation.

France has accused Ahmadinejad of threatening international peace and security because he issued a call for the destruction of a member state of the United Nations. "At stake is ... a real question of principle. When the president of a country talks about the destruction of another country, a member of the United Nations, this is a serious issue," France said through its UN Ambassador.

But this is the same body which has failed time and again to protect other members such as Iran and Iraq from the US, and Palestine from the menace that is Israel.

If France, US and the other council members were honest, they would find that for some countries considered to be the underdogs of the world's politics, Ahmadinejad's remarks regardless of whether they were made sincerely or otherwise were the voice of the voiceless masses. The fervour with which some communities welcome his statements such as those quoted above, indicated that he had hit the right note for them, even if at the expense of the dominant players' nerves.

The "David vs Goliath" tone of the tableau appeals to the underdogs' sentiment of injustices, inviting support for Ahmadinejad's "dare to be different" stance. The United Nations Security Council and France are not about to win the hearts of so many people who have found the body to be a wishy-washy rubber stamp of, most notably, the US anyway, by condemning Iran for "threatening" Israel while the United Nations' numerous solutions against Israeli occupation of Palestine remain on paper.

One can therefore see the accuracy of the accusation that Indonesia levels against the United Nations of exercising double standards in defending Israel. The United Nations Security Council had indeed sat back and done nothing when Palestinians were bodily attacked, or when Israeli ministers threatened Iran or Palestinian leaders.

There should be more countries taking the stance that Indonesia did, daring to be different, going against the currents, for the sake of truth and justice.

We'll make this short and sweet.

It was the "legitimate, sovereign countries like Iraq and Afghanistan" that were under UN sanctions because of their ghastly and beast like behaviors. Had those "legitimate, sovereign countries like Iraq and Afghanistan" complied with those UN sanctions and comported themselves in a civilized manner, their fates would have been far different.

That "Palestine is a non-entity, not even a dot on the world's map drawn up in many Western societies because of Israel's Zionist occupation" is a fault of the Palestinians, not the United Nations. The opportunity for nationhood has existed since 1948. Since 1967, the formula for nationhood has been an easy equation- Land for Peace. It is a formula that has been rejected by the Palestinians for decades. They, their proxies and supporters, would rather kill Jews than have their own fully functioning state. That is something the editors the Brunei Times cannot hide. Palestinian media, school curricula and state paid religious authorities make clear on a regular basis. They cannot be bothered to hide their often proclaimed intentions.

Of course, it is understandable that the Brunei Times would have no trouble coming to the defense of the Taliban or Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Why would anyone in their world consider the well documented atrocities of those nations as something offensive? After all, it isn't as if Brunei has a great track record in defense of human rights. No one seems to recall their outrage as the GIA in Algeria spent decades raping children before dismembering them.

The smarmy editorialist at the Brunei Times believes that with a wave of his pen, he can make reality go away and blur the distinction between civilized and non civilized nations and their behaviors. Israel does indeed get special treatment at the United Nations. That nation has been abused like no other, despite far worse atrocities committed by some of the nations that stand and accuse her.

The United Nations double standard is clear. Non Muslim nations must never be treated in the same way as Muslim nations. The 'rubber stamp' of the United Nations becomes clear when some of the most repressive, dysfunctional and malodorous nations in the world are afforded seats on UN Commissions on Human Rights.

The editorialist would have readers believe that Indonesia took a 'principled' stand. It is not 'principled' to take a stand against Israel and the civilized and democratic west. In fact, at the United Nations, that is just business as usual.

The editorial goes on to defend the Iranian leader's threats made against Israel as an 'honest expression'

...Ahmadinejad's remarks regardless of whether they were made sincerely or otherwise were the voice of the voiceless masses.

We would ask the editor of the Brunei Times of he would accept Israeli threats made against her neighbors as an 'honest expression' of fearful Israelis responding to constant calls of ITBACH AL YAHUD!(SLAUGHTER THE JEW!) from Arab world media, in schools and from mosque pulpits. Do the editors of the Brunei Times consider the 'honest expression' of suicide bombers as civilized and acceptable?

As we have said may times, you can put an ape in a tuxedo and even teach that ape to dance and use a knife and fork. In the end however, the only one who believes that the tuxedo camouflages the ape, is the ape himself.

Dance for us, Editor of the Brunei Times, dance.