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June 2, 2010

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Think Tanks as the Hidden Hand

by Daniel Pipes
May 25, 2010
updated May 29, 2010

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2010/05/think-tanks-as-the-hidden-hand

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I devoted years of my life to the two books on conspiracy theories – but never did anyone allege that a think tank secretly runs the United States. That idea, however, apparently has widespread appeal in Islamabad, Pakistan, according to Sabrina Tavernise writing at "U.S. Heads a Cast of Villains in Pakistan's Conspiracy Talk":

A typical anti-American demonstration in Pakistan.

Americans may think that the failed Times Square bomb was planted by a man named Faisal Shahzad. But the view in the Supreme Court Bar Association here in Pakistan's capital is that the culprit was an American "think tank." No one seems to know its name, but everyone has an opinion about it. It is powerful and shadowy, and seems to control just about everything in the American government, including President Obama.

"They have planted this character Faisal Shahzad to implement their script," said Hashmat Ali Habib, a lawyer and a member of the bar association.

Who are they?

"You must know, you are from America," he said smiling. "My advice for the American nation is, get free of these think tanks."

Comments: (1) Of course, as head of two think tanks over the past quarter century, I am curious to know its name. (2) There's no compliment so sincere as a back-handed one. The notion that a think tank – rather than business or the military leadership – runs the United States testifies that we live in the age of the think tank, or – more broadly – the NGO. (May 25, 2010)

Related Topics: Conspiracy theories, South Asia

European Immigrants in Marrakech

by Daniel Pipes
May 24, 2010
updated May 29, 2010

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2010/05/european-immigrants-in-marrakech

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The central market in Marrakech.

Here's a man-bites-dog story, about 8,000 foreigners, mostly Europeans, moving to a city in Dar al-Islam. Amsterdam's De Volkskrant ran the story by Greta Riemersma under the revealing title, "Has Marrakech sold out to Europe?" Excerpts:

Most of them are entrepreneurs or pensioners who come for the beauty of the city and the laid-back mindset. Down in Morocco, desk diaries and wristwatches are rarities. Taxes and payroll costs are low, the minimum wage is €200 a month.

This phenomenon confronts Moroccans with something akin to the problems facing their counterparts in European cities: They

find themselves surrounded by foreign communities, chiefly French, but also Italian, Spanish, German and English. And a new sociogeographic distribution is taking shape: Europeans are settling down in the centre, in the Moroccan houses they fancy, while the Moroccans are taking to the suburbs, where new blocks of flats are being built all over the place.

Although they consistute less than 1 percent of the city's population, Europeans are making their mark:

Modern downtown Marrakech has taken on something of a Franco-Italo-Spanish air, replete with shops like Zara and Etam patronised by a mostly European clientele. There's even a McDonald's and a Pizza Hut – and a picture of Charlie Chaplin in front of one café. The jet set have also discovered Marrakech. Actor Alain Delon and couturier Yves Saint Laurent had houses there, as do famous footballers Zinedine Zidane and Raúl. Nicolas Sarkozy and Hillary Clinton don't own property there, but they do come regularly. Marrakech has taken on an aura of glitz and glamour, and prices have never been so steep.

The Moroccan response is less than one of unalduterated delight: "The Europeans are buying us out of our city." To which Europeans reply: "It's the Moroccans who are selling their houses." To which a Moroccan answers that the newcomers are offering such huge sums that the locals cannot say no: "Europeans can afford sums that Moroccans have never seen."

The article ends, however, with reciprocal good feelings. A European states: "The fact that Europeans are coming to live here is a change that benefits both communities." A Moroccan agrees: "Europeans create jobs. And it's pretty nice having them around."

Comments: (1) No one is calling discontented Marrakechis "racists." (2) Muslims unhappy with a Western presence undoubtedly sympathize when the equation is reversed. (May 24, 2010)

Related Topics: Immigration, North Africa

European Union to Cut Aid for the Palestinian Authority?

by Daniel Pipes
May 24, 2010
updated May 29, 2010

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2010/05/european-union-to-cut-aid-for-the-palestinian

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European Union diplomats are warning that unless a breakthrough toward a Palestinian state emerges sometime soon, its roughly €300 million a year in aid could cease, Reuters reports.

The aid is supposed to prepare the Palestinians for a peace treaty with Israel that will give them their own state, but "if that isn't coming then I can see a number of questions," said Christian Berger, the EU's representative in Jerusalem. … A delegation from the European Parliament is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories this week and would certainly be asking "if at the end of the day we don't have a state, then what are we doing with the money," Berger added.

Much hangs on the "proximity talks" arranged by George Mitchell: "If there's a breakthrough then I guess there's a likelihood that our support will be increased," Berger told reporters. Of note: the EU already donates more aid on a per-capita basis to the PA than to any other recipient.

PA officials are in stark denial. Asked in January about rumors that the EU might cut funding, Salam Fayyad replied, "I have no idea about this issue at all."

Comments:

(1) It staggers the mind to think of a reduction in EU funding for its beloved Fatah, even at a time of fiscal crisis in Europe. I see this as an empty threat. Fayyad is right to ignore these threats.

(2) The materialist Europeans can imagine no passion so great as acquiring material goods and so have no notion how to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict except through bribes. It's not going to work, says I. (May 24, 2010)

Related Topics: Arab-Israel conflict & diplomacy This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.

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