Desert Stormed

New at Reason: Michael Young wonders whether American Orientalism really exists.

Comments

[SM]

Well, if the late Eddie Said is to be believed …
Good article.

[Andrew]

The comments about the missionaries and other NGO types were interesting: much of a piece with the whole Mid-East studies swamp.
Sorta illustrates Sullivan’s Law: any association which is neither expressly nor inherently right-wing, will drift to the Left over time.

[Jean Bart]

Tim,

He does? As far as I can tell, he doesn’t question its existance at all.

Andrew,

Explain how “Arabists” drifted left? Or how their ideas (as Michael Young describes them) are leftist? Or is this merely an example of labelling something as “leftist” because it displeases you?

[Andrew]

“The Arabists believed, particularly during the heady days of “national liberation” in the 1950s and ?60s, that archaic Christians were stubbornly resisting the Middle East?s future. There was something very American in their reaction: a righteous indignation that the Arab consensus was being bucked, but also a romantic identification with a dogma regarded as modern and progressive.”

Jean

That’s what I was thinking of.

[DFH]

New civilizations replace old civilizations.

We can pointlessly argue whether this is a good thing or a bad thing — but the fact remains.

The American civilization is more efficient and more effective than the Muslim civilization.

We will win and they will lose — no matter how many pathetic attacks of “terrorism” they manage to stage on their way out.

[Jack]

DFH wrote: “The American civilization is more efficient and more effective than the Muslim civilization.”

Cecil Rhodes et al said the same thing about British civilization circa 1900. Basing your geopolitical strategies on historical or cultural inevitability is a fool’s game whether played by commies or jingoes.

[Jean Bart]

Andrew,

I am missing how that is “leftist.” It seems to be more an identification with romanticism and what Americans call I think of as “populism” – something along the lines of how Kansas entered the U.S. Local determination?

[Rick Barton]

Michael Young wrote:

American Orientalism, (Little) argues, is “a tendency to underestimate the peoples of the region and to overestimate America?s ability to make a bad situation better. One suspects that even the late Edward Said…would wince…

What Said would probably question is the American government’s intent to make things better. Would he not?

Yet many forget that American policy in the Middle East was for decades based on similar logic. (to the Soviets)

But at times US policy has been very different from the opportunistic imperial expansionism of the Soviets and this difference paid great dividends and planted the seeds of Egypt’s subsequent ouster of the Soviets.:For instance, In 1956 when the British and French governments conspired with the Israeli government to seize the Suez Canal…

From a John Cooley, C.S. Monitor article: http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0422/p12s03-coop.htm

“After the US pressured Israel’s British and French allies to withdraw from Egyptian territory in their unsuccessful 1956 war to seize the Suez Canal, Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion, refused to pull Israeli forces out of their new conquests in Sinai and Gaza, as the UN Security Council had ordered.”

“So Eisenhower, in January 1957, threatened American Jewish leaders and lobbyists with withdrawal of tax-free Israel bond sales and other crucial privileges. Mr. Ben-Gurion reversed himself and withdrew. Respect for the US was high throughout the area, even in Israel.”

Michael Young wrote:
the U.S. can revert to familiar behavior, averting its gaze from the illiberal practices of friendly Arab regimes, or it can stick it out and turn Iraq into a liberal-capitalist showcase, whatever the regional fallout.

The best results (in part, because it would appear more sincere) would come from the US government actually cutting off the funding of those illiberal (ruthlessly illiberal, in some cases) Arab regimes, and the Sharon government as well that represses liberal capitalism among the Palestinians and backs “Jews Only” housing laws on government land in open discrimination against Israel’s 20% Arab population!: http://www.eto.home.att.net/jewsonly.html
and
http://www.newsfrombabylon.com/article.php?sid=1779