Clinton: Middle East Faces Disaster Without Reform

[harun]

Source: MATTHEW LEE

DOHA, Qatar — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday delivered a stark warning to Arab leaders that they will face growing unrest, extremism and even rebellion unless they quickly address depleting oil and water reserves and enact real economic and political reform.

Wrapping up a four-nation tour of U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf with unusually blunt remarks to a regional development conference in the Qatari capital of Doha, Clinton said economic and political space must be opened up for the Arab world's exploding youth population, women and minorities.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/13/clinton-middle-east-faces_n_808522.html

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While this type of behavior from the U.S. Gov't would normally be encouraged. In light of the Wikileaks revelations we see not a blip of truth or back bone to such words.

Chomsky highlights this:
http://www.mpacuk.org/story/051210/chomsky-wikileaks-reveal-american-hatred-democracy.html

In public we see words like Hillary's but in private we see backslapping and high fives amongst the U.S. and their puppets in the region.

[xchrom]

1. recommend -- +1 to your sentiments. nt

[karynnj]

2. Can you link to actual Wikileaks document that do as you say?

I haven't seen any - and I have read some dealing with the Middle East.

[kurosagi]

5. yes, please link

to these supposed Wikileaks documents.

[harun]

6. Ask Chomsky for them. My lawyer has advised me to neither

confirm nor deny the viewing of any Wikileaks documents.

[WhiteTara]

9. Welcome to DU

Kurosagi. :hi:

[IScreamSundays]

3. What Hillary really said:

Don't fuck with the USA, we will destroy you, either monetarily or militarily. You have no options.

[RZM]

4. Wrong

Take a look at Yemen for example. It has the highest birthrate in the world (or close to it) and is projected to be one of the first nations to run out of water. There's also that thorny history of division and civil war, only recently (and not fully) patched up. How the Yemeni government chooses to deal with these situations does not depend on the US.

[IScreamSundays]

7. oh for fuck's sake...

do your really think Hillary is out for water in Yemen. She is Secretary of State. Do you get that??? State Department is the freakin CIA. You think her missions are altristic in nature??? You are going full retard.

[RZM]

8. I don't think she's out for water

. . . whatever that means. I think that the US government, from the White House to the State Department to the CIA and back again, wants stability in the region. They want Yemen and other Middle East states to hold together and get a handle on militants so the US does not have to expend effort doing so. My guess is that US decision makers calculate that a stable region that handles its long-term problems and slowly liberalizes/modernizes its governments and social systems will result in a region that is more favorable to the long-term interests of the US. A central long-term goal of US policy makers is a reduction of threats to US interests (and the US itself) from Islamic militants. I think Clinton's statement taps into that more than anything else.