5 - 11 July 2001
Issue No.541
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 5 - 11 July 2001 Issue No.541 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Poised in fear
We often speak of the "balance of power." It was this that we used, for instance, as a pretext for the security arrangements that make the Gulf states dependent on foreign powers.
Now we are confronted by another term, "the balance of terror," which emerged some two weeks ago when American forces were ordered away from the Gulf and off the military base in Bahrain, and the US administration cancelled joint training programmes with Jordan. At the same time, the US put its citizens at home and abroad on high alert, warning against letter bombs and booby-trapped cars. This followed warnings and threats of attacks that would target American interests worldwide and the most recent incidences of violence. The Khobar explosion killed 19 Americans and injured 370 people five years ago; but the American prosecutor-general has now indicted 13 people, giving rise to the threats attributed to Bin Laden.
In contrast to the "balance of power," "the balance of terror" does not provide for equality or the interaction of peers. Rather, it employs the dynamics of blind force. Sadly, it is the latter practice that increasingly governs world affairs. What the US administration seems to be unaware of is that the Palestinians too have access to the instruments of the balance of terror; where negotiations fail to accomplish the desired effect, a single suicide bombing could well force the Israelis to withdraw.
Since there is every reason to expect that the measures taken to stop violence will prove futile, it is to the balance of terror that political analysts and commentators must now turn.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is a senior Al-Ahram writer and former chief editor of Al-Ahali and Al-Arabi newspapers.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page