Toxic assets

By Salama A Salama

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As the international financial crisis worsens, the term "toxic assets" is becoming a household expression. It denotes a monetary promise not exactly fulfilled; something akin to the bad debts that once sent the world into the Great Depression. President Obama is now busy trying to get the country to buy these toxic assets with taxpayers' money.

We too have our toxic assets, and they are mostly political. We were supposed to have a modern social and political system based on participation and rotation of power. We were supposed to have a deterrent force that enables them to defend themselves. Instead, the Arab world of today has lost much of its power and self-reliance. Its political and economic assets have turned bad. A glittery façade we have in abundance. A swashbuckling insouciance we can summon on a moment's notice. And with our endless bravado, we can live forever in denial.

Gaza was torn apart by the Israelis only recently. Before that, Lebanon was dragged through mud, blood and fire. And we don't seem able to defend ourselves. As Arabs, we have been reduced to begging for protection. We offer anything to the powers willing to promise us safety, military bases or big military contracts -- anything to humour our protectors.

Then we learn that eastern Sudan has been bombed. A caravan accused of taking weapons to Gaza was attacked in air raids that remain shrouded in secrecy. It all goes to show how fragile the whole region has become, how vulnerable and weak. From the Red Sea to the Gulf, NATO and the Americans reign supreme. As for us, we just scamper around, forever watched by the sleepless eyes of spy satellites.

The US-Israeli agreement, signed by Livni and Rice near the end of Bush's term, was aimed to stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. But other European countries, including France, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands are now part of the game. These countries, having held a secret meeting in London of late, say they won't target Arab countries and have no interest in breaking international law. But you never know who to believe these days.

The recent aerial raids on eastern Sudan, during which a convoy of vehicles was hit in the northwest of Port Sudan, were a clear violation of international law. Up to 300 Sudanese may have died over the span of two months through such actions. And yet we know little about what's really going on.

The punitive raids in Sudan must be seen in the context of the Darfur controversy and the International Criminal Court decision to arrest President Omar Al-Bashir. The latter's decision to expel international relief organisations has been greeted with international condemnation, as usual orchestrated by the Americans.

The Sudanese regime is not above reproach. We all know the endless mistakes it has made, and failed to do anything about it. But what matters now is not to save Al-Bashir from international trial, but to save Sudan from the dark future that awaits it, and to avert its partitioning that the West cannot wait to bring about.

In politics as in economy, Obama has made lovely overtures to the Arabs and Muslims. He claims to be still searching for a Muslim country that he could use as a platform from which to address the rest of the Muslim world. In fact, however, Obama is still using the toxic assets that the Bush administration left behind, albeit refurbished and recycled. The Americans are not done talking yet. And the Israelis are not done taking the law into their own hands.