Hundreds of Iraqis took part in scattered demonstrations on Sunday, calling for an improvement in basic services and the resignation of local government officials as unrest sweeps much of the Arab world.
In Baghdad, around 250 people gathered in the impoverished district of Bab al-Sham to protest against a lack of services. "It is a tragedy. Even during the Middle Ages, people were not living in this situation," said engineer Furat al-Janabi.
Some carried a coffin with the word "services" written across it, while others called for the resignation of all members of the local council in their area.
Almost eight years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq's infrastructure remains severely damaged. The country suffers a chronic water shortage, electricity supply is intermittent and sewage collects in the streets.
While public frustration is a challenge to the government as Iraq emerges from the sectarian war after the invasion, the country has already been freed from the autocratic rule that protesters in other countries such as Egypt are seeking to end.
In the oil city of Basra, 420 km south of Baghdad, around 100 protesters demanded the resignation of the governor and members of the city council, saying they were corrupt.
The demonstrators carried yellow cards symbolising the warning card a referee carries in a soccer match.
"I and my children depend totally on food rations, without it we will die. I find work for one day, and then nothing for 10 days after that," said 43-year-old Nuri Ghadhban, a day labourer in the construction industry and father of six.
"I have been looking for kerosene for a month and I cannot find it. We have had enough. What do they want? For us to burn ourselves until they think about us?"
As bad as things are, these protests have the potential to pretty much undo what little gains we have made in the region and delivering the country back into near civil war. If ordinary Iraqis are starving on top of having no power, no jobs, and no hope of getting us out of their country, things are going to get ugly, fast. But that's not the biggest problem.
The protests are moving eastward from Egypt to the Middle East. If they continue on this trajectory, the next countries in line east of Iraq are Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and now we start getting into some serious international problems if those countries start protesting food prices, corruption, and despotism. Pakistan's government is already fragile as hell. Iraq and Afghanistan's governments are cardboard at best. And if nuclear Pakistan goes into Egyptian-style turmoil, India isn't going to just sit around.
I mentioned last week that Saudi Arabia was the big domino at the end of this destabilization chain. That's certainly true in the Middle East, but globally there are many worse places that could see chaos, and Pakistan has to be tops on that list.
Posts
4 comments:
The protests are moving eastward from Egypt to the Middle East.
It started in Tunisia, remember?
If they continue on this trajectory, the next countries in line east of Iraq are Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and now we start getting into some serious international problems if those countries start protesting food prices, corruption, and despotism.
You really don't know anything about the Middle East, do you? The protests in Egypt are over; the army will retain control, as they have for the last 60 years. The protests in Iraq? Local affairs, nothing to get overly worried about. Iran? What protests are going on there? The last set of protests in Iran were brutally crushed by the mad mullahs without Obama saying boo. Nothing is going to happen in Iran.
Afghanistan? Where did that come from? Pakistan, I can see protests happening there. But only because it remains a basket case.
And if nuclear Pakistan goes into Egyptian-style turmoil, India isn't going to just sit around.
Pakistan has already sanctioned terrorist attacks in India, and India didn't respond. India may not just sit around, but they haven't opened fire on Pakistan. You're very insulting towards the Indian people, assuming they would react like Islamist terrorists.
It would help if you learn about a subject you intend to write about instead of regurgitating Democratic talking points that aren't based on reality.
"You're very insulting towards the Indian people, assuming they would react like Islamist terrorists...."
Where the hell did this idea come from? Now you're just making things up.
Where the hell did this idea come from?
Because Zandar doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. Ever since we helped give Pervez Musharraf the heave-ho, nuclear-powered Pakistan has gotten a lot worse. Pakistani protests against rising food prices won't add any more to the problems Pakistan has. At the same time, India has handled things diplomatically and smartly. It's not like Zandar couldn't go out and find out how India is handling things. But he doesn't, choosing to throw in stupid sentences about India and Indians without giving it a second thought.
If Zandar had any idea about Pakistan he'd know that it was a problem long before Tunisia. I'm not sure what the scaremongering is for other than to try to cover up the State Department's incompetence. If Hillary Clinton had any honor she would have resigned by now, but look at who her boss is.
Post a Comment