Diary 
Tariq Ali
In Cairo and Abu Dhabi, the two Arab capitals I have visited this year, street and palace are for once in harmony. A pre-emptive strike against Saddam Hussein on the grounds that he might, at some point in the future, authorise the production of nuclear weapons, would be, for the people of the region, a classic display of imperial double-standards. They know that the only country which possesses both nuclear and chemical weapons is Israel. Arab public opinion has not been so united for decades. And a cable television station, al-Jazeera (‘the Peninsula’), has played a crucial part in both promoting and symbolising this unity. It has raised mass consciousness in the region, by providing a ruthless analysis of what is wrong with the Arab world.
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From the LRB letters page: [ 19 September 2002 ] Sabah Salih.
Tariq Ali’s new book, The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power, will be published by Simon and Schuster in September.
Other articles by this contributor:
In Princes’ Pockets · Saudi Oil
The General in his Labyrinth · Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US
Pakistan at Sixty · The Trouble with Pakistan
Mullahs and Heretics · A Secular History of Islam
Bitter Chill of Winter · Kashmir
Daughter of the West · the Bhuttos
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