Imagine a ball of yarn, presented as a toy to a playful kitten, who proceeds to do precisely what any kitten would do if offered such a pleasant diversion. Now, remove the fun from the scenario and the resulting hopelessly tangled mess serves nicely as a metaphor for how things stand in the Middle East, where nothing is really disconnected from anything else.
To wit:
A popular uprising against the dictatorial, rabidly anti-Israel, fanatically pro-Iran regime of the Assad family is raging in Syria: Sounds, on the surface, like a good thing.
Until we hear that there’s a strong likelihood that al-Qaida terrorists have joined the anti-Assad fight in pursuit of their own jihadist and Islamist agenda. Definitely a bad thing.
Acts of terror have been on the downswing in Iraq in recent weeks, giving pro-democracy forces a little breathing room in their sustained efforts to restore freedom to that war-plagued nation. Sounds like a good thing.
Until it comes out that the most likely reason for that decline in terror stems from the fact that many al-Qaida terrorists have forsaken Iraq for Syria, just next door. Bad thing.
The influence of the Taliban in Afghanistan seems to be declining. Sounds like a good thing.
Until we learn that the accidental burning of Korans by NATO troops has not only inflamed the Afghan public but also triggered a large pull-out of NATO advisers, putting the entire Afghan effort in doubt. Bad thing.
We could go on and on: Israel’s threat to attack Iran vs. American military analyses that such an attack is strategically impossible; the still hanging question of whether the US will choose to knock out Iranian nukes; the likelihood that Hezbollah will become Iran’s international terrorist arm if such an attack takes place; the ever-precarious stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians; the volatile uncertainty in Egypt, torn between pro-peace and anti-peace sentiments; the whole roiling and unforeseeable phenomenon of the Arab Spring.
It’s enough to make your head spin, this chaotic game of dominoes: Where will they fall? How will they fall? How bloodily will they fall? What other dominoes will they send toppling once they do?
The uncertainties of the region have never seemed greater, despite its already traumatic history. It appears certain that troubled waters lie ahead, and probably not very far downstream. All the more reason, we say, for calm, rational and measured leadership. We’re surely going to need it on the perilous road ahead.
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
