Putin threatens Kyiv decision-makers after striking energy grid    Lulu opens new store in Al Fakhriyah, Dammam as it further strengthening its presence in Saudi Arabia New Lulu stores are set to open in Makkah and Madinah    Defending the Truth: Saudi Arabia and the 2034 World Cup    Culture minister visits Diriyah Art Futures    Saudi Arabia calls for enhanced international cooperation to address water sector challenges    Survey: 60% will use Riyadh Metro to go for work or school    GCC Preparatory Ministerial Meeting discusses developments in Gaza and Lebanon    RCRC Chief: Riyadh Metro, featuring environmental sustainability, will improve quality of life and revolutionize transportation    Saudi Arabia hosts over 13 million foreign residents from 60 countries, says human rights official    Al Taawoun seals AFC Champions League Two knockout spot with 2-1 win over Al Khaldiya    Israel to appeal against ICC warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant    Trump nominates Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia    Al-Jasser: Riyadh Metro to accommodate one million passengers daily    Elon Musk publicizes names of government employees he wants to cut    Israelis survey damage and mull return to north as ceasefire begins    Al Hilal advances to AFC Champions League knockout stage despite 1-1 draw with Al Sadd    Best-selling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford dies    Most decorated Australian Olympian McKeon retires    Adele doesn't know when she'll perform again after tearful Vegas goodbye    'Pregnant' for 15 months: Inside the 'miracle' pregnancy scam    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Ayoon wa Azan (Nothing in US Politics Bodes Well)
Published in AL HAYAT on 31 - 10 - 2011

The polls are saying that the Black businessman Herman Cain is ahead of all competitors for the Republican presidential nomination. However, the media agrees with the pillars of the party that the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, will be the Republican candidate against Barack Obama, who is trying to win a second term.
Perhaps because I have been away, I missed a new poll of Republicans, but I did read two this month. The first was by ABC, showing Cain with 31 percent support among party members, compared to 15 percent for Romney. The second was by The Wall Street Journal and NBC, showing Cain with 27 percent, followed by Romney (23) and Texas Governor Rick Perry (16).
The Republican primaries begin in about three months, and we should expect that many things will change; new elements will enter, pushing up some candidates and moving others down, before one of them is eventually selected. However, I will venture to say that the winner will not be Michelle Bachman, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul. They are remaining in the television debates but their role is over, or nearly so. It would require a miracle of Biblical proportions to see one of them win, and the time of miracles is over.
Cain's current lead over the other candidates is due to his good performances in television debates. He chose to confront the problem of racism and the "color" of the candidate instead of ignoring the matter, like Barack Obama did in his 2008 campaign. He likes controversy, as we have seen in his cigarette and smoking ads. He began as a Democrat but then became an independent, and finally a Republican in 1996, when he supported the campaign of his friend, Jack Kemp, for vice-president. He now attacks the automatic attachment of many Black Americans to the Democratic Party, and says they are not trying to improve themselves.
I almost agree with the experts that Cain will not be the Black Republican candidate against the Black Democratic candidate next year. His political career is very limited, to the degree that he did not participate in the 1960s as a student in the Civil Rights movement, even though he studied at a Black college. He later worked as an assistant pastor at a Black Baptist church, and made his money as the CEO of Godfather's Pizza.
Mitt Romney, meanwhile, remains the establishment candidate for the Republicans. He feels so confident of his lead over Perry that he no longer attacks him, but has come to focus on President Obama. This has led his Perry's supporters to dig up the man's past. They accused him of flip-flopping on the issues, on things like social security, taxes, and China's currency (the US accused China of keeping the value of its currency deliberately low).
I gambled by eliminating some of the candidates' chances for victory, and once again I will gamble, by expecting that the policy of any Republican presidential candidate will be a total commitment to Israel, going farther than what we now see from the Obama administration.
I am talking specifically about US foreign aid; all of the Republican candidates are against it, at a time of continuing financial crisis. I bet that the Republicans will reduce it to some states and halt it entirely to others. However, the wealthy Israel will continue to receive US assistance and Congress might even raise the amount, as it did recently with certain items.
Representative Ron Paul said that foreign assistance is unconstitutional, and Texas Governor Perry asked that funding for the United Nations be stopped, i.e. paying America's share of the UN budget, even though the US benefits from the presence of the UN in New York four times more than it pays to the UN. Romney has exhibited the flip-flopping of which he has been accused; in a recent speech, he called for the US to use hard and soft power in its foreign policy, but called for an end to assistance, and blamed China.
Successive US administrations claim that they are offering foreign assistance to promote freedom and democracy. However, I say that Washington is supporting its interests, even by helping dictatorial regimes against their peoples. Since 1945, there have been a few dozen wars led by the US around the world, and a democratic regime has not been established in any of the countries attacked by the US.
I say that nothing in US politics bodes well for Arabs and Muslims, whether the resident of the White House is a Democrat or a Republican.


Clic here to read the story from its source.