Verdiers fiender og voktere

Få debatter gir så mange angreps- og forsvarsvinkler som debatter som vedrører verdier og identiteter. Slike diskusjoner har få matematiske faktum å forholde seg til, og hvis tilfellet, så kan selv disse faktum brukes til den konklusjon som allerede er trukket.

Det er derfor ikke rart at høyrepopulistiske partier kan få medvind når det uttrykkes bekymring for og om nasjonen, dets fremtid, dets lim, fra noe fremmed som truer med å fragmentere, destabilisere og fjerne hva som er kjent – hva som er trygt.

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Chop chop

With the five robed men’s decision, the third time Prime Minister, strongman of Lahore, Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, again leaves office despite a majority in Parliament. The matter that fell him was not having declared, unclaimed salary, from a foreign-based company where he was a silent board member. A procedure that is worth its critique, but not at all a disqualification from his seat in the national assembly.

But these details are of no interest for those who cheer these days. As if a long sought revenge has been delivered, not taking into consideration the implications and consequences such a decision makes. Pakistan is a country still recovering from decades of on off, and direct-indirect military rule, it has only recently managed to make the steps to strengthen a parliamentary practice of civilian sovereignty – but certain political (and their non-political backers) cannot accept a system in where they lose, so they choose a system where they win.

A Royal Arab spring

THERE USED TO be a common border between Qatar and Emirates, but that would not have helped as latter is aligned with Riyadh when it comes to recent showdown. Current crisis has Qatar cut-off by land, air and sea by the band of three: Saudi Arabia, UAE and the client state Bahrain.

This is what the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has come to be – a forced alliance with center of gravity in the hands of Mohammad ibn Salman (deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia), and his likeminded friend Mohammad ibn Zayed of UAE/Abu Dhabi.

There are several theories of recent thaw between this alliance within an alliance, against a peninsula-country based on the Arab peninsula – but what is this indicating? What kind of threat is Saudi-led GCC trying to prevent when Riyadh’s prime aim is Tehran? Why did such a daring stunt even unfold, and who is lurking to gain from this once the dust is settled?