Sep 9th 2014

In Defense of Christians

by James J. Zogby

Dr. James J. Zogby is the President of Arab American Institute

We have every reason to be concerned with the fate of the Christian communities of the Arab World. From Egypt to Iraq, these ancient churches have not only survived through centuries of hardship, foreign invasions, and domestic repression, they have also played an important role contributing to Arab culture and Islamic civilization.

Given the unsettling hostilities of the post-Iraq and post-Arab Spring Middle East, the region's minority religious and ethnic groups find themselves at great risk. Caught in the midst of sectarian conflicts brought on by war, occupation, repression, and severe social and political dislocation, vulnerable communities have paid a terrible price, most especially in Syria and Iraq. Whether forced to flee the violence of the civil wars that have ravaged these countries, or expelled by murderous extremists as part of genocidal "cleansing" campaigns, the size of these once vibrant Christian communities have been so depleted, that some rightly fear their extinction in their homelands. Because these ancient churches date back to the time of Christ and have added richness and texture to the culture of the Arab East, it is inconceivable to imagine Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, or Iraq without their Copts, Maronites, Assyrian/Chaldeans, and other Catholic and Orthodox Christian communities.    

In a real sense, what is at stake is not just the survival of these important minorities; it is the future of the region, itself. In a word, intolerant and violent extremist groups like ISIS and their kin, pose an existential challenge not only to Christians, but to all Arabs and Muslims—asking them to look to the future and imagine the kind of society they want to emerge from the current turmoil.

Of course, given the onslaught of ISIS in Syria and Iraq and their horrific displays of violence and intolerance, the immediate question before us is what is to be done now to defend Christians and other minorities put at risk by the raging conflict. This will be the topic of a conference, "In Defense of Christians”, which will take place in Washington next week. The event will bring together the leaders of six of the churches of the Middle East, lawmakers, and activists from a number of non-governmental organizations devoted to human rights and religious freedom. 

For several reasons, I am participating in the event both as an advisor to the group and a speaker. In the first place, I am a Maronite Catholic and an Arab American, deeply committed to my heritage and the land of my father and forefathers, and concerned about the survival of my rite and that of the other Christian communities in the Arab World. I am also participating because I am an American who believes that my country, and the West in general, has, on too many occasions, negatively contributed to the conflicts that are unsettling the Middle East today. I am concerned lest we err again taking steps, out of blind ignorance or sheer folly, which would only make the regional situation more volatile and precarious. 

I am concerned, for example, that some of the loudest voices calling for action to defend the Christians in Iraq today come from the far right. It is disturbing, of course, that a decade ago as the Bush Administration blundered its way into Iraq, this wing of the political spectrum was too busy beating the drums of war to hear the warnings coming from Iraq's Christians about the impact that the war and the pathetic misguided occupation would have on their communities. This same crowd went deaf again to the plight of Iraq's Christians during the brutal civil war that followed, with its "ethnic cleansing" that reduced the country's Christian population from 1.4 million to 400,000. 

Does defending Christians mean that Saddam should have been tolerated because he provided more protection for Christians than the sectarian pogroms that followed? Most certainly not. But because those who are now the most strident advocates for a US military-led assault on Iraq and Syria are the very same folks whose policies led to the current crisis, I believe we should, at the very least, be wary of their advocacy.

Just as it is important that we be concerned not to allow the defense of Christians to serve as a cover for the agenda of the war-hawks, we must not allow it to degenerate into Muslim-bashing. Islamophobes may draw applause from some in Washington, but their inflammatory rhetoric will only harm the fate of Christians in the Middle East. In the end, they appear to be more focused on fomenting a "clash of civilizations" then contributing to a reformed and reconstructed Arab World.

What should also be of concern are those who either want to defend only some Christians—ignoring for example, the hardships faced by Palestinian Christians living under Israeli occupation— or those whose advocacy is limited exclusively to Christians. As a Christian and an Arab American, I reject both approaches. I cannot imagine Palestine without its Arab Christian community. All too often, American evangelicals come to the Holy Land to see the sights, while ignoring the indigenous Christians struggling to survive in the face of an unrelenting occupation. The famed little town of Bethlehem has lost most of its land to Israeli land-grabs, and its people are hemmed in by a 30' concrete wall. It is easier for an American tourist to travel thousands of miles to visit Jerusalem, then it is for a Bethlehemite to go a few miles to pray in the Holy City.

And as a Christian, I cannot counsel the approach of those who would extend their support to Christians-only and say, in effect, "the hell with the rest". The defense of Christians must be holistic and comprehensive. Minorities are most secure when they live in societies that are inclusive and representative, tolerant and respectful of the rights and contributions of all their citizens.

To be sure, ISIS must be defeated and dictators must be removed. But we will only succeed in defending Christians and all other minorities if the sectarian extremists and the dictators are replaced by systems of governance that do not establish one religion or sect above others. As demanding and far-reaching as that may be, it is the challenge we must face.

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Apr 13th 2022
EXTRACTS" "Ukraine and Russia produce a substantial amount of grain and other food for export. Ukraine alone produces a whopping 6% of all food calories traded in the international market. At least it used to, before it was invaded by the world’s largest nuclear power." ...... "When it comes to cereals like wheat, corn, rice and barley, the big players talk about millions of metric tonnes, or MMTs. A single MMT of wheat contains about 3.4 trillion food calories,." ....."Ukraine produced about 80 MMT of grain (a category that includes wheat, corn and barley) in 2021, and is expected to harvest less than half of that this year. A shortfall of 40 MMT is enough missing calories that a country like the UK could only make it up by having everyone stop eating for three years. That’s the thing about tonnes of grain: a million here and a million there and pretty soon you’ve got a real issue on your plate."
Apr 11th 2022
EXTRACT: "I don’t even know the little girl’s name. All I do know is what a friend of a friend wrote on Viber: that her relative, a senior nurse in one of Kyiv’s hospitals, “saw in the morgue a child with 20 varieties of sperm on her small body.” Since this information was conveyed in a private conversation, there is no reason to doubt its veracity."
Apr 8th 2022
EXTRACT: "Russian society has so far failed to stop Putin, just as German society failed to stop Hitler. And so, like a poisoned chalice, that task has fallen to the West, as it did in 1939. The West must now treat Putin and his regime the same way that Winston Churchill treated Hitler: Don’t talk to him, just defeat him. Dead-enders such as Putin are too fanatical and desperate to be reliable negotiating partners."
Apr 3rd 2022
EXTRACT: "From 1807 to 1814 on the Iberian peninsula, Napoleon had to fight Spanish, Portuguese and British armies while beset by ubiquitous, ferocious insurgents. He described this war as his “bleeding ulcer”, draining him of men and equipment. It is the west’s aim to make Ukraine for Putin what Spain was for Napoleon. In the absence of a negotiated settlement, Ukraine and Nato will continue to grind away at Russia’s army, digging away at that bleeding ulcer and prolonging Russia’s agony on the military front, as the west continues its parallel assault on its economy. If Putin’s plan is to proceed with the Korea model, he will fail. There is a strong possibility that Putin has only a limited idea of how badly his army is faring. So be it – he’ll find out soon enough that there is now no path for him to military victory."
Apr 1st 2022
EXTRACTS: "Policymakers expected that the country would be able to secure its energy supply entirely from renewable sources, so they resolved to phase out coal and nuclear energy simultaneously. The last three of Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants are set to be shut down this year." ---- ".... the share of wind and solar power in Germany’s total final energy consumption, which includes heating, industrial processing, and traffic, was a meager 6.7%. And while wind and solar generated 29% of the country’s electricity output, electricity itself accounted for only about a fifth of its final energy consumption." ----- "If Germany suddenly halted Russian gas imports, gas-based residential heating systems – on which half the German population, approximately 40 million people, rely – and industrial processes that rely heavily on gas imports would break down....."
Apr 1st 2022
EXTRACT: "For Putin, the past that matters most is the one the dissident author and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exalted: the time when the Slavic peoples were united within the Orthodox Christian kingdom of Kievan Rus’. Kyiv formed its heart, making Ukraine central to Putin’s pan-Slavic vision. ---- But, for Putin, the Ukraine war is about preserving Russia, not just expanding it. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently made clear, Russia’s leaders believe that their country is locked in a “life-and-death battle to exist on the world’s geopolitical map.” That worldview reflects Putin’s longstanding obsession with works of other Russian emigrant philosophers, such as Ivan Ilyin and Nikolai Berdyaev, who described a struggle for the Eurasian (Russian) soul against the Atlanticists (the West) who would destroy it. ---- Yet Putin and his neo-Eurasianists seem to believe that the key to victory is to create the kind of regime those anti-Bolshevik philosophers most detested: one run by the security forces. A police state would fulfill the vision of another of Putin’s heroes: the KGB chief turned Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov."
Apr 1st 2022
EXTRACTS: "Ukraine, known as the breadbasket of Europe, is struggling to export last year’s harvest, and may be unable to produce much this year either. In addition, the war has caused a global fertiliser shortage, which will push up food prices around the world too. Coming at a time when the global pandemic had already increased food insecurity and depleted resources around the world, many countries may not be resilient to a major food crisis brought on by the war. Back-to-back global catastrophic events like this have not happened for close to 100 years." ----- "Another useful analogue is the case of Germany during the first world war. When war broke out in 1914, the German authorities had anticipated a short conflict – not too dissimilar to Russian assumptions a few weeks ago. Just like in Ukraine now, the first world war severely disrupted German farming."
Mar 31st 2022
EXTRACT: "The horrors of World War II – the death camps, slave labor, and inhumane experiments on people – produced a global commitment never to permit such crimes to be repeated. This began a transformation of international politics whereby appreciation of the value of every person’s life and dignity ensured that even most authoritarian governments at least paid lip service to human rights.  ----- But the Soviet Union and many of its successor states, particularly Russia, never internalized this change. More than three decades after the USSR collapsed, most post-Soviet countries are still governed according to the old “imperial” paradigm. So, it should come as no surprise that we are now witnessing a clash between fundamentally different sets of values and ultimate goals for statehood."
Mar 26th 2022
EXTRACT: "Referencing past legacies as a justification for present-day political decisions is often effective – such appeals trigger emotional reflexes and contribute to thinking about politics in terms of rivalry and defence. The irony within the tragedy of the current situation is that Putin will assuredly go down in history as the figure that did more to unite the Ukrainian people (albeit against Russia) than any other in recent memory."
Mar 24th 2022
EXTRACT: " Despite the death and destruction that Russia rains down daily on them, the vast majority of Ukrainians are bullish about the future: 77% believe the country is moving in the right direction, 93% think they can beat back Russia, and 47% expect to win in the next few weeks.  Ukrainian policymakers are no less bullish, driving a hard bargain in negotiations with the Russians. Several factors account for this remarkable optimism."
Mar 21st 2022
EXTRACT: "As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, China’s role has been thrown into sharp relief. Prior to the war, some commentators suggested that China would openly side with Russia or seek to act as a mediator – so far Beijing appears to have resisted doing either. As Qin Gang, China’s ambassador to the US, wrote recently in the Washington Post, Beijing has nothing to gain from this war, arguing “wielding the baton of sanctions at Chinese companies while seeking China’s support and cooperation simply won’t work”. Ambassador Qin also stressed that Beijing had no prior knowledge of the conflict,...."
Mar 17th 2022
EXTRACT: "The second source of Russian power is of course the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. Nuclear weapons would not deliver victory in a conventional war, but they could destroy a country in the blink of an eye. This brings us to a terrifying question: What will Putin do when he realizes that he cannot win his war in Ukraine by conventional means?"
Mar 17th 2022
EXTRACT: "An influential Shanghai-based academic commentator on international affairs, Hu Wei, recently advanced a cautionary argument that has been circulated widely in Chinese-language publications. In his commentary, which is unlikely to have been published without the approval of some of Xi’s senior courtiers, Hu wondered how Chinese communists would react if the war escalated beyond Ukraine, or if Russia was clearly defeated." ------- "For Hu, the answer for China’s leaders is simple. They should wash their hands of the relationship with Putin, ....."
Mar 12th 2022
EXTRACT: "Meanwhile, Xi seems to have realized that Putin has gone rogue. On March 8, one day after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had insisted that the friendship between China and Russia remained “rock solid,” Xi called French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to say that he supported their peacemaking efforts."
Mar 7th 2022
EXTRACTS: "........Russia has been isolated by draconian Western sanctions that could devastate its economy for decades,...." ---- "Russia’s prospects are bleak, at best; without China, it has none at all. China holds the trump card in the ultimate survival of Putin’s Russia."
Mar 3rd 2022
EXTRACT: "Although Ukraine’s armed forces are outnumbered by those of Russian President Vladimir Putin invading our country, we take heart from the growing support we are receiving from friends abroad. Nobody should forget that this is not just an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine; it is an assault on the free world. ---- Putin has been at war with the free world for decades. "
Mar 2nd 2022
EXTRACT: "Moreover, with China sharing the Kremlin’s interest in containing the advance of liberal democracy around the world, Putin could count on the Chinese to provide an additional economic lifeline by purchasing Russian gas. But this new relationship will not be costless. As the world continues to divide into separate technological and economic blocs, Russia will become even more dependent on China, implying a loss of strategic autonomy. Russia may have a powerful military; but with a GDP similar to that of Spain and Italy, it is far from being an economic power."
Mar 1st 2022
EXTRACT: "The financial measures just announced against Russia are unprecedented for a country of its size. This of course means it’s impossible to predict exactly how their impacts will reverberate around the Russian – and global – economy. And we still need to see the exact details of the plan. But on their face they threaten the collapse of the Russian ruble, a run on Russian banks, hyperinflation, a sharp recession and high levels of unemployment in Russia, as well as turmoil in international financial markets."
Feb 26th 2022
EXTRACT: "Putin apparently assumes that China will back him. But while he launched the invasion just weeks after concluding something akin to an alliance agreement with Xi in Beijing, Chinese officials’ reactions have been very distant with calls for “restraint.” Given Putin’s near-total reliance on China for support in challenging the US-led international order, lying to Xi would have no political or strategic advantage. That is what is so worrying: Putin no longer seems capable of the calculations that are supposed to guide a leader’s decision-making. Far from an equal partner, Russia is now on track to become a kind of Chinese vassal state."
Feb 25th 2022
EXTRACTS: "Russia’s ascent to global power in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries resulted in numerous tragedies not only for the neighbors it subjugated and gradually absorbed, but also for its own people. China’s current leaders, in particular, should be mindful of this history, considering that imperial Russia seized more territory from China than from anyone else." ----- "Putin is taking Russia hurtling back toward the nineteenth century, in search of past greatness, whereas China is forging ahead to become the defining superpower of the twenty-first century. While China has achieved unprecedentedly rapid economic and technological modernization, Putin has been pouring Russia’s energy-export revenues into the military, once again cheating the Russian people out of their future."