Two Michael Rubins?
Kurdishaspect.com - By Shirwan H. Muhammed
Michael Rubin is a researcher in the American Enterprise Institute who has shown a deep interest in the Middle East for many months. He has written much material, and he never lacks for confidence or a point of view.
But Michael Rubin has become very puzzling. Or perhaps there are two Michael Rubins.
In one of his writings earlier this year Rubin begins by saying “Today, Iraqi Kurds enjoy the country's highest living standard, level of foreign investment, and security. International isolation has ended. European air carriers bring travelers and even tourists from Munich and Vienna directly to Sulaymaniyahi and Erbil . For people in Kurdistan Region it is a good acknowledge having the high level of living in their country.”
But by the end of the report, Rubin has changed themes and is decrying what he alleges is the dangerous Kurdish parties for corruption and controlling over life. How can that be if, as he asserts – correctly – at the beginning of the article, the progress made by the citizens and leaders of Kurdistan ?
So which Michael Rubin should we believe?
There are shortcomings as all leaders and officials know about that truth and its variants, but if the alleged corruption gets to the level as Rubin stated, then all the development never took place. His false and unproven allegations of corruption fall flat just by looking at the openness and the economic advancements that are occurring each day in Kurdistan .
Evaluating the relationship between Kurds and America , Rubin applies some tepid brushstrokes in painting the second paradox of his writing. In an interview with the Kurdistani Nwe Newspaper (published on November, 7, 2006), Rubin declares “Nowadays Kurds are one of the nearest allies of America” and goes on the note how Kurds and America have mutual interests and projects together and that Kurdistan enjoys security and stability.
Those conditions continue today. But now Rubin waves allegations of corruption, with little concrete facts to support his assertions, to boost his claim that there is no longer mutual interest between the two.
So which Michael Rubin should we believe?
Rubin’s declaration that “ Iraq has changed but Kurdistan has not” is far from the reality discovered by Thomas Friedman from his on-the-ground reporting. Freidman’s report ‘The Kurd’s Secret” ( New York Times, September 2, 2007) concludes that the only optimistic region of Iraq in which all live together is Kurdistan .
Friedman, who visited and saw and asked questions directly, found and detailed a region full of hopeful steps towards change. So it reinforces the question of why has it not “changed” for Rubin and his criteria for positive change. No U.S. troop shave been killed in Kurdistan . The American University in Sulaymaniyahi has been launched. Hundreds of villages have been renovated, there are two international airports, a plethora of newspapers, satellite channels and Internet centers, and abundant opportunities for many international companies. Many see these as changes for the greater good of all Iraq , not just Kurdistan .
So why has Rubin rejected existing changes in Kurdistan ? As Friedman in an interview with Kurdistani Nwe stated: “if Iraq fails, then this will be a strong support for the true existence of the U.S. in Kurdistan .” Rubin chooses to ignore the larger canvas and to read only one sliver of Kurdistan to insist that Kurdistan has not changed.
All of us witness the new look of Iraq . Rubin should answer these questions before he wrote about the future of the Kurds and American alliance. Who is the serious ally of the U.S. in the new Iraq by facing terrorism and endeavoring to rebuild new Iraq ? Which region in Iraq has the greatest economic progression, development in the way of life and becomes the symbol of reconstruction? Which part of Iraq has got the mutual interests and projects with the U.S. ?
So again I ask: are there two Michael Rubins? The answer may be interesting, but the reality is greater – there is one Iraqi Kurdistan and so far it is moving in the true direction of peace, prosperity and democracy.
Shirwan H. Muhammed a Kurdish journalist and Political Editor, in Kurdistani Nwe Newspaper (Published by PUK)
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March 4, 2008
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