Hell on earth: Being a refugee in an Arab state

We're all familiar with the hell of Palestinian refugee camps. Now see how Iraq refugees are forced to live in Syria. The New York Times reports:

For anyone living in Damascus these days, the fact that some Iraqi refugees are selling sex or working in sex clubs is difficult to ignore.

Even in central Damascus, men freely talk of being approached by pimps trawling for customers outside juice shops and shawarma sandwich stalls, and of women walking up to passing men, an act unthinkable in Arab culture, and asking in Iraqi-accented Arabic if the men would like to “have a cup of tea.”

As the New York Times goes on:

Many of these women and girls, including some barely in their teens, are recent refugees. . . . a United Nations report found last year, [that] many girls and women in “severe need” turn to prostitution, in secret or even with the knowledge or involvement of family members. In many cases, the report added, “the head of the family brings clients to the house.”

Dietrun Günther, an official at the United Nations refugee agency’s Damascus office, told the Times that the U.N. was, in her words: “Especially concerned that there are young girls involved, and that they’re being forced, even smuggled into Syria in some cases,” she reportedly said.

And then saying that the U.N. has "had special talks with the Syrian government about prostitution,” she went on to describe the [Syrian] officials’ new openness as “a great step,” according to the Times.

Ignore the cultural condescension of this U.N. official's last remark - as if the best an Arab government can be expected to be is to be open about such a situation as opposed to competent enough to resolve it.

Anyway, as a Syrian women's rights lawyer, Mouna Asaad, told the Times: “Sometimes you see whole families living this way, the girls pimped by the mother or aunt.”

I suppose Syria deserves some credit for being willing to provide any kind of haven to the Iraqi refugees, in contrast to the oil-rich Gulf states who have kept their doors closed.

This, of course, hasn't stopped young men from the Gulf countries from taking advantage of the desperate Iraqis, however. As the Times goes on to report:

Inexpensive Iraqi prostitutes have helped to make Syria a popular destination for sex tourists from wealthier countries in the Middle East. In the club’s parking lot, nearly half of the cars had Saudi license plates.

From Damascus it is only about six hours by car, passing through Jordan, to the Saudi border. Syria, where it is relatively easy to buy alcohol and dance with women, is popular as a low-cost weekend destination for groups of Saudi men.

I suppose after hitting up the Iraqis in Syria, the next stop for many of these young men is ideally Iraq. If they can just find a way to blow themselves up in a crowded market there, then they can get the 72 virgins in Paradise, the jihadists promise them.

Arab Gulf states growing anxious about Iran

The New York Times reports that the Arab Gulf states "have begun a rare show of muscle flexing, publicly advertising a shopping spree for new weapons and openly discussing their security concerns."

These states, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar, "normally prone to squabbling," the Times writes, are now "[emphasizing] their unanimity against Iran's nuclear ambitions." This is because, the Times says, they "see themselves as the likely first targets of an Iranian attack."

Emile el-Hokayem, a research fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center, told the Times that the Gulf states are telegraphing a message to the world with this new openess. "The message is first, 'U.S., stay involved here,' and second, 'Iran, we will maintain a technological edge, no matter what.'"

Aside from today's news that Iran is ahead of some experts' estimates with respect to its program to enrich uranium (seen as the first step in creating a bomb), Iran's recent military maneuvers in the Strait of Hormuz have also alarmed its Arab neighbors. This is the waterway through which two-fifths of the world's oil supply moves and all of these Arab Gulf states depend on a stable flow of oil for their very survival.

The U.S. recently sent a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, in addition to an increased number of minesweeping vessels. The U.S. denies that any kind of military strike against Iran is imminent.

The indication is that the Bush administration is hoping that more punitive sanctions backed up by the possibility of force will in the end be enough to persuade the regime in Tehran to abandon any ambitions it might be entertaining regarding a nuclear bomb. An ambition the Iranians insist is not part of their scheme.