The (new) Arab Cold War: For those who follow Arab politics, there is (only slightly under the surface) a new Arab cold war. The late Malcolm Kerr wrote about the war between Nasser and his rivals in the 1950s and 1960s in his book, The Arab Cold War. Now, there is an intense and undeclared war between Syria and Saudi Arabia, and between Sunni and Shi`ite Arabs on another level. The pro-Saudi press for example is clearly taking swipes at the new Iraqi government, perhaps because it represents Shi`ite (and indirectly Iranian) political ascendancy, and yet the Saudi press was fawning in its coverage of `Allawi, their man. There is an unrelenting Saudi propaganda campaign against the Syrian government, and it is unrelenting. I say that after Al-Arabiyya TV aired a "documentary" on the Syrian role in Lebanon. The piece had more than a tinge of racism and sectarian prejudice to its contents, and had on the antiSyrain side, the most eloquent speakers, and on the Syrian side, they invited famous buffoon, `Asim Qansu, the head of the pro-Syrian Ba`th party in Lebanon (which has 3 or 4 members). In fact, one protestor in the documentary(and only right-wing opposition protestors were featured) was taped shouting that "we are the real authentic" Lebanese, in reference to the inauthentic presumably Shi`ite Lebanese, who were dubbed as sheep by Jubran Tuwayni, who is on Hariri's electoral list in Beirut, along with a Hizbullah candidate--dont be surprised. There are no principled parties and candidates in Lebanon. None. The Syrian-Saudi cold war has not yet been declared, and it is obscured by that typical traditional Arab official obfuscation and dissimulation. Crown Prince `Abdullah even visited Syria recently. And the Syrian and Saudi leaders will be seen shaking hands and kissing (even French kissing), but that is typical political fraudulence. And it seems to me that the assassination of Hariri should be seen not as the cause of the Syrian-Saudi war, but as its effect. I am told that there are minutes of meetings in which Rafiq Hariri spoke unfavorably of Shi`ites, and that they may be released. Saudi-American relations are almost fully repaired: Saudi Arabia now toes the line on Arab-Israeli issues, oil, "war on terrorism," and Lebanon. Of course, the House of Saud has not changed the ideology that produced Bin Laden, and will continue to produce future Bin Ladens. But you dont expect Bush's officials to look that far ahead, or even ahead at all. If the Saudi-Syrian cold war escalates, and if the Syrian minority regime feels cornered, this conflict could spread in violence to places beyond the two countries, and certainly beyond Lebanon where this conflict will play itself out. And the Syrian regime seems to be in a self-destructive mode, losing the few friends that it has had. When I read today the name of Talal Salman, the publisher of As-Safir, as a signatory of a statement against the recent Syrian crackdown (and arrest) of the leaders of the Atasi Forum, I knew that the Syrian regime has lost one of the most passionate and consistent supporters in Lebanon. Anybody who ever says a word of praise for any Arab regime will one day regret his/her words. I make it easier for myself by never praising, and never harboring any illusions about any of those regimes. Today, I heard Gen. Michel `Awn say that "the Lebanese are the most civilized people in the world." Does that civilization include the savagery of the Lebanese civil war when people used to find barrels (collected by the right-wing militia of the Lebanese Forces) of severed penises from victims who were stopped at checkpoints for belonging to the "wrong religion"?