The demise of the Arab Left is to a large degree due to the utter incompetence, Stalinism, failures, cowardice, and subservience of Arab communist parties. In fact, even when I was a Marxist-Leninist in my youth, I always detested the mainstream Arab communist parties. They never appealed to me. The personalities of Arab communism summarize the story: people like Emile Habibi, Khalid Bakdash, `Ali Ya`tah, George Hawi, `Aziz Muhammad, and Yasir `Abd Rabbuh. Do these really inspire anything in anybody? And nothing has helped the rise of religious fundamentalism in the region (aside from US and Saudi plots during the Cold War) more than the failures of those dudes.