I don't understand this article by Michael Slackman in the New York Times. He thinks that he is identifying a trend when no such trend exists. And to back up his claim, he interviews three Arabs (all right-wing). "“The overall picture is moving in the direction of cooling the political atmosphere,” said Muhammad al-Rumaihi, a former government adviser in Kuwait and the editor of Awan, an independent daily newspaper there." This one is hilarious: either New York Times correspondents don't know, or they know but they conceal for propaganda purposes. Personally, I think that they don't know. Slackman does not know that this Rumaihi (after being a loud mouth for Saddam in the 1980s) is one of the most right-wing (pro-Bush) writers out there, and his appeal extends around the halls of...MEMRI. That is how representative he is of Arab public opinion. But then he talks to Simon Karam but he does not tell the readers that he is one of the most right-wing (insignificant and BORING) personalities in Lebanon. He was one of the founders of the right-wing (and sectarian Christian) Qurnat Shihwan Grouping. To suggest that those two speak for Arab public opinion is to consider leader of the John Birch Society as representative of American public opinion. Do you see how much you miss if you rely on the New York Times for your knowledge of the Middle East (or anywhere else in the world for that matter)?