Monday, August 31, 2009

Arab liberals

This article misses the most important point/factor: that Arab liberals are used by Arab regimes for their own purposes. In the 1970s, Arab regimes and Israel used Islamic fundamentalists against Arab leftists and Arab natinoalists, and Arab regimes (and Israel?) today are using Arab liberals against Islamic fundamentalists. There is one difference: Arab liberals unlike Islamic fundamentalists have no social base or popular appeal. How could they? Let me summarize Arab liberals for you. Just this week, prominent Saudi liberal Jamal Khashuqji (a former Bin Ladenite who edits the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid Faysal) addressed Prince Muhammad Bin Nayif as: "You are Islam."