Colonial Enlightenment

Hashim Salih is the official translator of the works of Akroun into Arabic.  He sees himself as the representative of the secular enlightenment thought in the Arab world.  I bought that for a while until I met him.  He is a columnist for the mouthpiece of Prince Salman, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, where he heaps praise on House of Saud.  And when I met him once in London and I argued with him about his standards, he said to me; there are backward dictators (like Ba`thist dictators) and there are enlightened dictators like Husni Mubarak and Saudi King.  I really for a second thought that he was kidding until I realized that he was serious.  Here, he expresses praise for the House of Khalifah.