`Ali Salem, the lousy Egyptian playwright, whose best plays were "borrowed" from Western plays, is WINEP's favorite Arab liberal because he calls (in English) for normalization with Israel. He has been shunned by most Egyptian writers and intellectuals for those views. But what he does not say at WINEP's conferences is that he is a writer for the Saudi mouthpiece (of King Salman and his sons), Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, where he writes the most pathetic fawning praise of Saudi royals. Here is his tribute to Saud Faysal. Read and realize why no one takes Arab liberals seriously: they are either beholden to Saudi royal family or to the Jordanian royal family or to the Kuwaiti royal family or to the UAE royal family, etc. Liberalism my potato.