Ahmad Zuwail: I won't praise you anymore

Talal, a brilliant medical scientist in the US whose opinions on science and social science I value greatly, sent me this (I cite with his permission): "I knew you would be bombarded with negative comments about your praise of Ahamd Zweil. He won, and accepted, the Israeli Wolf Prize in Chemistry back in 1993, which I and many others took as a sign that he has been ok'ed for a Nobel Prize. However, Abdul Salam of Pakistan got his Nobel Prize without such approvals so it is not an absolute necessity. Also, his scientific excellence is not in doubt. I think people are complex, and he was deserving of your praise in the specific discourse you were commenting on. On the other hand, his trajectory reflects the dilemmas of Arab Modernism. He joins a wide cross section of Arab (or Arab ex-pats) learned and business classes in believing that, in essence, that the faster the Arab world integrates into the modern world system, specifically the Wester), the sooner it would achieve development. And that this integration necessitates recognition of Israel "as it stands" to gain the support of Western Elites. Unfortunately, events have not vindicated this view (witness Egypt and Jordan). Then the argument goes that if one stands for values of democracy and freedom within those Arab regimes, then the integration would be enabled. Unfortunately again, experience would show that the more (truly) democratic a regime becomes (meaning democracy extending to the poor and not only to the upper middle classes), the more likely that it would collide with Western hegemonic powers. It is a difficult dilemma, as I have always made the argument that what we have now is a full integration of the Arab world into the world economic system, but not on grounds favorable to the peoples of the region. Unless the balance of power is changed, and until the Compradore classes that govern the Arab world are weakened, no serious progress would take place. I would conclude by saying that from all I know he, Zuweil, is a most decent person. He started from nothing, and he came very high through his genius and hard work. And yes, the Pauling Chair at Caltech is not occupied by mediocre minds. And he is genuinely and seriously interested in issues of development in Egypt and the Arab world. In this he is absolutely worthy of your praise."