"The qreat challenge for modern Arab politics has been to find a way to escape a terrible situation of suffering, economic weadness, and foreign interference in order to achieve stability and progress. But while the solutions that the Arabs embraced-as they did once again at the end of the 1990s - may have saved the system, they also made matters worse. The prize was pride, authenticity, and a form of stability. The cost was a turbulent clash of doctrines, delayed development, arbitrary dictatorial rule, and mutual subversion among the Arabs themselves.
"How does the system survive the effects of its massive failures? After all, the Arab world is a mess, falling behind every other region in almost every category of social and economic progress. From Algeria in the west to lran in the east, there are dead bodies in the street. And yet people are not yelling from the rooftops and proclaiming daily that their ideology is bankrupt, their leaders incompetent, and the radical Islamist opposition even worse.
"The broader answer is the strength of the ideological system. Each element in it provides a trump idea that can be used to block, delegitimize, and destroy any truly alternative view. If someone demands democracy, the response is that the Arab-Israeli conflict(or the Islamist threat) doesn't permit this luxury. When anyone criticizes the government's human rights record, he is chided for not complaining about Israel instead. When anyone raises questions about economic mismanagement, he is insulted for covering up the fact that it is really the fault of the United States. To demand the rule of laws passed by a freely elected parliament would mean being branded a threat to Islam and its legislation, which made only by God.
"This doctrine and the regimes it protects are the factors that contribute most to keeping the Arab world weak, backward, and ultimately alienated from the West. Those claiming to be the Arabs' great champions are the ones really keeping their people in chains and causing most of their suffering."
1. The Triumph of the "Old Middle East"
2. Paradigm Lost
3. The Regime's Success,the Nation's Disaster
4. Syia: The Test Case for Reform
5. Iran: The People versus the Will of God?
6. Force and Violence in Middle Eastern Politics
7. The Battle for the Soul of Islam
8. The Arab-Israeli Conflic: Foundation Stone or Millstone
9. The Truth about U.S. Middle Eastern Policy
10. The Uncivil Society and the Wall of Lies