Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Thoughts on Iran from Lebanon

“...Arab political culture ... remains autocratic and rigid at the top, and passive and frustrated at the grassroots.”





By Rami G. Khouri


The Daily Star, Lebanon





I started writing this column Sunday in Amman, Jordan, and finished writing it Tuesday in Beirut, Lebanon - a short journey that captured how the dynamic events in Iran are playing out in very different ways in a largely passive and vulnerable Arab world.





Jordan and Lebanon contain extremes visible in the Arab world, including pro-American and pro-Iranian sentiments, Islamists, monarchists, and an assortment of tribal, Arab nationalist, state-centered and democratic values.





All of them, without exception, are reacting to events in Iran with fascination, confusion, and concern, reflecting self-inflicted political incoherence and mediocrity that are hallmarks of the modern Arab world.

Rest of the story: http://www.averroespress.com/AverroesPress/Main/Entries/2009/6/24_The_Arabs_watch_Iran_with_forlorn_envy.html

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The biggest obsession of Arabs and people in the Middle East is the on going mass murder by Israel of Palestinians and other Arabs.

James C Morton said...

Ongoing?

Anonymous said...

Since 1948.