Prostitution

Some time ago demonstrations broke in Lebanon to defend the Saudi ambassador who was the “victim” of negative criticism. It seemed and it still seems that Saudi Arabia is above criticism. The infamous Saudi regime has often profited from its control of the Muslim holly places to give itself an undeserved religious rank.

There exists a deadlock for the development of the critical and analytical perspectives in the Arab world. This deadlock is still related to tribal and tribal-like relations that define loyalty and criticism of self and the close other. If the case of Saudi Arabia is recurrent it is not because it presents a unique one, but a more visible one.

One must start with history. The Saudi Kingdom is in no way different than any other one; its history is one of conquest, political rivalry, and luck. Saudi Arabia was “blessed” by geography with an extensive amount of oil and therefore a strategic value.

It must be noted also that the Saudi regime ever since its creation in the first part of the 20th century, had been, contrary to the common belief of those who demonstrated in support of the Saudi ambassador, the main enemy of any Arab nationalist idea. In fact the Saudi regime is, like Israel, one of the main strategic allies of the United States. This does not mean that they are puppets, or that they are intrinsically evil, it means that the interests of the regime are in concordance with those of the United States. This is simply a matter of survival instinct.

The Lebanese rhetoric is unfortunately too entrenched in the hospitality myth to be able to say more than empty prose and praise when it comes to discussing the role of another country. “Saudi Arabia has always been a friend of the Lebanese people”, “the Saudi King wants what is best for Lebanon”… these are meaningless if not ridiculous sentences. If history has taught us anything, it is that there is no friendship between countries, let alone between two unequal ones.

It is a shame to see that the main enemy of any Arab renaissance in the full sense of the word is beyond criticism, and even praised as the model to look up to. Without mentioning the rotten social and political system in the Saudi Kingdom, it would be interesting perhaps to look at the recent visit of George Bush to the Middle East as an expression of the Kingdom’s great standing in the Arab journey towards prosperity.

Prostitution is perhaps the word that expresses best the attitude of the Arab moderate leaders when it comes to receiving the “white man”.

Opinion polls for the last 6 years in the Arab world have shown overwhelming animosity towards the United States. This feeling was nourished by the campaign against Islam and the Arabs in the western media and namely in the discourse of the Bush administration. The history of the word terrorism is the witness in this case.

No man has brought more misperception, destruction, poverty, and instability to the Arab world than George Bush. However, he remains the patron of the moderate Arab leaders, great men who get insulted when they are accused of working against their own people or of being puppets in the hands of the more powerful.

Such receptions make Iran and Syria, and let alone Hezbollah, appear as the ones who are acting in the interests of their people (regardless of the truth of these allegations).

The white man comes (Bush and Sarkozy) and plunders the wealth of those he despises. The great king smiles and shakes hands, prepares folk events to produce salon jokes about the Arab habits, and rejoices on the empty praise he gets from the white man.

No nation has ever been so despicable.

Billions of dollars spent on arms to fight ourselves, or someone else’s war, but none spent to support the poor, educate the illiterate, and develop one’s country.

Iran is the threat. Syria is not moderate enough. Hezbollah is unrealistic.

The question that must be asked and those who demonstrated a year ago must answer, is the following:
What have the moderate Arabs, the great Saudi King and his Egyptian republican monarch, done in their long years of peace with the international community for their people and countries?

Perhaps this video says it all