The sad truth is that the fantasies portrayed in "Arabian Nights" have long since become an Arabian nightmare in large measure because (as Victor Davis Hanson writes): "The Arab world has no real consensual governments; statism and tribalism hamper market economics and ensure stagnation. Islamic fundamentalism, the absence of an independent judiciary, and a censored press all do their part to ensure endemic poverty, rampant corruption and rising resentment among an exploding population."
For the Arab world, the status quo is no longer sustainable and time is not on its side. The Salafist jihadists are gaining strength in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and in Gaza, WB and warn that an apocalyptic Armageddon between the Muslim world and the West is approaching.
Whether moderate Muslim intellectuals and Western-educated Muslim technocrats will be able to bring on an Islamic Renaissance before rising radical Islam draws them into an unwinnable nuclear confrontation remains to be seen. |
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