"Egypt, Islamism and Regional Alliances" -- Nir Rosen

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Egyptians, Tunisians and other Arabs have proved they are more democratic than the west, that they understand the power of collective action. Can you imagine Americans organizing against injustice the way the Egyptians and Tunisians have? Meanwhile, it sounds silly when Americans worry about religious extremists elsewhere, given that the US is the most religious extremist nation in the West; where a majority believe in angels and devils and other silly superstitions about a god creating the earth, and where politicians invoke Jesus and God at every opportunity.

http://www.currentintelligence.net/nirrosen/2011/2/7/egypt-islamism-and-regional-alliances.html

EXCERPT:

Fortunately I’ve been in Iraq and London so I haven’t had to suffer as much American media, but this Wall Street Journal article blows my mind. The problem starts with the first line of the article: Saudi Arabia fears "the U.S. is opening the door for Islamist groups to gain influence and destabilize the region"?

Saudi Arabia? The most extreme Islamist state in the world, the sponsor of extreme Islamist movements from Africa to Europe to Asia? The opponent of Arab and Muslim progressive and liberal thought for decades?

Internally, Saudi imposes strict so-called Islamic laws barring women from driving, not allowing movie theatres, different doors to building for men and women and a primitive religious police that enforce arcane laws. Minorities - and even Saudi nationals who don't adhere to their own brand of Islam - have no rights.

Internationally, most of what misinformed American academics and pundits call Islamic extremism was created in Saudi and continues to be funded by it. Let's not forget that Saudi de facto supported the Taliban in Afghanistan and that 15 of the 9/11 terrorists and Bin Laden are Saudis. Saudi being worried about another country becoming Islamic Extremist is like an orange being worried that a tomato isn't red enough (thanks Ahmad).

So the Wall Street Journal's uninformed authors think the Saudis are worried about Islamist groups? No. The Saudis used to import Muslim Brothers from Egypt to teach in Saudi Arabia, and that was only after the Wahabis relaxed a bit and were willing to accept them and their more moderate views.

This isn't about Islamism, it's about regional alliances. Whether it's the Muslim Brothers or the Communist Party or the Green Party of Egypt who takes over after Mubarak, we can be certain that the new regime will be less of a puppet and less part of the American, Saudi and Israeli alliance in the Middle East than was Mubarak. This is what the Saudis fear: that the architecture they have carefully crafted with the Americans is crumbling, with Iraq ruled by the hated Shiites, Fatah in Palestine a joke, Iran ascendant, the Saudi proxies in Lebanon a failure. The Saudis fear any people’s movement, anything revolutionary. And importantly, they also fear Arab nationalism. They had a cold war with Nasr’s Egypt and the Saudis won; Arab nationalism suffered setbacks and was pronounced dead. Thanks to al Jazeera’s coverage of Tunisia we see that Arab nationalism is back with a vengeance.