There are urgent lessons in the turmoil in the streets of Cairo, the media crisis in London and the tragedy in peaceful Norway, say Doaa El-Bey and Rasha Saad The repercussions of the "Arab Spring" are still the focus of Arab pundits this week. In the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper, Abdallah Iskandar wrote that while many long months have gone by since the eruption of Arab protests, so far, the final outcome of these protests has not yet taken shape. In an article entitled "A Long-Term Confrontation" Iskandar wrote that "a long time will go by before a balance of power is reached that would impose a minimum of stability." Iskandar argues that this applies to Yemen, Libya and Syria, where the regime is leading the confrontation. So too in Tunisia and Egypt, where the regime has fallen. Iskandar explains that the people alone effectively have an interest in finding new political mechanisms. Yet, at the same time, they lack the tools necessary to impose such mechanisms. Also, according to Iskandar, traditional political parties in Arab countries -- official parties as well as opposition parties -- are carbon copies of each other "as a result of a systematic government policy of voiding political activity of any serious alternative." Political Islam, which is engaged in the protest movements, has shown the same failure to shape a credible alternative formula. "The authorities, whether new or old, seem unable to depart from their current course, which is leading to maintaining the crisis. And the protest movements seem unable to impose a course towards salvation. Thus, the confrontations may go on for a long time before a change occurs in the current balance of power," Iskandar wrote. Raghida Dergham focussed on the role that Europe can play to achieve the aspirations of the Arab people. Also in Al-Hayat newspaper Dergham wrote that for Europe, both the declining US interest in international affairs and the fact that Russia's approach to international diplomacy has reverted to the Soviet mentality "represent an opportunity for the continent to play an exceptional and effective role, both internationally and regionally". Dergham argues that the Middle East, the Gulf region and North Africa are all geographically proximate to Europe, in addition to being the theatre where many European strategic and economic interests come together. In the past few decades, the European role was merely that of a proxy, in the era of the American and Soviet superpowers during the Cold War. "However, this decade has seen a shift in the relations with Europe, with the wave of change that swept the region since the beginning of the year," Dergham writes. In the Saudi-financed newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, Osman Mirghani commented on the crisis that the "News Corporation" media empire, and its American-Australian owner Rupert Murdoch, is facing. In an article entitled "When the press loses its morals", Mirghani wrote that the Arab world is affected by the crisis too, because Murdoch and his empire have investments in the Arab World; furthermore, because our own press -- or let's say our media -- has its own problems and troubles, and could learn a lesson from the British crisis. Our media, contends Mirghani, despite all its problems, is influential. He cited the role played by the media in the ongoing Arab uprisings and revolutions; whether to support and export these uprisings, or try and sabotage them. Mirghani admits he strongly believes in the importance of free media, but he does not consider it to be above the law or the code of ethics. "Because journalists are humans and not angels, they need mechanisms to guarantee their compliance with the media's moral code, and to prevent them exploiting the huge influence enjoyed by the media," Mirghani concludes. Tariq Al-Homayed commented on lessons learnt from the terror attack in Norway. In an article in Asharq Al-Awsat, he described the attack as "a crime of terrorism that has implications and lessons not only for the Norwegians but also for the West and for Muslims." After discovering the identity of the Norwegian terrorist, Al-Homayed urged that people must pay attention to the fact that not all terrorists are Islamists. "The West must stop reinforcing stereotypical, negative images of Islam and Muslims." He also calls on Arabs and Muslims to refrain from playing the role of the victim, and justifying the acts of some of their people through denial and justification by claiming that all the different political events in the region are feeding terrorism. "These excuses, even if there is a degree of truth to them, reveal cultural and educational flaws and distort religious concepts, which leads our youth to relate to extremist ideology, and resort to violence and bloodshed," Al-Homayed warns. In its editorial, the UAE newspaper Al-Bayan also wrote that the terrorist attack in Norway proves that terrorism is not related to one religion or one identity and thus "all Islamic countries should strongly oppose linking between terrorism and any religion, culture or ethnicity." The editorial also urged more efforts to enhance international cooperation based on unified strategy to curb terrorism. In its editorial, Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper wrote that the leadership of US in the world is decreasing as a result to "its failure" in Iraq, Afghanistan and its perplexing position towards NATO's role in the Libyan uprising. "President Obama is exerting more effort in changing the image of his country worldwide than in intervention to change dictatorships and enhance democracy, leaving this job to his foreign secretary, Hillary Clinton," the editorial wrote. While underlining that the US is still the number one power with its military machine and economy, the editorial underlines that "Washington does not have a free hand anymore to impose its rules, because of its failure in Iraq and Afghanistan and war costs of more than $1 trillion."
