Gamal Nkrumah covers Saudi Arabia's disgruntled masses "The Islamic revolution of Iran created an international and regional dimension that cannot be ignored. It severed more ties than it mended fences," Mustafa El-Feki wrote in the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat. "I am not praising the regime of the late shah of Iran; on the contrary. What I do stress is that my reservations about the Islamic revolution of Iran is that it left its neighbours and international powers fearful and suspicious of it motives and its political agenda." El-Feki commenced his scathing critique of Iran, pointing out that it has lost much international sympathy in spite of the fact that Iran has gained the respect but lost the love of fellow Muslim nations. The writer alluded to the fact that many clerics in predominantly Sunni Arab countries suspect that Iran is bent on spreading Shia Islam in the region, including as he pointed out Egypt's most venerable Islamic religious institution Al-Azhar. However, El-Feki concluded that in spite of the current crisis in relations between Iran and the Arab world, he is optimistic about future relations. "We have to differentiate between the Israeli and Iranian incursions into the Arab world. Israel is a racist, expansionist and aggressive state. Iran, on the other hand, does have its own agenda, but it is a far more benign one and it is based on exporting its own particular ideological orientation," El-Feki summed up. Also in Al-Hayat, the Iraqi writer Hamid Al-Kafaai embarked on a scathing criticism of the ideas that are detrimental to the ethnic Kurdish population of the country. The writer urged the Shia majority population of Iraq to take a stand in support of the Kurds of the country. "Hiding behind the banner of religion in an attempt to peddle militant and extremist religious views is a most dangerous exercise. The endorsement of the Shia religious authorities or even their lack of enthusiasm for championing the Kurdish cause will only sour relations between the two communities. Apathy towards the Kurdish question will only have grave implications for the national unity of Iraq," Al-Kafaai concluded. In the meantime in a thought-provoking op-ed, the Syrian commentator Salama Keila writing in Al-Hayat noted that the "family" of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is willfully destroying the country, but he was optimistic about the future. "The revolution will triumph," Keila insisted. "We are now facing a cabal bent on genocide and extermination of the Syrian people. The cabal is aided and abetted by Russia and Iran," argued Keila. "Yet, the dynamics of the political and military developments in Syria itself and the dissension and defections from within the ruling clique in Damascus means that the cabal will inevitably disintegrate and lose control of the situation in Syria. In the London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat, the Syrian columnist Ghassan Al-Imam wrote a poignant article entitled 'The democracy of the multitude of sects in the face of the dictatorship of sectarianism'. "In the Senegalese capital Dakar in 1960, I was the only Syrian journalist stranded in Dakar's international airport. I was among a delegation of Egyptian journalists, including some of the top Egyptian pundits. We were on a public relations mission to advertise the advantages of the then United Arab Republic," mused Al-Imam. Al-Imam bemoaned the state of affairs in Lebanon, stating that the political future of Lebanon and Syria are inextricably intertwined. "When we arrived in Dakar, the Egyptian ambassador and members of the Lebanese community in Senegal rushed to the airplane to greet us. Those were the glorious days of pan-Arabism. Today, we live in the era of sectarian strife. The Lebanese community in West Africa were not concerned with confessional differences," Al-Imam lamented. "Poor [Lebanese] President Suleiman, what on earth can he do with the government of [Lebanese] Miqati? The Miqati government is hostage to sectarian rivalries and is therefore ineffective�ê� Why did we fall from grace? How did we descend from the pinnacle of pan-Arabism to the pit of sectarian violence? Democracy in Lebanon is now threatened by sectarian strife," Al-Imam bewailed. The Syrian fighter pilot who flew to Jordan and sought political asylum was hotly debated. Thousands of officials and lower-ranking personnel are reported to have defected from the Syrian army and civilian administration, and many papers took up the issue. Arab-Iranian relations likewise dominated discourse in the Arab media ahead of the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Iran. The role of veteran Algerian diplomat and troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi as the representative of the Arab League and United Nations for Syria was also scrutinised and a number of pundits expressed concern about Brahimi's ability to contain the crisis in Syria. It remains to be seen whether Brahimi will be better than his predecessor Kofi Annan. On the other hand, Brahimi will be deeply reluctant to antagonise the regime in Damascus. The role of Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the Syrian crisis has been hotly contested in the Arab press. Both countries are thought to champion militant Sunni Muslim groups against the Shia Muslim groups. The Saudi Arabian daily Okaz was naturally more concerned with events in the Kingdom. "Two terrorist cells with chemical weapons and chemicals that could be used for making explosives were found, according to the Saudi Ministry of Interior. Two Saudis and six Yemeni nationals were arrested and other suspects were implicated and investigation are currently under way," Mansour Al-Shahri wrote in Okaz. The bombs and bluster in Saudi Arabia have become tediously familiar. Economic boom without political reform is a dead end for the citizens of Saudi Arabia, Al-Shahri wrote. Moreover, there are growing signs of discontent. The dominance and vested interests of the all-powerful ruling family Al-Saud who traditionally have sought political legitimacy through alliances with the Wahabist clerical establishment no longer placates the disgruntled masses. The Saudi Arabian papers avoided being blunt about the subject. The scale of reform the Kingdom needs is not possible while despotism persists. Many papers in other Arab countries alluded to this Saudi conundrum. It must never be forgotten that Al-Qaeda was founded, financed and nurtured by the US and Saudi Arabia to fight against the Soviet occupying army in Afghanistan. "The terrorist cells discovered wanted to detonate explosive devices in two key Saudi cities, the economic capital Jeddah and the political and administrative capital, Riyadh," wrote Al-Shahri in Okaz. Terrorism, he added, is the most daunting strategic struggle facing Saudi Arabia, not only for the Kingdom but rather for the region as a whole.
