Dan Calic's article is dead on target. Obama's "foreign policy" is nothing more and nothing less that an extension of his "community organization" schemes. Trouble is, promoting such an effort in the middle east at best is pure fantasy; at worst it is ignorant policy. What a pitiful and shameful policy!

...but an "Apartheid Theocracy" that favors Jews over all others.

if the consequences were not so dangerous.

An inconvenient truth that is ignored way to often. The Arabs cannot handle democracy. Israel is a beacon of light shining in the middle east.

This article is terribly hypocritical since the Ultra-Orthodox have so warped democracy in Israel. The only thing Ultra-Orthodox demagogues in Israel find objectionable about Arab theocracy is that it is run by imams & ayatollahs instead of rabbis & grand rabbis.

I know all this because I am the Best Ever World Affairs Expert in Training. My Tex-Mex Burrito Crystal Ball still informs me Obama reelected and it is always right even if Obama will not be reelected. It is all true, I only report the way I see it with 100/100 vision through Al Jazeera colored glasses 8000 miles away from Middle East and 11000 miles away from Korean Peninsula, Japanese nuclear Islands. Viva Mejico y Tejas Unidos! BLOODYTHIRSTY SCOT GREATEST EXPERT OF TEX-MEX BURRITOS, ENCHILADAS, FAJITAS, MIDDLE EAST, FAR EAST AND NOW HUMAN RIGHTS REVOLUTION IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES!!!!!! DALLAS, TEXAS

External and internal conflicts are the lifeblood of Arb society and conflict in the Arb world is not seen as a problem that requires a peaceful solution. The enemy of the Middle East is not the West or Israel so much as modernism and the humiliation that accrues when millions are nursed by fantasies, hypocrisies, and conspiracies to explain away their own failures. Quite simply, any society whose allegiance is to the tribe rather than to the nation, that does not believe in democracy enough to institute it, shuns female intellectual contributions, allows polygamy, insists on patriarchy, institutionalizes religious persecution, ignores family planning, expects endemic corruption, tolerates honor killings, sees no need to vote, and defines knowledge as mastery of the Quran...is deeply pathological. Despite hundreds of billions of dollars in income from oil and massive amounts of Western humanitarian aid, the Arbs have yet to create one single monument to human achievement. Rather, at different times, the Arbs have pointed the finger of blame at colonialists, multinationals, missionaries, communists, liberals, religious and/or ethnic minorities, middle classes and even Orientalists. But the blame rests only in themselves. The Arb League has never once convened an Arb summit to discuss the backward state of education in the Arb world and therein lies the problem.

I feel and fear the author is correct, but I would be very pleased if he is proved wrong.

Islam has no room for democrtacy. Otherwise the Arab revolters, the 'rebels', would be screaming to become like Israel, (where Muslims can hold political office, vote and even become diplomats, unlike Jews in Islamic countries), instead of screaming to attack and destroy Israel. Islam requires submisssion, in fact enslavement of the their female "chattel", their women. It demands converting the infidel or burning him/her. It demands the murder of every Jew, to the last one! Democracy in Islam at best, means allowing voting , except for the indigenous Jews, those who survived massacres and disenfranchisement.

This is a wonderful start and a very good thesis. However it needs some research and statistics to really have credibility. Otherwise it is just one man's theory.

This article states the obvious to anyone who has been paying attention. Iraq has already demonstrated the meaning of democracy. Basically, it has been patched together by American bribe money paid to tribal elders. But the key question is why not let it fail? Let them fail royally. The Arab/Muslim world is basically a decayed empire. They own vast tracts of land and have the most valuable natural resources today yet they produce nothing scientifically, culturally. They have produced nothing of value for many centuries. Decaying empires are never pretty. They are either attacked from outside and fall or they deteriorate slowly while giving off nasty odors. Since now one outside power is interested in the former, the latter is happening. This is just another stage. Islamism won't save the Arabs. It will just be another step in the slow decline towards the end. Let them be.

One need look no further than the outcome of the free elections in Gaza. Be careful what you wish for.

March 30th! Today is Buy Israeli Goods Day Where EVER u live BUY ISRAELI GOODS and tell the store manager thank you for selling these wonderful products made in Israel! B.I.G. :)

Technically, Judaism ,Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism are the same way. Unlike Islam, we have been through reformation with the exception of a minority of retrograde extremists in each religion sect.

Obama and Europe is knitting a false reality of 'alice in wonderland'. The koran is full of voilant laws, submission and second standard to woman. Their basic foundation is different from democracy. I feel sorry when i see these uprisings all over the world. Poor people wants to be free but they don't understand that till they call themselves muslims, they are not free. Democracy means free thinking, democracy means equal rights, democracy means respect towards all types of religions, democracy means no religion supiriority and one rule of democracy for everyone. Democracy means inter-religion marriages, democracy means no voilance. Muslim religion is just opposite all above sated points.

seems the arab christians, lumped in with the muslims, somehow are incapable of democracy, a form of government that is dominant in christian-majority places. makes no sense.

I'm not a big fan of muslim societies, however, I believe young muslims truly want democracy. Elections are comming soon and they will proove you WRONG

So what is Israel and most of the middle east?

Freedom for Islam is subjugation for everyone else.

You have been subdued so much by Muslims that now you identify with your oppressors and toe the line of double talk. Not long ago, there was a time in Arab history when there was a lot of hope for a different future. Once Assad Al Wahsh, Qaddafi, Mubarak, Saddam, Nasser and others supporting them were young Muslims who too promised reforms and democracy, and your father, like you do now, believed in them. In Syria for example the Baath party was founded by a young Christian named Michel Aflaq, and another young Syrian Christian Antun Saadeh created the national doctrine of Greater Syria from the Mediterranean Sea to the Zagros Mountains, unencumbered by language, religion or ethnicity. You know very well what big fools they were and you are one too. I know all this because I am the Best Ever World Affairs Expert in Training. My Tex-Mex Burrito Crystal Ball still informs me Obama reelected and it is always right even if Obama will not be reelected. It is all true, I only report the way I see it with 100/100 vision through Al Jazeera colored glasses 8000 miles away from Middle East and 11000 miles away from Korean Peninsula, Japanese nuclear Islands. Viva Mejico y Tejas Unidos! BLOODYTHIRSTY SCOT GREATEST EXPERT OF TEX-MEX BURRITOS, ENCHILADAS, FAJITAS, MIDDLE EAST, FAR EAST AND NOW HUMAN RIGHTS REVOLUTION IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES!!!!!! DALLAS, TEXAS

just because Obama has chosen to support the overthrow of pro-US regimes only in a way that guarantees the Islamists come to power doesn't follow that is the only result and that Arabs somehow want to be under a dictatorship.

This new chaos in Arab countries gives a much better chance for Islamists to take over than they have had before under the former nationalist dictators. This is the goal of their agent Hussein O. to create conditions more favorable for Jihadis to extend the rule of Islam all over the world starting from the Arab world. I know all this because I am the Best Ever World Affairs Expert in Training. My Tex-Mex Burrito Crystal Ball still informs me Obama reelected and it is always right even if Obama will not be reelected. It is all true, I only report the way I see it with 100/100 vision through Al Jazeera colored glasses 8000 miles away from Middle East and 11000 miles away from Korean Peninsula, Japanese nuclear Islands. Viva Mejico y Tejas Unidos! BLOODYTHIRSTY SCOT GREATEST EXPERT OF TEX-MEX BURRITOS, ENCHILADAS, FAJITAS, MIDDLE EAST, FAR EAST AND NOW HUMAN RIGHTS REVOLUTION IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES!!!!!! DALLAS, TEXAS

I sure hope that you are right! Yes I believe that a vast majority of us are pro-democracy for the Arab world. I do not believe that my grandchildren (who are very young) will live to see anything remotely close to democracy in any Arab country. I truly hope I am wrong and you are right.

At least you're a happy idiot. Viva la burrito and hopefully you will be ALL wrong, and maintain your high standards. Take care, Rob

is this article one of israeli goods ??i can not buy ...as itis not honest he used what he did not know about .. and want to market it .. simply these revolutions in arab land is fore social equality it is more important to the residents here and more important in islam to evry one

i think you are younger than to have grandchildren .it is becouse of your posts it lacks wisdom and experiance of a grandfather of youngs i think that you are a newly father for a beutiful girl and her name is sima

it is only what i think .but may iam wrong ..it is like your post

Contrary to your beliefs and hopes reality in the Middle East is much darker and complex than you ever imagine. Arab aspirations are nothing you can even envision. They are taking down one minority group that oppressed all the others because another minority group wants to take over and oppress all the others. This is just a simple statement for your simple mind however there is much more to it that I will not confuse you with. I know all this because I am the Best Ever World Affairs Expert in Training. My Tex-Mex Burrito Crystal Ball still informs me Obama reelected and it is always right even if Obama will not be reelected. It is all true, I only report the way I see it with 100/100 vision through Al Jazeera colored glasses 8000 miles away from Middle East and 11000 miles away from Korean Peninsula, Japanese nuclear Islands. Viva Mejico y Tejas Unidos! BLOODYTHIRSTY SCOT GREATEST EXPERT OF TEX-MEX BURRITOS, ENCHILADAS, FAJITAS, MIDDLE EAST, FAR EAST AND NOW HUMAN RIGHTS REVOLUTION IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES!!!!!! DALLAS, TEXAS

Oh yes I am a grandfather. I have 6 of the greatest grandchildren in the world and will soon have a 7th. You not only make no sense whatsoever.

Condoleeza made a statement at the beginning of the iraqui war: we are going to install a democratic regime in Iraque and it's going to spread throughout the M.E. Now iraque is in a caotic situation, they are killing each other and in the meantime Condoleeza is teaching " political science" to a future generation of foreign policy "experts" Obama is merely following her footsteps. What role the U.S. Congress is willing to play?