Earlier on today I was reading a rather interesting article on the Jerusalem Post website. They’re covering the visit of Libyan leader Colonel Muammer Gaddafi’ to Italy.

As the Post reports during the current visit the Colonel has invited representation from the Libyan Jewish community in Rome.

What really interested me about the article was not the news report  itself but rather a comment by one of the visitors to the site.

Named Amnon, the contributor titled his comment thus Gadhafi is a natural ally for the West and Israel . The following is his comment in full:

“Secular nationalist dictators are realistically the best Middle Eastern ally for the West. We all know that Muslims and Arabs are not inclined towards liberal democracy, so a relatively benevolent dictator of the old guard is the best we can hope for. Quite frankly, we all know that we miss Saddam Hussein. Since America took him out, Iran has filled the void. We need to keep Egypt and Jordan in line, get Syria out of Iranian influence, and co-opt countries like Libya as well.” {Source: Jerusalem Post}

It has been this concept of “realpolitik” or should I say policies that are coercive, amoral, or Machiavellian that have been at the heart of western dealings with the post-colonial Muslim world.

These western policies manifested themselves in the  Middle East through many decades of support to some rather nasty dictators.  It should be noted that this support has always been at the expense of  freedom and democracy.

Much has been made especially by anti-Islam bigots over the “ungratefulness” of Muslims vis a vis helping to develop the Muslim world.

This “support” should always be analysed through the lens of western aid  for tyrants in the Muslim world. Once this is done, the western bigot can  understand the cynicism shown by many Muslims to western pronouncements about democracy and freedom.

In reality when it comes to democracy and freedom (Westerner and Muslim) are all created equal but some of us are created more equal than others.

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