“W

hen states fail, those countries’ youth affiliations and tendencies towards religion and sectarian groups get stronger. In 2002, only five Arab countries experienced conflicts, but now the number has increased to 11. The 2016 UN’s Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) states that three out of four Arabs will be living in conflict-stricken states by 2020. The scary thing about Arabs is that they are only five percent of the world population and yet, they contribute to 45 percent of terror activities worldwide. They also form 47 percent of displaced people, eight percent of refugees and 68 percent of the victims.” The above is an extract from an article published in the recent Economist issue, quoting the AHDR. Without cursing the Western colonial states and blaming them for the failures of Arab regimes and without being reminded of the Arab Leftists’ terror in the 1960s and 1970s, why don’t we admit the presence of violence and terrorism across the Arab World as a result of poverty, political and economic marginalization and the presence of ignorant and tyrant regimes at the same time? Such terrorism is now expanding daily, taking political infections from one failing repressive state to another.

Why don’t we admit that by the continuation of regimes that are rejecting change and openness, we are likely to suffer further major economic setbacks and are expecting the worst to come somewhere down the line? However, violence and terrorism in our fragmented societies are just a part of the story. While talking about the terrorism of radical religious groups, we cannot forget the role played by the UK, the US and the West in general in sowing the seeds in the region when it inherited regional colonial control. Through his books ‘Gulf Kingdoms’ and ‘Shadow Wars’, academic researcher Christopher Davidson exposes the underlying patterns behind Middle Eastern strife and traces Britain’s history during the period before and after Egypt’s July revolution (1952), followed by that of the US in adapting terrorism and using it as a weapon that proved effective in fighting Communism, which later backfired and became a horrible threat and ghoul for them. It was under this pretext that Jihad in Afghanistan was sanctioned and justified where our oil-wealth states funded, armed and mobilized men.

The US sent expensive pills and countries would immediately pay them off. If the Islamic State’s brutal terrorism scene sickens us now, we will surely find their roots growing from the Afghan Mujahedeen who used to amputate their opponents’ bodies. Christopher says that linking such facts to the story of Frankenstein and his monster who turned up against him, is nothing new. What matters is that he includes documented British reports, statements and interviews with Western officials in the CIA and other bodies in his research. He also moves on to the Arab Spring and its defeat before counter revolutions were sponsored by our conservative regimes. I hope this research will be translated into Arabic though I know for sure that it will be considered an intellectual taboo in our deserts. The economists and the AHDR remarked that after five years since the Arab Spring revolutions, Arab regimes seem to have not learned any lessons, that they are still cruel and repressive with their people and stubbornly reject paying attention to opposition. The abundance we used to have because of the high oil prices were used to silence and calm down angry voices. What will we do now?

—Translated by Kuwait Times