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Pan-Arabism among the GCC

Reader comment on item: Pan-Arabism's Death Rattle

Submitted by Robert (United States), Dec 20, 2021 at 11:43

Only 3% of Palestinians identified the as Arabs - seems like they are ashamed about being Arabs.

I think, today, that the place to look look for pride in being am Arab is among the 6 Gulf Coronation Council States. The latest transition is their effort to form a economic union by 2025.

As Oil Monarchies these Arab Muslim countries were rich enough to create a wealthy Middle Class, and now they are in a position to create a strong economic union which reminds of Bismark and what he accomplished to turn the conquests of Prussia into the Modern country of Germany; Germany has Pensions and Social Security before us (US) or France and Britain did. Here one needs a truth from Marxism - that Economics play a crucial role in the history of countries and their respective political evolution or revolutions. You emphasize Liberal Democracy; but democracy for most people means the Ballot Box or just Voting - as happened in Egypt recently and produced 1st the Muslim Brotherhood. In Iran we got the Ayatollahs being maintained (visually) through the Popular Vote. That also happened in Turkey producing Erdogan; it's happening in Hong Kong too; as in Iran, the Chinese are screening their Candidates to Qualification for being Candidates.

So let's go back to the term Liberal in Liberal Democracy regarding the GCC (the Oil Monarchies). Did not all that Wealth make them Liberal? Isn't being Liberal a quality embodied in the Middle Class? Here again (you may not like this) we have to look to the Left, and so Karl Marx, to appreciate the role of Class in making Liberal Democracy possible.

And also, we need to understand the role of the Rule of Law and Written Constitutions in the evolution of Liberal Democracies; I will not discuss this here now.

So I see these Six (6) Oil Monarchies as Evolutionary as opposed to Revolutionary. And here we need to be reminded of Great Britain aka (more or less) the United Kingdom. It is here that Liberal Democracy evolved (though it had its first major revolution in Europe and produced Cromwell, the Lord Protector - not a King. But that lasted only through his Son as a failed Successor. Here we had the temporary (Dialectical, haha) Illiberal (il-Liberalism); but the Puritans eventually left for the Colonies when the weaker Monarchy was restored by the British Parliament.

What will it be called in 2025 - the Gulf Cooperation Union? And will its Economic Wealth lead to the awakening of Arab Pride and Arab Nationalism (Pan-Arabism)? Notice that there is a great contrast between these extremely Wealthy Arab Sunni 6 States, and the poor or moderate (ripe) other Sunni countries: Jordan, Egypt Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, ...

So, it's time again to think-out-of-the-box. Who would have imagined that the Abraham Accords would come out of these Oil Monarchies? Israel now already is an Economic partial partner of this emerging Arab Economic Union?

To be continued ... hopefully by Daniel Pipes, haha.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Reader comments (2) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
1Pan-Arabism among the GCC [500 words]RobertDec 20, 2021 11:43277388
Objectivity in Political Analysis? [42 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
GeorgeDec 28, 2010 13:31181319

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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