SODOM & GOMORRAH: People in the west may find their gas prises creeping a little higher as unrest reaches their friends in Saudi Arabia.
Conservative groups are quick to point out the radical Muslim connections at play in the recent Middle Eastern uprisings. It is true that the Muslim Brotherhood and others are attempting to seize power in the wake of popular uprisings, but far more sinister elements are at work.
Saudi Arabian protesters are calling for an end to Wahhabism, a very strict Islamic sect. What’s interesting about this is that they are united with the Islamic groups in opposing the United States and Israel, as well as their current government, but their aims are radically different. When examining these uprisings, we must never forget that popular uprisings are popular only because it’s easy for people to oppose the status quo but difficult for them to agree on an alternative.
This, at its heart, is the trap most people fall into when they support revolutionary events. No matter your position – in a western country writing for a newspaper, or on the streets of a foreign capital, everybody is preoccupied with abolishing the existing government but nobody is entirely sure what to do once it’s gone.
Many unite to become one in a revolution. Once the government is gone, the real struggle commences. Two factors determine the outcome.
First, strategy. The truth is, the Marxists are better at strategy than most other groups. We may suggest this because they are already concerned about the outcome.
Second, enchantment. Here, the Marxists fall short. Their secularized conception of history doesn’t have as powerful a hold on a religious society. This was the problem when the Soviet Union attempted to influence
Once the remaining authority falls away in these places, the real struggle will be between the Islamists and the communists. This author predicts that the communists may yet win; they simply aren’t being acknowledged by the western public. In the end, western intervention on the side of the opposition will likely turn against the Islamists because self interest is a hallmark, not a contradicting value, of liberal intervention.