Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Illegitimacy and Crooks | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

There is always that thin line between sanity and madness, foolishness and wisdom, honesty and deceit. I remembered this as I watched in amazement insignificant representatives in Lebanon make their statements, as they resembled audience members of concerts or football matches who shout out. People who have no self-respect behave in such as way.

During a recent press conference, the Syrian vice-president, Farouk al Shara stated that the problem with Saudi-Syrian relations today is a result of “personal” issues, whereas the relationship between the Saudi and Syrian nations is excellent and has been this way for many decades.

What the vice-president missed is that the Saudis believe that any violation against their king is a red-line that is not to be crossed. The negative references aimed at some Arab leaders made during the vice-president’s speech following the recent battle between Hezbollah and Israel is a serious issue, consequently, you cannot “separate” leaders from their nations as the vice-president seeks to do.

It is from bad luck that al Shara speaks about King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz and the Saudis and not about someone else and his country. If there is anything that the Saudis agree on, it is their genuine love, respect and appreciation for the King.

Recently, the Saudis have become accustomed to a new sight and that is of pictures of the King in cars, shops and homes not due to pressures from security authorities or terrifying threats. Thus, reducing the issue between Saudi Arabia and Syria to “personal matters” is depreciation of the mind and a figment of the imagination. This persistence is what inflamed the situation; it is what has enabled the youth to be insolent, to address matters that the youth does not understand and about which it knows very little. Moreover over, the youths give advice on the affairs of Arabs, jihad, democracy and struggles. It is at this point that the phrase “It is a mockery” comes to mind. His Excellency, the vice-president of Syria, overlooked the fact that young men know not to overstep boundaries and forget manners unless they know for sure that this is “what the boss wants.”

From this point, we see that the subject requires a serious standing with oneself to learn the reason and the truth behind a predicament, not to recreate a fictional story. The attempt to separate the Saudis and their King and claming that what happened was a “personal matter” contradicts reality and is an insult to the mind. As for the puppet show put on by some Arab crooks that did not spare the holiest land for Muslims and the pride of the Arab people, and an important symbol for the Christian sect in his own country and elsewhere, one cannot but put on a fake smile and say “how clever are those kids!”