In the Japan Times/ here
".... The Arab public overwhelmingly regards Israel as an alien and illegitimate entity imposed by force on Palestinian land with Western support. If this perception was channeled democratically and allowed to shape Arab countries' policies toward Israel, any peace negotiations would be even more complicated than they are now. So it is far easier for authoritarian regimes like Egypt and Jordan (and in the future perhaps Syria), where there is no need for parliamentary agreement, to launch negotiations and sign peace agreements with Israel....
... The United States is not the only guilty party. Europe has played a major role in retarding democratic reform in Libya and Saudi Arabia. Libya has become a Mecca for European leaders trying to win multibillion dollar oil and investment deals. The rehabilitation of the Gadhafi regime has never included any push to ease political repression in Libya.
An even more telling case is Saudi Arabia. No European leader risks antagonizing the Saudis by raising the issue of democracy and human rights. Saudi women remain prohibited from driving cars, traveling on their own, and working or studying without the permission of a male relative. Saudi society, and those of some other Gulf States, lacks minimum levels of political freedom and participation. The status quo is excused by Arab regimes in the name of cultural specificity — the same pretext used by Western governments to justify their "value-free" policies toward these regimes.
Add together all the tradeoffs between the West and the Arab regimes, along with the Israeli and Islamist factor, and the conclusion at which one arrives is as inescapable as it is alarming: The West cannot afford democracy in the region..."
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