squirrel235

That is nothing new - indeed, [Yasser Arafat] created his Links of London Sale , Fatah C Palestinian Liberation Movement"), in order to liberate the Palestinians, first of all, from the cynical Arab regimes, all of which exploited the "Palestinian Cause" for their own ends. I am very sensitive to this kind of feeling, because at the age of 15 I felt the same and joined the "terrorist" Irgun ("National Military Organization"). I just could not stand the sight of my leaders kowtowing before the British rulers of my country. Putting myself in the shoes of a young Arab of similar age now in Jeddah, Alexandria or Aleppo, I can just imagine what he feels. Even Ehud Barak, that veteran Arab-fighter, once said that if he were a young Palestinian, he would join a terrorist organization.I am not going to write about the Wikileaks. I like gossip as much as the next (wo)man. The leaks provide a lot of it, interspersed with some real information. But there is nothing really new there. The information only confirms what any intelligent person could have worked out already. If there is Links of London Rings new, it's exactly this confirmation: the world is really managed the way we thought it was. How depressing. Four hundred years ago, Sir Henry Wotton, a British diplomat, observed that "An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country." Since then, nothing has changed except that the ambassador has been joined by the ambassadress. So it is quite refreshing to listen to what they say in secret messages home, when they don't have to lie. That said, let's move on to more important things. This week's elections in Egypt, for example. Years ago, the story goes that a Soviet citizen went to the polling station on election-day and was handed a sealed envelope to put into the ballot box. "Aren't I allowed to see who I am voting for?" he asked. "Of course not!" the sternfaced official retorted indignantly, "In our Soviet Union, the elections are secret!" This could not happen in Egypt. First of all, because Egyptians are a very humorous Links of London Scottie Charm. If told that their elections were secret, they would burst out laughing. Second, because they so obviously are not. On one of my visits to Anwar Sadat's Cairo, I had the chance to witness an election day. It was a jolly occasion, more a medieval carnival than a solemn fulfillment of democratic duty. Everybody was happy. Visiting a polling station in a village near the Giza pyramids, I was struck by this atmosphere of jolly cynicism. No one even pretended that it was serious. Goodhumored soldiers guarding the locale volunteered to help old women in choosing the right ballot and putting it in the envelope. I am not sure whether this good humor has been retained under the Mubarak regime, but the results are the same. Media editors, all appointed by the government, prevent any criticism of the government. Opposition activists are arrested well before election day (if they are not in prison already). The government party is a sorry joke. No one seriously pretends that the country is anything but a dictatorship. The upper classes like it that way, not only out of fondness for their privileges but also out of a genuine fear that Links of London Sirens Leaf Earrings democracy, their country would elect a fundamentalist religious regime, with burqas and all. All over the Arab world, this is a real dilemma. Free elections would bring fundamentalists to power. During the last century, secular nationalism was in vogue.