Written by: Beck

If he's not dead already, he will be soon. My record lately of predicting terrorists' deaths has been greatly exaggerated, to mangle some Mark Twain, but I feel pretty confident about this one.

Clowning Glory, who doesn't write nearly often enough for my taste, has some excellent thoughts on the topic of Arafat and the kind of world that could support such a man. And he doesn't pull any punches.

Little discussed in the Western media is the fact that, just as much as do the Israelis, most Arab countries fear and loathe Fatah's competing terrorist gangs like Force 17, the Hawari Special Operations Group, Tanzim and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. Arafat's fatty terrorist organization caused civil wars in Jordan and in Lebanon, and was responsible for atrocities throughout the region and in Europe before being largely contained to the Palestinian territory by Israel and all of her Arab neighbors (Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria).

Today, the display of lip-service solidarity by Arab "leaders" with their Palestinian "brothers" and their malignant little Chairman is a small price to pay for stability within their own borders and for the constant source of fuel the Palestinians provide to keep the flames of hatred burning against the Jews and their American puppets.

The unwashed Arab masses, it seems, are easily bamboozled by ludicrous conspiracy theories of Zionist world domination and completely unaware that the despotic regimes that oppress the region have long profited from this flimflam -- at the common-Arab's expense. If Arab "leaders" are to be believed, because 6 million Jews -- 2% of the region's total population -- occupy 0.15% of the region's land, the best the Arab people can hope for are more tyrants, mullahs, monarchs, warlords, kleptocrats, and gangsters to protect them from the Zionist threat.

Such is the logic of a pathetically deluded culture of sociopolitical Sadomasochism.

Hopefully he'll forgive me for quoting nearly his entire article. For some interesting analysis of the sources and impact of the global mindset which gives rise to such curious tollerance of despots, strong men, and authoritarian hereditary dictators, see this post from the same blog.

Also, see Goe's thoughts on the matter.