The domino effect starts with the largest and one of the most politically corrupt nations in this culturally geographically designated “world.”

Much attention in the Arab world and its diaspora has been paid to the cause of Palestinians. Beyond the begging question of how did the Arab world take on this issue as its numero uno cause, the more important one remains to be even seriously posed: Why have we let this issue, with its only real accomplishment being the deflection off of and solidified sustenance of the inept and illegitimate rule of Arab governments currently in power, guide foreign and domestic policy demands?

Bil ax, the more Arab governments do to dish out empty pro-Palestinian rhetoric, the more damage they do. It feeds Palestinian cynicism about the prospect of progress and support and becomes the opium of choice of Arab governments bent on immobilizing their Arab populations into puffing.

These thoughts have been fulminating in my head for quite some time, but have coalesced nicely as I pondered some of the heavy-handed arguments posited by The Economist in their July 23 issue—a 14-page feature on the Arab World titled “Waking From its Sleep: it will be complete only when the last failed dictatorship is voted out.” But I disagree with the byline. In my opinion, it is actually the first ousted dictatorship that will see a dramatic change in the complexion of Arab political arrangements and a regional balance of power.

At 81 years of age with a 28 run under emergency rule, Hosni Mubarak’s claim to power is probably more illegitimate than an antebellum plantation owner’s progeny. Besides the abject state of squalor produced by jam-packing a quarter of the population of a country of 80 million citizens in one city, a thick air of political repression that sees potential presidential candidates and bloggers as national security threats, shacks built on graves (aptly titled “city of the dead”), abysmal health, bureaucratic rigamarole, hopeless futures, ruthless hustling and even more ruthless begging permeates Cairo’s smog-filled landscape. When I visited Cairo last March, I could not help but think upon my departure: This man is a criminal. He is criminal for how he has terrorized his people-and especially considering that Egypt receives the second highest amount of foreign aid from the US in the world, and second only to Israel for of course, “recognizing Israel’s right to exist.” Where does this money go? Not in the purse of its people, that’s for sure. And, how can the US, proudly waving the Manifest Destiny flag of democratizing the world, invade one Arab country in the name of democracy and give money to another Arab country with similar abuses of and disregard for democracy?

Moreover, it is the Egyptians, and not just the Saudis or worldwide circuit of brainwashed lemmings, that are responsible for the doctrine and execution of terrorism in the name of Islam and Jihad al-AsGhar (the smaller struggle) that we know today. Run parallel searches on Ayman Zawahri and Osama bin Laden, and then you will see what I mean. How did it happen? Some experts point to the failure of the ’67 war as the last nail on the coffin that buried grand Pan-Arab dreams and inspired an Islamic Revivalism to fill the post-colonial void left by monarch Faruq’s colonial puppetry rule and then Nasserism. While a strong argument can be made that Nasser’s repression of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic challenges to his powerbase (a repression that saw him ejecting the likes of Said Ramadan from the country and torturing others like Sayyid Qutb) effectively politically radicalized certain groups of Muslims. But that is a sidenote to the central point of my discussion.

However, little to no attention was been specifically paid to Mubarak, and if so, was masked in the generalized language of “Arab dictators” and marginalized to make room for the feature’s centerpiece: an obsessive fixation on the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s” connection to waking up snoozing Arabs.

Returning to the Economist special on the “Arab World”: The opening of the feature focused on an appraisal of “Peace in the Middle East” as defined by the Israel-Palestinian history of conflict to demonstrate how “asleep” the Arab world is, sparked the wheels in my head to turn. Although there is mention of a history of violence that seemed to be “re-started” with the invasion of Kuwait by Sadaam Hussein in 1990 (or was it 1989?), and then continued onto the present day; focus in the article remained on the US intervention in the form of Camp David, Oslo and Madrid as failed attempts at peace in the region. “Regional” concerns rob “this world” of its complexity and allows for the dust of excuses to be swept underneath the wall to wall carpeting of Persian rugs. The feature does close addressing the way in which the persistent reliance on the Palestine Question as the “unifying” element of the Arab world has served to hinder more than empower this collective.

And finally, an article further into the feature made the hard-hitting point that is the motivation for writing this rant, “The last and perhaps greatest underlying cause of instability arises from the nature of the Arab states themselves.” And yes, Hosni Mubarak and his “Egypt” combine to be one of those Arab states causing the instability. But what about the petro-porkers like the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi, and others? These populations have been acquiesced into submission by their rentier states that subsidize everything from education to wedding costs. The fulfillment of material “rights” (the kind our government even included in the Declaration of Independence) deflects attention of off other human entitlements to freedom/liberty (although this “liberal values/rights” need to be teased out in another space and time). However, Egypt’s state of poverty, political corruption, and irresponsible governance mix to create a molotov cocktail* ensuring a great explosion, one that will hopefully lead to a transformative change. And for as much as I have sardonically derided Egypt, I can soberly attest to this: From Pan-Arabism to cinema, it has a long and powerful history of pioneering industries and institutions in the Arab world. Will a new political arrangement be Egypt’s next contribution?

Either that, or the majority of populations in Arab countries could always pretend to support Israel and effectively invalidate every dictators’ illegitimately derived source of authority.

*I could go on about the ridiculousness of egyptian rule-150 arrests in a non-fasting crackdown, the pushback of clocks one hour to make fasting easier, blind eye turned to sexual harassment, ….everyday there is a new reason to support the expulsion of Mubarak thuggery

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1. Just so we do not forget Arab complicity
2. Sex and the Arab World
3. Egyptian State Goons Want People to Forget the Nakba
4. 2008 Palestine Solidarity Activist of the Year: Bernard L. Madoff
5. Thanking Those Who Offer Support in the Face of Dogged Harassment