Friday May 29, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

The Brookings Institute just completed a popularity study in the Arab world.
Brookings went to six Arab countries with the question: who is the most popular leader in the Arab world.

The six countries polled are Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
The answers are baffling analysts around the world - the White House included. Why is everyone so baffled?
Because most analysts have not paid attention to the "Bad Boy" phenomenon of Arab leadership and its popularity with the Arab population.

The assumption has always been that the leaders of the Arab world were Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Conventional wisdom is correct, they are indeed the leaders of the Arab world.
But they are not the most popular leaders in the eyes of Arab man-on-the-street.

Number 1 was Bashar Assad, Syria's strong man.
Number 2 was Muhammed al- Nayan, an enigmatic character from Abu Dhabi.
Number 3 was Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader.

The most important lesson the West can learn from this study is that the people of the Middle East love the bad boys who challenge the United States.
Which also explains the Arab world's love affair with Saddam Hussein.

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