The Long War For Freedom
The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East

By Barry Rubin
Wiley 2005, 304 pp.

Revolution is blazing through the Middle East. Are we truly looking at the dawn of a new democratic age, with progressive Arab and Persian opposition forces leading the charge, as Terry Glavin suggested this morning in The Leaving's Of Yesterday's Men? As much respect as I have for Glavin's insights, on this occasion I'm not certain I can rise quite to that level of triumphalism. Perhaps it has something to do with my reading of Barry Rubin's The Long War For Freedom.

Until about six weeks ago, the pharaohs of the Middle East seemed like they might last at least until midway to the next century. Today, the liberal democrats who helped bring down these tyrants are very much in danger of losing whatever ground they've gained to Islamists and nationalist demagogues. As Rubin explains, the deck was stacked against them even before these...More >>