The Arab Spring as the echo of the 9/11 tragedy

© RIA Novosti . Larisa SaenkoThe tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States has been accompanied by the unfolding Arab Spring and the consolidation of radical Islamists in the Middle East and North Africa.
The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States has been accompanied by the unfolding Arab Spring and the consolidation of radical Islamists in the Middle East and North Africa. - Sputnik International
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The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States has been accompanied by the unfolding Arab Spring and the consolidation of radical Islamists in the Middle East and North Africa. Experts note a link between the acts of terror in New York that shook the world ten years ago and the current revolutions in the Arab world.

The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States has been accompanied by the unfolding Arab Spring and the consolidation of radical Islamists in the Middle East and North Africa. Experts note a link between the acts of terror in New York that shook the world ten years ago and the current revolutions in the Arab world.

Analysts warn that political instability and chaos in Arab countries are playing into the hands of radical groups that may use them to come to power. At the same time, the Arab Spring may put an end to the confrontation between the Eastern and Western civilizations that has exacerbated after 9/11. Paradoxically, now it is Muslims that are defending Western democratic values.

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda militants seized four passenger aircraft. They crashed two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and directed others at the Pentagon and, supposedly, the White House. Three out of the four aircraft reached their targets. According to the investigation, the passengers of the fourth liner tried to stop the terrorists, thus preventing another act of terror at the expense of their own lives. All in all, 2,974 people were killed in these attacks and 24 are still missing.

Some analysts believe that in trying to prevent new attacks by radical Islamists, Washington established close contacts with Arab governments. Experts note that the latter used defense against radicals as a pretext for tightening the screws and launched unpopular reforms that eventually triggered massive protests.

An excuse for tightening the screws

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies told RIA Novosti that the governments of the region used Western apprehensions as an excuse for toughening their policies. He observed that the living standards in the countries that are now swept by massive riots were extremely low even before the 9/11 attacks. The popular discontent had been brewing over a long time and the tightening of the screws under the pretext of fighting Islamists could have been the last drop, the expert concluded.

Alexander Shumilin, director of the Russian Center for Analysis of Middle East Conflicts at the Institute of U.S. and Canada Studies noted that following the terrorist attacks the United States continuously emphasized the need for democratization in the Arab countries. In an interview with RIA Novosti he said: "Revolutions in Arab countries are an extreme response to repressive dictatorships. The United States wanted to avoid this [authoritarian] rule because repressive regimes have always engendered other responses - some people joined the opposition, including terrorist groups."

Geert J. Somsen, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University (Netherlands), notes that the protesters in Arab countries are fighting for Western democratic values whereas the West is supporting authoritarian regimes.

In his article "The End of 9/11 and the Arab Spring" Somsen writes: "Mubarak received billions of dollars from the United States; Ben Ali maintained warm relations with France; the Bahraini regime hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet; the Saudis recently bought $70 billion worth of weapons from their American allies... Muslims are fighting for 'Western' values, and Western states are failing to advance these themselves. Freedom and democracy are claimed by Islamic populations, while they have been withheld from them by allies of the West."

Mustafa El Sayyed, professor of Political Science at the American University in Cairo, also told RIA Novosti that it was the struggle for democratic values that engendered Arab revolutions and the Arab Spring showed radical Islamists that they can achieve change and come to power peacefully. The professor emphasized that in his opinion Osama bin Laden's example had not influenced the situation in the Arab world and that the protesters there used methods that had nothing to do with terrorism.

"East is East, and West is West."

These words from the famous ballad written by Rudyard Kipling in the 19th century are still topical. The Western and Eastern civilizations were opposed to each other for centuries. The 9/11 attacks exacerbated this confrontation even if the perpetrators of the attacks had other goals in mind.

Somsen believes that the Arab Spring put an end to this clash: "What has

really undermined the 9/11 antithesis are the popular uprisings of the current Arab Spring. It is these revolutions that have shown that the dichotomy of Islam and Western values does not actually hold."

Meanwhile, the recent study conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, a highly regarded American organization, concludes: "Muslim and Western publics continue to see relations between them as generally bad, with both sides holding negative stereotypes of the other." Most Muslims in the nations surveyed said they do not believe groups of Arabs carried out the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.

Sociologists have established that Muslims are as afraid of radical Islamists as Europeans or Americans. More than two thirds of respondents in Russia, Germany, the UK and the U.S. are worried about Islamic extremists in their country. Seven out of ten Muslims surveyed in the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey share these apprehensions and view radical Islamism as a threat.

Now that multi-million protests have swept Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain after Tunisia and Egypt, many are worried that radical Islamist groups, including al-Qaeda may take advantage of the region's instability.

Unstable region

After protests started in Libya last March, Muammar Gaddafi spoke about the threat of interference by Islamic forces into the domestic conflict.

Apprehensions that radical Islamists may use the region's political instability are well justified. After Mubarak's overthrow in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood was legalized in the country. This group was banned for more than 50 years and is considered radical in the West. Moreover, it has now established its own political party Freedom and Justice and announced its intention to occupy at least 40% of seats in the country's new parliament.

It is no secret that as a result of popular riots Egypt has weakened control at the frontier with the Palestinian Gaza Strip. The north of the Sinai Peninsula that borders on Gaza is considered to be one of the most insecure regions of Egypt. After this year's riots hundreds of Islamic extremists who fled from Egyptian prisons or the Gaza Strip arrived in the Sinai Peninsula.

There is another alarming fact. Abdulhakim Belhaj, the commander of all rebel military forces in Tripoli, told The Independent in early September that he had been "tortured by CIA agents" in Thailand after being first arrested in Malaysia. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/rebel-military-chief-says-he-was-tortured-by-cia-2347912.html. He was suspected of links with al-Qaeda and possible participation in preparing the 9/11 attacks. Belhaj said he finds it difficult to forgive his treatment by the CIA in the past. In his opinion the CIA had cooperated with Gaddafi who considered him a terrorist. After this interview was published, the Western press expressed the opinion that Belhaj may seek revenge against the Americans.

From Arab Spring to Islamic Winter?

Israel is concerned that popular riots in the Arab world may lead to religious wars. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted Home Front Command Chief Eyal Eisenberg as saying to the local Channel 10 that "the Arab Spring could turn into the 'radical Islamic Winter.'"

Analysts note that in any event the current situation in the region is obviously playing into the hands of al-Qaeda-headed radical Islamists. Alexei Malashenko, member of the Moscow Carnegie Center's Research Council, believes the recent events in the north of Africa are enhancing the threat of terrorism. "Sooner or later, when everything turns for the worst there - and this is bound to happen - a new wave of extremism will rise," the expert notes with pessimism.

Yelena Suponina, expert on Oriental studies and commentator for The Moscow News, agrees: "If the discontented in Arab countries fail to achieve their goals, events may take a dangerous turn."

Gergenstein-Ross believes that although the current events in the Arab world are favorable for radical Islamists, in the long term they will undermine al-Qaeda's positions by showing that there is an alternative to radicalism and that democratic methods can work.

Somsen shares this opinion. He writes that the parliamentary elections for which the Muslim Brotherhood is gearing up "are not the Brotherhood's doing - they have been fought for by protesters who are not fundamentalists but democrats and Muslims nonetheless."

El Sayyed believes that the Arab revolutions were launched by progressive young people who do not support the Islamists. He added that the Muslim Brotherhood, which is now actively preparing for the elections in Egypt, has drastically changed its policy in the last few years and is now working for democratic change.

The views expressed in this article are the author's and may not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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