[Skybird]

Israeli-Egyptian relations go back longer than just to Mubarak. The name to mention is Sadat who knew very well that he was challenging the nationalistic and fundametalist camp when he agreed a peace deal with Israel. He payed with his life for this "offence".

While there were often dreams about Arab greatness, first it were the French under Napoleon arriving in Egypt and demonstrating the stagnating entity that the Islamic world was how dominant and superior the West was. At Napoleon's time, until his arrival the Muslim world was living in paralysis and not realising it, considering itself to be the best of the best because Islam said so, and a testing against foreign cultural conditions had not taken place since centuries. Second, the failing of Lawrence of Arabia who probably were dreaming of the same self-deceptions about Arabia and Islam like the EU today, showed that you should not bet too much money on this thing called "Arab national tribe". A united Arab nation not only never existed and never will exist - it even is not needed in a culture that runs by the ideology of Islam that puts the collective of the ummah above any nationalistic conception of states anyway. The long tradition of corruption and treachery in inner-Arabic politics of course does not help to make things better.

For which we should be thankful. Worst thing that could happen to us is a real unification and united challenge set up by the Muslim world. The West is too weak to stand such a challenge - it already bends under the pressure set up by Islam right now.

It's like raising a beast. when it is young andf small and cute, you play with it. When it has grown up and becomes strong and big, it plays with you - beast games, that is.