Why the Arab Spring Will Descend Into an Islamic Ice Age

The much vaunted and praised “Arab Spring,” which took the world by surprise in December 2010 is slowly but surely turning into an Arab winter, which will inexorably become an Arab Islamic Ice Age in the near future. Already, the icicles of pan-Islamism are beginning to form throughout the Maghreb (North Africa), and the West had best come to terms with the reality that the mantra of “free and fair elections” does not translate into Arabic as Western-style democracy.

Tunisia

Ironically, it is the birthplace of the “Arab Spring” — Tunisia — which is already in the midst of turning from Arab secular tyranny into Arab Islamist domination. The largest party in the Tunisian parliament is the “moderate” Islamist party known as Ennahda (Hizb an Nahda), meaning the “Renaissance Party.” When elections were held in October 2011, the party gained a plurality of 90 seats in the 217 member Constituent Assembly.

Ennahda was formed by Rashid Ghannouch i, who after 22 years in exile, returned to a hero’s welcome in January 2011, after the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Mr. Ghannouchi, who has been described as a “moderate” by many political pundits, has already called for the “end of Israel.” He has compared his party with Turkey’s Islamist AKP (“Justice and Development Party”) led by the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has nearly turned Turkey into a de facto Islamic republic and brought relations with Israel to the brink of severance. Alas, the much hailed (and perhaps failed) “Jasmine Revolution” might well have paved the way for the beginning of Arab “Islamocracies.” That is, Islamic republics replacing secular pan-Arab socialist regimes, via “free and fair elections.”

Algeria

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