Issues that could prove explosive could also simply be postponed until simpler matters have been dealt with. The international scene is facing situations at least as critical as those the Arabs have to address, but the conviction prevails that every problem has a solution of some kind. Yet certain countries are incapable of learning and, like mice, return time and again to gnaw at the piece of cheese in the same trap. No problem must be left to calcify. Countries must remain on the alert and mobilise their political will to address problems and find creative solutions.
Problems seem much larger with the passing of time.
It is this determination, it would seem, that is the missing ingredient in Arab politics. There are two possible answers. First, that the ruling elite in Arab countries is unaware of the dangers surrounding it, and believes that the current crisis is a summer cloud that will soon pass, like other crises in the past. But this is a tad far-fetched. The ruling elite cannot have acquired a degree of self confidence verging on stupidity and a reckless refusal to face facts.