By Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Sunday, March 28, 2004

In the 19th century, "Sick Man of Europe" was a phrase used to describe the 500-year-old Ottoman Empire. Decaying, unable to protect its territories, it was ruled by sultans who steadfastly resisted change. Ottoman subjects on three continents -- Arabs, Turks, Greeks, Kurds, Armenians, and Serbs -- and of three faiths -- Muslim, Christian and Jewish -- clamored for change, to no avail. Instead of reforming itself, the empire simply grew more repressive.

Much of what is happening in the Middle East today is reminiscent of the Sick Man of Europe. Most of the 30-odd countries of what American officials are calling the Greater Middle East have been sociopolitically stagnant for decades. This is not for lack of popular desire for change. Saudi women defied the puritanical Wahhabi traditions and broke a stifling taboo by driving their cars in the streets of Riyadh 14 years ago. Thousands of political prisoners have been rotting in Syrian, Tunisian and Egyptian detention compounds for years without trials.