I noted earlier that whereas back in the Bush years, Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt was for a while the darling of neoconservatives in Washington, meeting with Dick Cheney and making the rounds, he's now distanced himself from them.
And how: in an interview with Iran's Press TV, he's quoted as saying that Lebanon could use arms from Iran (he also mentions Russia and China), and that the Arab world and Iran should move closer together.
Admittedly, it's a Press TV report reported by Al-Manar (i.e., Hizbullah), so I'm sure they emphasized the Iranian parts of his interview, but I do think he won't be going to Heritage or AEI next time he comes here.
Monday, September 14, 2009
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As officials from the Heritage Foundation will tell you, it is not a neo-conservative organization. It is a paleo-conservative organization, where George Will would feel at home but neither Bill Crystal nor Walid Jumblatt would fit in.
David Mack is right on the neo/paleo front, but I'm pretty sure Jumblatt did speak at Heritage a couple of years ago.
How does one tell a paelo from a neo conservative?
Sometimes it is just one element of doctrine.
While both sides resolutely hold that the earth is flat, the paelos believe the earth revolves around the sun. The neos know that this is heresy.
Still, I suspect Walid Bey is one of the few members of the Socialist International who has spoken at conservative think tanks (though not, perhaps, the only hereditary feudal warlord to have done so). Then again, he may be the only hereditary feudal warlord who is a member in good standing in the Socialist International, but I'm not going to be dogmatic on that.)
I'm also reminded of an earlier commenter who called him "the Timothy Leary of Arab politics", and of a quote from Moor Next Door (or another Maghreb blogger? It's too good a line not to quote) calling Qadhafi's foreign policy "stream of consciousness foreign policy." Walid Bey follows a stream of consciousness domestic policy for Lebanon.
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