Those interested in development issues in the Arab world might find it worth while to read a back and forth discussion of the future of the Arab world taking place between my blog and that of an Egyptian architect-turned-political activist, Karim Elsahy (pronounced es-sahhi, with a hard “h”).

Elsahy’s blog, One Arab World, contains a few posts explaining his political project followed by a series of comments by various (mostly) Arab bloggers (but in English).

My post deals with two different things: the first part is a response to a request for comment by Elsahy regarding a statement in President Bush’s speech last night regarding the “totalitarian ideology” against which the U.S. is fighting. I then give a brief historical explanation of my theory of how the religious and political philosophies of modern Islamic terrorist groups evolved. The second part of the post shifts gears and addresses a variety of political and economic development issues raised by Elsahy and his readers. Essetially, it is a response to several posts on his blog.

For convenience, my post has links back to my original posts on the issue plus links to the most relevant posts on Elsahy’s blog. This is the link to my response on both issues: Response to Comments – Fort Bragg Speech & Arab World Development