Thomas Friedman on the end of al-Qaida ideology

The ideology of the al-Qaida network could dissolve following the death of Osama bin Laden, writes the US journalist Thomas L. Friedman in the daily La Repubblica, noting that the Arab Spring is patently a counter-movement to the ideology of terror. This Bin Ladenism "emerged from a devil's bargain between oil-consuming countries and Arab dictators. We all - Europe, America, India, China - treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations, and all of us sent the same basic message to the petro-dictators: Keep the oil flowing, the prices low and don't bother Israel too much and you can treat your people however you like, out back, where we won't look. Bin Laden and his followers were a product of all the pathologies that were allowed to grow in the dark out back - crippling deficits of freedom, women's empowerment and education across the Arab world. These deficits nurtured a profound sense of humiliation among Arabs at how far behind they had fallen, a profound hunger to control their own futures and a pervasive sense of injustice in their daily lives. That is what is most striking about the Arab uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia in particular. They were almost apolitical. They were not about any ideology. They were propelled by the most basic human longings for dignity, justice and to control one's own life."

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