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DAVOS,
Switzerland-- Here at the World Economic Forum in Davos, there was a
debate, sponsored by pan-Arab satellite channel Al Arabiya, called “What
if Iran Develops a Nuclear Weapon?”

Of course, as with much of the conversation here this week, the subject quickly shifts to events in Egypt and Tunisia.

One
reporter asked Saudi Prince Turki al Faisal if the Arab world feels
more threatened by the prospect of Iran with a bomb, or by democracy.

Prince Turki replied, “I don’t know. We don’t have a nuclear weapon. And we don’t have democracy.”

In
the wake of the Wikileaks revelations that many Middle East leaders
would be relieved if the United States took out Iran’s nuclear
facilities, it could be expected that Arab and Muslim voices in this
debate would come out critically of their neighbor Iran.

They did
not. So were the Wikileaks about Arab feeling about Iran not
representative of the Arab mood? It may just be that there is a gulf
between what can be said publicly and in private.

From Prince
Turki to Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Ali Babacan, the line they
stressed was not as much Iran being prevented from developing a bomb,
but more the Middle East needing to be a weapons of mass destruction
free zone.

Babacan was not direct, but he was clear about his position on Israel.

“In our region, we have countri... >>>