Millions of people in the Middle East want freedom, just as Eastern Europeans once did. Twenty years ago, the West was a role model, but it betrays its own values. In doing so, it is also strengthening its enemy: militant Islamism. There aren’t many places in the world where Western moral double standards are as glaring as in the Middle East. In the ears of the 1.5 million Palestinians enclosed in the Gaza Strip, Western words like freedom and democracy must sound about as credible as Brezhnev’s praise of freedom and socialism to the ears of an occupied Poland.
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Waning Western Credibility
Millions of people in the Middle East want freedom. Twenty years ago, the West was a role model, but it betrays its own values. It is also strengthening its enemy: militant Islamism.
Monthly Issue
April 2026
In this monthly issue, we examine how our understanding of energy — and how we source and use it — is evolving.
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