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Arabia, the Gulf and the West

ai upon it by both the past and the present. Successive turns of fate, of a kind
a too common in the Middle East, have since removed both monarchs from
the scene, thereby rendering worthless the arguments about the necessity to

propitiate them which were put forward in 1971 to justify Britain’s withdrawal.
et to question the wisdom and propriety of that withdrawal in isolation is

beside the point; for it was merely another step in the long retreat of Europe
from Asia and Africa which has been going on since the Second World War,

and which has been consistently represented in the West as the inescapable
consequence of the rise and prevalence of Afro-Asian nationalism. That the
one has led to the other is undeniable; but the explanation generally accorded

the phenomenon — viz. that empires are intrinsically unstable because they are
morally indefensible, that the rule of one people over another offends against a

basic principle of nature, if not a higher edict, and that the transition from
empire to nation-state is not only irresistible but also essential if mankind is to
live in harmony — has been flatly contradicted by the events of the past three

decades. For what has been lost to sight in all the tumultuous celebrations over
the end of the imperial age is the crucial fact that the collapse of the European
empires in Asia and Africa was due less to the might of the anti-colonialist

forces than it was to the sapping of the European powers’ will to rule.

When the riotous set them at naught they said:

‘Praise the upheaval!
For the show and the word and the thought
of Dominion is evil!’

It was primarily the loss of nerve and resolution on the part of the European

imperial powers which brought to an end Europe’s authority and dominion
overseas. In turn, and ineluctably, the retreat from empire has endangere t

foundations of order, security and good government in Europe itse , or,
the decline and fall of the Roman empire demonstrated long ago, the 0 tng

the limes, the imperial frontiers, is vital to the maintenance of sta 1 ity a
empire’s heart. A precipitate abandonment of imperial responsibihues,su
we have seen take place within the span of a single generation, inevi

creates its own nemesis. For once the habit of authority begins to atr0P ’
has atrophied with each successive surrender of a colonia teris1a|0C^urS)
degenerative process becomes virtually irresistible. No sudden reversa

no magical recapturing of the habit of authority, when the shores 0 . -ons jn
reached. The habit of surrender, born of so many ignominious capi
Asia and Africa, has by then become too strong. . oractised

Thus Europe has reacted to the tactics of larceny and intimi atio a^jeCl
by the Middle-Eastern oil-producing states since 197° in a ,S^.1 fruit, for

appeasement. It is a reaction, needless to say, that can only yie 1 gripped
it has served to heighten the mood of exultancy which o ate^e^ nOt only
both Sunni and Shii Islam, a mood fraught with danger or t e