I refer to Arbibi Ashoy's Arab governments mere puppets .

I am glad to hear that the writer acknowledges that France and Russia were also once in conflicting relations with Muslims. This is certainly a truer picture of the world and of world history.

It sharply contrasts the perception that just because France and Russia were opposed to the US-led Iraq War, these two European countries are pro-Muslims and that only the US has a problem with Islam.

Indeed, if we go back in modern history, it was French, Russian, German and British imperialism that accelerated the decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire, not the US.

However, given the fact that the Ottoman Empire was also an imperialist power, we must not again assert that it was a passive and innocent victim of European imperialism. The Ottoman Empire willingly participated in the imperialist game by militarily conquering and subjugating millions of non-Muslim southern Europeans and Northern Africans.

As a matter of fact, the decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire first began, not by direct assaults mounted by European imperialism, but from internal decay such as corruption, discrimination against minorities and the oppression of women.

European imperialism just filled in the moral vacuum.

The more direct assault on the Ottoman Empire came from the rebellion mounted by Islamised Arabs in Saudi Arabia and the culturally proud Egyptians in Egypt who resented the imperialistic hegemony of the Islamised Turks who ruled from Istanbul.

Certainly, the Shiites who were predominant in Iraq and Iran also helped to cause the downfall of the Islamised Turks who were predominantly Sunnis.