Saudi Prince Khalid Al-Faisal: We Need a New Path Based on Moderation; There Are No Longer Conspiracies

Saudi Prince Khalid Al-Faisal said, in an Al-Arabiya TV interview, that "there are no longer conspiracies that are concocted in secret," because "global policies are out in the open." Prince Al-Faisal, who chairs the Beirut-based Arab Thought Foundation, an NGO dedicated to promoting Arab cultural solidarity and progress, said that a new path, based on moderation, was necessary in order to counter the "impotent equations" of takfir vs. Westernization and extremism vs. moral decay. The interview aired on December 18.

Khalid Al-Faisal: "Why should we be held captive by impotent equations, like the equation of takfir vs. Westernization?"

Interviewer: "Authenticity vs. modernity, takfir vs. Westernization, and extremism vs. moral decay..." Khalid Al-Faisal: "Why must we be either one or the other? Who makes us?" Interviewer: "But there is no alternative."

Khalid Al-Faisal: "Yes, there is. We make the alternative. That is why I talked about the need for an alternative, the need for a new path. We must present a new path. This new thought, this new path, must be based on moderation. This new thought, this new path, must be based on moderation.

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"A conspiracy is something that is concocted clandestinely and nobody knows about it. These days, nothing is being concocted in clandestinely. These days, global policies are out in the open. They are studied in research centers, and presented to the leaders.

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"So there are no longer conspiracies that are concocted clandestinely. People always know what is being done to them.

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"There are no longer conspiracies in the proper sense of the word. Undoubtedly though, all the countries base their policies on their interests."