Dubai

The recent killing of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai, opened thousand of discussions about secret services, honour, diplomacy, who should be arrested and why and for how long.

We could see some consequences of the current - mediatic mostly - arguments, and could expect other changes when a new and serious discussion about the plans of peace in the Middle East will be reopened. Openly speaking, some of the recent media reports and comments I've seen in the last days are more than ridiculous, and do not have nothing to do with intelligence, the human intelligence.

But, what I missed - hope it is only a problem of my incapacity to access the best journalistic sources - is the following point of view: Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was not an innocent being walking on the streets of Dubai looking for the best icecream in the Arab world. He assumed he killed two persons and was part of a network of smuggling weapons. If somebody will perpetrate at least one of these acts, in a Western country, will be put on trial, convincted and sent to prison. Eventually, for the rest of his life. In this case, as far as I remember, it was not the case. He travelled in the Middle East, he confessed in the media about the killing and how he succeeded to escape. I do not know if he is a hero for the local public opinion in the region. But, at least, somebody who did what he did and still free could encourage many other people - youngsters, for example - to do the same, without taking care of being convicted.

At the end of the day, in fact, it is a matter of having laws, respecting it, respecting the rule of law.