In its editorial condemning the assassination of Lebanese journalist Gibran Tueni, The Jordan Times came down hard on believers of conspiracy theories. Here is an excerpt:

The criminals who are orchestrating all these attacks are definitely doing Syria no favour. Still, this is no time for conspiracy theories. Only backward elements, sad dinosaurs entrenched behind a long-gone cold war mentality and naïve enough to think that anyone could believe them in this 21st century of ours, would point the finger at their usual suspects: The Zionist enemy, imperialist America, or both.

Thinking that serious allegations could be brushed off merely by resorting to decades-old rhetoric and propagandistic slogans is as ridiculous as irresponsible.

Indeed. I voiced similar sentiments in an earlier post published after the release of Melhis first report, saying then:

I wonder how believers in conspiracy theories in the Arab world (and there are loads of them) will spin this one? How will they find a way to pin the blame on the favorite Middle East culprits, the US or Israel? It will be interesting to watch. Never underestimate the creativity of analysts in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, I’m starting to believe that conspiracy theories will never die in this part of the world. They will always find a niche in the Middle East.