“By focusing on disentangling the U.S. from the "clash of civilizations", the current administration continues to emphasize the religious component of the tense West-East relations. But ironically, the U.S., and other Western allies, coordinate Middle Eastern interests with States which they call "moderate", such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but which actually score very low on human rights and freedom indexes. Regarding religious tolerance, the former systematically obstructs the issuance of permits for restoring churches, let alone the construction of new ones, while the latter regards the debate over building none-Islamic edifices a taboo.”