Walid Jumblatt celebrated his 64th birthday a few days ago. A larger-than-life photomontage featuring Gamal Abdel Nasser — a gift from a friend — leans against a wall in the simple, well-guarded courtyard of his Beirut villa.

Jumblatt is a man without illusions. A lifetime in Lebanese politics has hardened his view of the players — especially the Assad family regime and Hezbollah — who are today at the center of regional concern. 

Nasser’s poster, however, transports Jumblatt to another, more innocent time in his life and that of the Arab world itself. He wistfully recalls “the good old days” when, as a young boy, he went door-to-door collecting a few Lebanese pounds from each family for the PLO. Nasser energized this generation of young people throughout the Arab world. Jumblatt recalls that in the company of his father, Kamal, he met Nasser three times.

There is a seamless link between these long-ago events and the present. “Nasser was not wrong when he imprisoned the Ikhwan,” Jumblatt believes, although he is prepared to acknowledge that the execution of Sayyid Qutb was perhaps an error.