Almost every day I am now asked "what is going on in the Middle East? Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys?" We will do our best to separate this grey area into black and white. Not an easy task.
The two strongest motivating forces on this planet are religion and freedom. An unstoppable force against and immovable object. In places where the two forces team up usually one has a democracy or a "benevolent tyrant". Either way, when well managed it usually leads to economic prosperity.
As world population expands, resources become more scarce and competition surges as governments attempt to create jobs and feed the people. The muslim world (1.4 billion people), is unable to compete for various reasons. One of the reasons is that generally women are not welcome in the work place, so immediately 50% of the potential workforce remains untapped. Secondly, 95% of the wealth belongs to 5% of the population, therefore no middle class. And thirdly education is not a priority (how convenient for the 5%). Illiteracy is rampant and a conservative estimate is that 20% of this large population group cannot read or write.
Hungry and unable to compete, the only remaining option is violence. Add into the mix, that Islam is intolerant of other religions and according to their leaders "The great satan" is always a threat. So without too much thought, it is obvious how the different tyrants kept control. Fear and a lack of education were enough to keep the population concentrating on everything but their corrupt rulers (for instance, Israel and the settlements). But then along came "madame hunger" and the internet.
When the adversaries are extremist religious beliefs on the one side and freedom on the other side, with so much poverty in the background, the result has to be problematical. Especially with both sides stirring the pot. Iran and the Ayatollahs against facebook with a little misdirected help from the western media. The Sunni muslim world looks on stunned by a slowly collapsing US foreign policy and a looming black cloud in the form of Shiite leadersip asperations. You know what they say, if you cannot beat them....especially if your number one ally dithers constantly, torn between ideaology and interests.
So what is the endgame? The word democracy has become a codeword in the arab world for everything ranging from hunger to freedom to rape and murder. So whenever the media refers to pro-democracy fighters, they really mean freedom fighters which translates into any of the latter. Whatever the prognosis, it cannot be good in the short term. As the US turns inwards to deal with its debt problem and coming elections it will probably be every man for himself.
The liberally minded media calls it "The New Arab Spring" in a desperate attempt to put a positive spin on a situation that is slowly bankrupting their intellectual viewpoints. This is not the time for dreamers. Its time to slow down for a reality check, and the name of the game is survival. Since events are now moving at internet speed we shall soon bear witness to how a culture, who believe in honour killings, the lack of womans rights, secret police and pharaohs with a sprinkling of lawyers, doctors and accountants, attempts to evolve. We wish them luck, for the sake of mankind. But don't hold your breath, its going to be a hot summer, and until the fat lady sings "happy days are here again", it ain't over. Meanwhile her silence is deafening.
You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it - Einstein
The two strongest motivating forces on this planet are religion and freedom. An unstoppable force against and immovable object. In places where the two forces team up usually one has a democracy or a "benevolent tyrant". Either way, when well managed it usually leads to economic prosperity.
As world population expands, resources become more scarce and competition surges as governments attempt to create jobs and feed the people. The muslim world (1.4 billion people), is unable to compete for various reasons. One of the reasons is that generally women are not welcome in the work place, so immediately 50% of the potential workforce remains untapped. Secondly, 95% of the wealth belongs to 5% of the population, therefore no middle class. And thirdly education is not a priority (how convenient for the 5%). Illiteracy is rampant and a conservative estimate is that 20% of this large population group cannot read or write.
Hungry and unable to compete, the only remaining option is violence. Add into the mix, that Islam is intolerant of other religions and according to their leaders "The great satan" is always a threat. So without too much thought, it is obvious how the different tyrants kept control. Fear and a lack of education were enough to keep the population concentrating on everything but their corrupt rulers (for instance, Israel and the settlements). But then along came "madame hunger" and the internet.
When the adversaries are extremist religious beliefs on the one side and freedom on the other side, with so much poverty in the background, the result has to be problematical. Especially with both sides stirring the pot. Iran and the Ayatollahs against facebook with a little misdirected help from the western media. The Sunni muslim world looks on stunned by a slowly collapsing US foreign policy and a looming black cloud in the form of Shiite leadersip asperations. You know what they say, if you cannot beat them....especially if your number one ally dithers constantly, torn between ideaology and interests.
So what is the endgame? The word democracy has become a codeword in the arab world for everything ranging from hunger to freedom to rape and murder. So whenever the media refers to pro-democracy fighters, they really mean freedom fighters which translates into any of the latter. Whatever the prognosis, it cannot be good in the short term. As the US turns inwards to deal with its debt problem and coming elections it will probably be every man for himself.
The liberally minded media calls it "The New Arab Spring" in a desperate attempt to put a positive spin on a situation that is slowly bankrupting their intellectual viewpoints. This is not the time for dreamers. Its time to slow down for a reality check, and the name of the game is survival. Since events are now moving at internet speed we shall soon bear witness to how a culture, who believe in honour killings, the lack of womans rights, secret police and pharaohs with a sprinkling of lawyers, doctors and accountants, attempts to evolve. We wish them luck, for the sake of mankind. But don't hold your breath, its going to be a hot summer, and until the fat lady sings "happy days are here again", it ain't over. Meanwhile her silence is deafening.
You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it - Einstein
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