Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Status of the Arab world


Lessons from Arabia's past -Adam LeBor

No fully sovereign Arab state is a democracy with meaningful independent institutions where power passes peacefully by popular vote.

Economies are sclerotic, but human-rights abuses are flourishing. South Korea and Taiwan export more manufactured goods in two days than Egypt in a year. Since 1950 the Arab population has risen from 79m to 327m, but real wages and productivity have barely moved since 1970.

Poor economic opportunities, endemic corruption, education based on rote learning, state-sponsored Jew-hatred, soaring youth populations and unemployment are a recipe for social catastrophe. Add the rise of radical Islam and the growth of al-Qaeda and the mix becomes something explosive.
(Sunday Times-UK)

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