One Year Ago Today on GINA COBB: Why the Middle East Is a Mess

Originally published on June 21, 2007: Why the Middle East is a Mess

Victor Davis Hanson has another excellent column today on Middle East madness -- and the appropriate response.  Here's a tidbit:

Here's why much of the region is so unhinged — and it's not because of our policy in the Palestinian territories or our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

First, thanks to Western inventions and Chinese manufactured goods, Middle Easterners can now access the non-Muslim world cheaply and vicariously. To millions of Muslims, the planet appears — on the Internet, DVDs and satellite television — to be growing rich as most of their world stays poor.

Second, the Middle East either will not or cannot make the changes necessary to catch up with what they see in the rest of the world. Tribalism — loyalty only to kin rather than to society at large — impedes merit and thus progress. So does gender apartheid. Who knows how many would-be Margaret Thatchers or Sandra Day O'Connors remain veiled in the kitchen?

Religious fundamentalism translates into rote prayers in madrassas while those outside the Middle East master science and engineering. Without a transparent capitalist system — antithetical to both sharia (Muslim law) and state-run economies — initiative is never rewarded. Corruption is.

Meanwhile, mere discussion in much of the region of what is wrong can mean execution by a militia, government thug or religious vigilante.

So, Middle Easterners are left with the old frustration of wanting the good life of Western society but lacking either the ability or willingness to change the status quo to get it.

Instead, we get monotonous scapegoating. Blaming America or Israel — "Those sneaky Jews did it!" — has become a regional pastime.

Read it all.

Particularly disturbing to me is Hanson's suggestion that capitalism is antithetical to Muslim law.  If that is true, there will never be peace in the Middle East because there will never be prosperity.

What keeps much of the Middle East going is oil money.  But that source of wealth will dry up at some point as the world, stung by soaring oil prices, switches to alternative fuel sources.

Hanson is right, too, about the fact that Muslim nations in the Middle East do themselves no favors when they respond to non-violent internal dissent with harsh treatment, including executions.  In this, too, the Middle East thugocracies sow the seeds of their own eventual destruction.

Victor Davis Hanson has another excellent column today on Middle East madness -- and the appropriate response.  Here's a tidbit:

Here's why much of the region is so unhinged — and it's not because of our policy in the Palestinian territories or our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

First, thanks to Western inventions and Chinese manufactured goods, Middle Easterners can now access the non-Muslim world cheaply and vicariously. To millions of Muslims, the planet appears — on the Internet, DVDs and satellite television — to be growing rich as most of their world stays poor.

Second, the Middle East either will not or cannot make the changes necessary to catch up with what they see in the rest of the world. Tribalism — loyalty only to kin rather than to society at large — impedes merit and thus progress. So does gender apartheid. Who knows how many would-be Margaret Thatchers or Sandra Day O'Connors remain veiled in the kitchen?

Religious fundamentalism translates into rote prayers in madrassas while those outside the Middle East master science and engineering. Without a transparent capitalist system — antithetical to both sharia (Muslim law) and state-run economies — initiative is never rewarded. Corruption is.

Meanwhile, mere discussion in much of the region of what is wrong can mean execution by a militia, government thug or religious vigilante.

So, Middle Easterners are left with the old frustration of wanting the good life of Western society but lacking either the ability or willingness to change the status quo to get it.

Instead, we get monotonous scapegoating. Blaming America or Israel — "Those sneaky Jews did it!" — has become a regional pastime.

Read it all.

Particularly disturbing to me is Hanson's suggestion that capitalism is antithetical to Muslim law.  If that is true, there will never be peace in the Middle East because there will never be prosperity.

What keeps much of the Middle East going is oil money.  But that source of wealth will dry up at some point as the world, stung by soaring oil prices, switches to alternative fuel sources.

Hanson is right, too, about the fact that Muslim nations in the Middle East do themselves no favors when they respond to non-violent internal dissent with harsh treatment, including executions.  In this, too, the Middle East thugocracies sow the seeds of their own eventual destruction.