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What went wrong with the Arab World?
Gulf News | 8/22/03 | Dr Fatma Al Sayegh

Posted on 08/22/2003 2:52:05 AM PDT by kattracks

During the course of the 20th century it became abundantly clear that things had gone badly wrong in the Arab world. When compared with many Third World countries, Arab countries had fallen way behind. They had become poorer, weaker and more politically fragmented. The dominance of the West is clear for all to see, invading every aspect of Arab public and private life.

In the past, Arab modernisers concentrated their efforts in three main areas: military, economic and political. The results achieved were, to say the least, disappointing. The quest for military victories brought a series of humiliating defeats.

The quest for economic development and prosperity brought, in some countries, corruption, inflation and poverty and, in others, unhealthy dependence on a single resource. The quest for freedom and independence brought to some countries dictatorships and tyrannies.

There was worse to come. The 21st century brought with it further humiliation and fragmentation of the Arab world. Arabs once again witnessed the return of foreign occupation, something they thought was a thing of the past and long forgotten.

It was bad enough for Arabs to feel poor and weak after being in a leading position for a long time, but worse still was the humiliation that accompanied the 21st century ­ a humiliation that dealt a severe blow to the Arab ego.

There is a general awareness among Arabs that they are falling back in a lengthening line of more successful countries, especially in East Asia. The rise of some Third World countries was reproachful for those Arabs who became aware of their position and their current status vis-a-vis these countries.

Arabs, proud heirs of an ancient civilisation, have the right to question themselves: "Who did this to us?" Although there is no clear foe to blame, this question is, of course, a common response when things go wrong and there is no reasonable explanation.

In the past the Arabs laid the blame for their troubles and the loss of their glory on foreign domination - western powers that ruled over them for centuries. For a long time, the West was the favourite villain. Recently, however, the role of the West as a villain has been taken over by the U.S. alone.

The transfer of guilt to America has immediately won considerable support among Arabs who are eager to lay the blame on anybody but themselves.

However, many in the Arab world refuse the popular theory that the West is to blame. They believe that the Arabs should face up to their responsibilities and shoulder the blame for all their societal ills. What is the remedy for the Arabs' ills? Although many things have been tried, none have achieved desired results. Economic, political and social solutions were tried, but none was able to alleviate the hardship fallen upon the Arab world.

Foreign domination in the Arab world is a consequence not a cause.

The reason for this domination is clear: the absence of a collective policy which unites the Arabs rather than separates them.

If Arabs were wise enough to resolve all their own differences and benefit from their own resources and direct them towards the general welfare of their own people, there would hardly be any foreign domination.

Iraq is an example of how a political regime can endanger its own society and causes differences in the Arab world.

The former Iraqi regime involved itself in political gambles that endangered not only Iraq but also the whole Arab world.

The Baathists lived in a world of their own, removed from real life and the aspirations of their own people. They dragged their own country into a difficult and dangerous situation. The regime refused to listen to reason or good judgment, and pursued policies that had proved their worthlessness elsewhere in the world.

Although foreign interests played a decisive role in determining the destiny of Iraq, a wise leadership could have avoided such disastrous impacts. The failure of some Arab regimes to listen to reason is the real reason behind the Arab world's ills.

To regain their former greatness, the Arab regimes should adopt the authentic teachings of Islam and know the pulse of their people. They should also level up their policies vis-à-vis international and regional players.

Moreover, they should adopt a more realistic approach, based on discussing specific problems rather than hiding behind unreasonable explanations.

Most problems of the Arab world are easy to solve if Arabs have the power and determination to forget their own differences and work as a team. Japan provides a good example to follow. It emerged from the shambles of World War II to be one of the world's finest industrial nations. But do Arabs have the power and determination of the Japanese?

If the Arabs have the will, there will definitely be a way.

We can only hope that Japan's model is copied by Arabs. It will provide them with a fine example of how determination and merit can produce a miracle.

The writer is with the History Department, UAE University

©Gulf News



TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: arabworld
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To: f.Christian
Which country? Which "victory"?
21 posted on 08/22/2003 4:03:49 AM PDT by angkor
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To: kattracks
What went wrong with the Arab World? =

ISLAM

22 posted on 08/22/2003 4:05:51 AM PDT by Jmouse007
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To: kattracks
"What went wrong with the Arab World?"

ISLAM!!!

The "religion of peace" seeks only turmoil, misery, and death for all it comes in contact with; most especially its practitioners.

23 posted on 08/22/2003 4:10:53 AM PDT by ImpBill ("You are either with US or against US!")
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To: kattracks
We can only hope that Japan's model is copied by Arabs.
You mean you hope the Arabs try to win a war with suicide attacks?
You want Arab armies to engage an enemy which has air supremacy?

Right on track, so far . . .


24 posted on 08/22/2003 4:12:00 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The everyday blessings of God are great--they just don't make "good copy.")
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To: KeyWest
Good point. The societies where there is no state sponsored religion do pretty well. Examples: Tunisia and Turkey.
25 posted on 08/22/2003 4:20:01 AM PDT by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
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To: kattracks
Look at the countries in East Asia. They don't spend their time and resources carping about the "unity" of Asians or obsessing about the perceived injustices of history. Nor do they generally blame "the West" for their current state of affairs, or pine for the resurrection of some imagined state of past glories.

From the Phillipines to India, these countries and their people have taken the resources at hand and moved-on to join modern civilization.

It is only among "the Arabs" that we see this stagnation of thought, total repression of freedom, obsession with "the Jews", and hatred for modernity.

The only common denominator among them is the Koran (noting that Indonesia and Malaysia were advantageously influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism prior to Islam).

26 posted on 08/22/2003 4:22:20 AM PDT by angkor
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To: kattracks
When Arabs work together they are praised. When whites work together it's called racism.
27 posted on 08/22/2003 4:32:10 AM PDT by bethelgrad (for God, country, and the Corps OOH RAH!)
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To: kattracks
What went wrong... is that these people(s) suffer from childish mannerisms and lack any logical thought process. Arabs by and large operate on emotion and cannot formulate any coherent long term plan. The Arab aversion to Classic Western Mind/Thought Process is the root of their problem.
28 posted on 08/22/2003 4:45:02 AM PDT by Jumper
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To: kattracks
Mohammed, Islam, Allah and the attitude of "Who did this to us?"

Life is 10% what your given and 90% what you make of it. Looking for someone to blame your problems on wont get you anywhere. Look at South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, they had little or nothing and in the last 50 or so years, through hard work, they've made highly advanced and civilized nations.
29 posted on 08/22/2003 5:06:27 AM PDT by bitcon
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To: kattracks
What went wrong with the Arab World?

Oh - well, many years ago, the Arabs allowed themselves to be completely deceived by Satan in the form of Mohamed (and even before that by Ishmael)

30 posted on 08/22/2003 5:21:39 AM PDT by TheBattman
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To: kattracks
The reason for this domination is clear: the absence of a collective policy which unites the Arabs rather than separates them.

Missing a collective policy?

If respect for the rule of law and basic human rights can be considered a collective policy then maybe this author has a clue......The Arabs are their own worst enemies....... willufully embracing abusive and autocratic rulers, and in the case of the Palestinians, teaching their chidren to hate.

31 posted on 08/22/2003 5:47:04 AM PDT by Tom Bombadil (Phil Keaggy is a great musician)
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To: All
It seems to me that most of the replies on this thread all eat around the edges of what went wrong with Arabs but don't strike at the heart of things.

The problem with the Arab world can be summed up in one word: KORAN.

To Muslims, the Koran is the 'perfect' book. It is the word of Allah straight from the lips of his prophet, therefore it isn't open to interpretation or change. It's literally written in stone.

And yet an enormous amount of the backward precepts that govern Islam are inherent in it.

Somebody above mentioned killing all the terrorists. That won't do any good. In another generation you'll have a whole new bunch of terrorists and murderers. Because they get their marching orders straight from the Koran such as my tagline.

They get their dependency on the moon cycle, no interest that capitalism rests upon, their hatred of the infidel, the Haj to Mecca, their treatment of women, their 72 virgins (and 28 young boys), polygamy; all of it finds its wellspring in the Koran and until its changed, Islam won't be changed. Yet it can't be changed because its the perfect book.

That leads them down a slippery slope where any advancement or change is virtually impossible. They can't change until the Koran changes and the Koran can't change. They're in a catch-22 that they'll never be able to get out of. Islam is a backward religion and as far as the eye can see it WILL be a backward religion.

The only thing that has made it a "Great" religion is that it could field as many soldiers as needed to crush the people around it. Those days have passed though. We can kill 10 of them for every one of us that they kill with our technology.

Islam is in a box of its own making and theres not a thing they can do about it.

Godspeed

32 posted on 08/22/2003 6:48:29 AM PDT by America's Resolve ("We have prepared for the unbelievers, whips and chains and blazing fires!" Koran 76:4)
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To: kattracks
To regain their former greatness, the Arab regimes should adopt the authentic teachings of Islam and know the pulse of their people. They should also level up their policies vis-à-vis international and regional players.

Seems that they tried this in Afghanistan and the taliban found out how well that turned out.

The arab world will only prosper when then get converted to Christianity. Islam is the reason they continually fail

33 posted on 08/22/2003 10:21:33 AM PDT by John O (God Save America (Please))
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