Post by Anwaar on Mar 21, 2006 19:37:28 GMT 4
To Change Or Not To Change
By Anwaar Hussain
Almost all of the major world crisis can be traced to the Arab world. Concurrently, out of all the foreign forces present in the Arab world, a whopping 85% are American forces. So in essence it really is America Vs the Arab World. For better understanding, let us take a brief look at the character of the two protagonists.
Here is the creed of the gang that now occupies the White House;
“The American leadership is good both for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle.”
Written by none other than William Kristol himself, note the ominous prioritizing of the words ‘military strength’, ‘diplomatic energy’ and ‘commitment to moral principle’. The latter two clichés really have been put in there for the support of the ‘military strength’. Read it yourself at the official website of Project for New American Century.
William Kristol is the crown prince of the neoconservative cabal, Papa Kristol being the man who has been credited with defining the major themes of neoconservative thought. Founded in 1997, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) is a front group which crafted the powerful alliance between right-wing Christian and Catholic Right leaders and other diehard neocons behind a platform of global U.S. military dominance.
Here are some other facts;
USA’s Crude oil production is going to reduce by approximately a fifth of its current level by year 2025 and its petroleum products consumption is likely to nearly double in the same period.
Presently, out of the proven world oil reserves of nearly 1037 billion barrels, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and UAE together sit on approx. 669 billion barrels of these. It amounts to nearly 2/3rd of the total or, in other words, just 5% of the world’s population sits atop almost 70% of the world’s energy resources. One does not have to be clairvoyant to see that the American leadership is going to get this oil by hook or by crook…period.
So on the one side we have the American Neoconservatives holding firmly the reins of an awesome military force and who do not shirk from slamming this huge colossus into any one that stands in their path in the realization of their dreams. And on the other side, their principal adversary---the Arab world---that sits astride this obscene amount of oil. Now let us take a look at the state of preparedness of the Arab world to meet the challenge.
Consecutive Arab Human Development Reports (AHDR) have painted a very grim picture of Arab world’s political, economic and cultural matters. The reports are written by Arab intellectuals themselves. No one, therefore, can cry foul or dig out a Jewish conspiracy behind these scathing reports.
Here are some highlights of these reports;
Stagnant Growth and Less Per Capita
GDP [Gross Domestic Product] in all Arab countries combined stood at $531.2 billion in 1999, less than that of a single middle-size European country, Spain, ($595.5 billion). The real per capita income for the period 1975-1998 as a whole grew very slowly, by around 0.5 percent a year, in effect, a situation of quasi-stagnation. Meanwhile, the global average increase was more than 1.3 per cent a year, implying a relative deterioration in the average standard of living in the Arab region compared to the rest of the world. In regional terms, only sub-Saharan Africa did worse than the Arab countries, having seen an actual fall in real GDP per capita over the past quarter century. Latin American and Caribbean countries saw a modest average improvement of 1 per cent while South Asia averaged a 3 per cent rate; the best performer, East Asia and the Pacific, achieved 5.9 per cent growth.
Education Shortfall, Science and Tech Backwater
A telling indicator of the poor level of educational attainment in the Arab countries is the persistence of illiteracy rates that are higher, and educational enrollment rates that are lower, than those of less developed countries in East Asia and Latin America.
Illiteracy rates in the Arab world are still higher than the international average and are even higher than the average in developing countries. Moreover, the number of illiterate people is still increasing, to the extent that Arab countries embark upon the twenty-first century burdened by over 60 million illiterate adults, the majority of whom are women.
Arab countries have some of the lowest levels of research funding in the world. R&D [research and development] expenditure as a percentage of GDP was a mere 0.4 for the Arab world in 1996, compared to 1.26 in 1995 for Cuba, 2.35 in 1994 for Israel, and 2.9 for Japan. The number of scientists working in Arab countries is about one-third of the global average, and about a quarter of graduates from universities emigrate.
Information Isolation
There is a "severe shortage" of new writing and an acute dearth of translations of works from outside. The figures for translated books are gloomy, to say the least. The Arab world translates about 330 books annually, one fifth of the number that Greece translates. In the 1,000 years since the reign of the Caliph Mamoun, the Arabs have translated as many books as Spain translates in just one year. The use of the Internet is abysmally low with only 0.5 per cent Arab population using Internet. Filmmaking appears to be declining. Newspapers circulate in the Middle East at one-fifth the rate of the developed world. Arabic books represent less than 1 percent of world production, even though Arabs make up 5 percent of world population.
Freedom Deficit
Out of seven world regions, the Arab countries had the lowest freedom score in the late 1990s [in the rankings of Freedom House]. The Arab region also has the lowest value of all regions of the world for voice and accountability.
There is a substantial lag between Arab countries and other regions in terms of participatory governance. The wave of democracy that transformed governance in most of Latin America and East Asia in the 1980s and Eastern Europe and much of Central Asia in the late 1980s and early 1990s has barely reached the Arab states. Political participation is less advanced in the Arab world than in other developing regions. Meanwhile, mass mobilization-type regimes still exist in a number of Arab countries, freedom of association is restricted in other cases, levels of political participation are uneven, and the transfer of power through the ballot box is not a common phenomenon in the Arab world.
Women's Participation
Arab women, the reports found, are almost universally denied advancement. Half of them still cannot read or write. The maternal mortality rate is double that of Latin America and four times that of East Asia. "Sadly, the Arab world is largely depriving itself of the creativity and productivity of half its citizens," the report concluded.
Women also suffer from unequal citizenship and legal entitlements, often evident in voting rights and legal codes. The utilization of Arab women's capabilities through political and economic participation remains the lowest in the world in quantitative terms, as evidenced by the very low share of women in parliaments, cabinets, and the work force and in the trend towards the feminization of unemployment.
The proportion of women in Arab parliaments is very low. According to the reports, women occupy 3.5 per cent of all seats in parliaments of Arab countries compared to 4.2 per cent in East Asia (excluding China), 11.0 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, 12.7 per cent in South-East Asia and the Pacific, 12.9 percent in Latin American and Caribbean countries, and 21.2 per cent in East Asia (including China).
One indisputable conclusion emerges from its somber pages of tables and charts: the Arab world is in decline, even relative to the developing world….so much for their state of preparedness to meet the challenge.
A serious, deep reading of the reports clearly shows that the Arabs have to change or they will be made to change. Since no self-transformation is possible without a willingness to adapt, the Arabs will have to first face the facts however unpalatable these may be. The rest of the world too must read the reports to understand the milieu in which Bin Ladenism is produced. The Independent correspondent Robert Fisk called it an all too accurate summation of “the barren, ossified life of so many Arab countries”.
So what does the Arab world do in the face of this difficult situation? For starters, here are the results of a study of 192 countries. It was concluded that physical assets such as machinery, buildings, and infrastructure explain only 16 % of growth while human and social assets contribute no less than 64 % to growth performance.
The very first steps, therefore, should be to wake up, look around, admit that a mammoth problem exists, prioritize the solutions and proceed onwards at full speed. The Arab world has neglected its human assets for far too long. Any further disregard is sure to burry them ever deeper into the sands of time.
Lebanese-American poet, writer Khalil Gibran in his book ‘The Eye of the Prophet’ says "The true riches of a nation lie not in its gold or silver but in its aptitude to educate itself."
By Anwaar Hussain
Almost all of the major world crisis can be traced to the Arab world. Concurrently, out of all the foreign forces present in the Arab world, a whopping 85% are American forces. So in essence it really is America Vs the Arab World. For better understanding, let us take a brief look at the character of the two protagonists.
Here is the creed of the gang that now occupies the White House;
“The American leadership is good both for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle.”
Written by none other than William Kristol himself, note the ominous prioritizing of the words ‘military strength’, ‘diplomatic energy’ and ‘commitment to moral principle’. The latter two clichés really have been put in there for the support of the ‘military strength’. Read it yourself at the official website of Project for New American Century.
William Kristol is the crown prince of the neoconservative cabal, Papa Kristol being the man who has been credited with defining the major themes of neoconservative thought. Founded in 1997, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) is a front group which crafted the powerful alliance between right-wing Christian and Catholic Right leaders and other diehard neocons behind a platform of global U.S. military dominance.
Here are some other facts;
USA’s Crude oil production is going to reduce by approximately a fifth of its current level by year 2025 and its petroleum products consumption is likely to nearly double in the same period.
Presently, out of the proven world oil reserves of nearly 1037 billion barrels, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and UAE together sit on approx. 669 billion barrels of these. It amounts to nearly 2/3rd of the total or, in other words, just 5% of the world’s population sits atop almost 70% of the world’s energy resources. One does not have to be clairvoyant to see that the American leadership is going to get this oil by hook or by crook…period.
So on the one side we have the American Neoconservatives holding firmly the reins of an awesome military force and who do not shirk from slamming this huge colossus into any one that stands in their path in the realization of their dreams. And on the other side, their principal adversary---the Arab world---that sits astride this obscene amount of oil. Now let us take a look at the state of preparedness of the Arab world to meet the challenge.
Consecutive Arab Human Development Reports (AHDR) have painted a very grim picture of Arab world’s political, economic and cultural matters. The reports are written by Arab intellectuals themselves. No one, therefore, can cry foul or dig out a Jewish conspiracy behind these scathing reports.
Here are some highlights of these reports;
Stagnant Growth and Less Per Capita
GDP [Gross Domestic Product] in all Arab countries combined stood at $531.2 billion in 1999, less than that of a single middle-size European country, Spain, ($595.5 billion). The real per capita income for the period 1975-1998 as a whole grew very slowly, by around 0.5 percent a year, in effect, a situation of quasi-stagnation. Meanwhile, the global average increase was more than 1.3 per cent a year, implying a relative deterioration in the average standard of living in the Arab region compared to the rest of the world. In regional terms, only sub-Saharan Africa did worse than the Arab countries, having seen an actual fall in real GDP per capita over the past quarter century. Latin American and Caribbean countries saw a modest average improvement of 1 per cent while South Asia averaged a 3 per cent rate; the best performer, East Asia and the Pacific, achieved 5.9 per cent growth.
Education Shortfall, Science and Tech Backwater
A telling indicator of the poor level of educational attainment in the Arab countries is the persistence of illiteracy rates that are higher, and educational enrollment rates that are lower, than those of less developed countries in East Asia and Latin America.
Illiteracy rates in the Arab world are still higher than the international average and are even higher than the average in developing countries. Moreover, the number of illiterate people is still increasing, to the extent that Arab countries embark upon the twenty-first century burdened by over 60 million illiterate adults, the majority of whom are women.
Arab countries have some of the lowest levels of research funding in the world. R&D [research and development] expenditure as a percentage of GDP was a mere 0.4 for the Arab world in 1996, compared to 1.26 in 1995 for Cuba, 2.35 in 1994 for Israel, and 2.9 for Japan. The number of scientists working in Arab countries is about one-third of the global average, and about a quarter of graduates from universities emigrate.
Information Isolation
There is a "severe shortage" of new writing and an acute dearth of translations of works from outside. The figures for translated books are gloomy, to say the least. The Arab world translates about 330 books annually, one fifth of the number that Greece translates. In the 1,000 years since the reign of the Caliph Mamoun, the Arabs have translated as many books as Spain translates in just one year. The use of the Internet is abysmally low with only 0.5 per cent Arab population using Internet. Filmmaking appears to be declining. Newspapers circulate in the Middle East at one-fifth the rate of the developed world. Arabic books represent less than 1 percent of world production, even though Arabs make up 5 percent of world population.
Freedom Deficit
Out of seven world regions, the Arab countries had the lowest freedom score in the late 1990s [in the rankings of Freedom House]. The Arab region also has the lowest value of all regions of the world for voice and accountability.
There is a substantial lag between Arab countries and other regions in terms of participatory governance. The wave of democracy that transformed governance in most of Latin America and East Asia in the 1980s and Eastern Europe and much of Central Asia in the late 1980s and early 1990s has barely reached the Arab states. Political participation is less advanced in the Arab world than in other developing regions. Meanwhile, mass mobilization-type regimes still exist in a number of Arab countries, freedom of association is restricted in other cases, levels of political participation are uneven, and the transfer of power through the ballot box is not a common phenomenon in the Arab world.
Women's Participation
Arab women, the reports found, are almost universally denied advancement. Half of them still cannot read or write. The maternal mortality rate is double that of Latin America and four times that of East Asia. "Sadly, the Arab world is largely depriving itself of the creativity and productivity of half its citizens," the report concluded.
Women also suffer from unequal citizenship and legal entitlements, often evident in voting rights and legal codes. The utilization of Arab women's capabilities through political and economic participation remains the lowest in the world in quantitative terms, as evidenced by the very low share of women in parliaments, cabinets, and the work force and in the trend towards the feminization of unemployment.
The proportion of women in Arab parliaments is very low. According to the reports, women occupy 3.5 per cent of all seats in parliaments of Arab countries compared to 4.2 per cent in East Asia (excluding China), 11.0 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, 12.7 per cent in South-East Asia and the Pacific, 12.9 percent in Latin American and Caribbean countries, and 21.2 per cent in East Asia (including China).
One indisputable conclusion emerges from its somber pages of tables and charts: the Arab world is in decline, even relative to the developing world….so much for their state of preparedness to meet the challenge.
A serious, deep reading of the reports clearly shows that the Arabs have to change or they will be made to change. Since no self-transformation is possible without a willingness to adapt, the Arabs will have to first face the facts however unpalatable these may be. The rest of the world too must read the reports to understand the milieu in which Bin Ladenism is produced. The Independent correspondent Robert Fisk called it an all too accurate summation of “the barren, ossified life of so many Arab countries”.
So what does the Arab world do in the face of this difficult situation? For starters, here are the results of a study of 192 countries. It was concluded that physical assets such as machinery, buildings, and infrastructure explain only 16 % of growth while human and social assets contribute no less than 64 % to growth performance.
The very first steps, therefore, should be to wake up, look around, admit that a mammoth problem exists, prioritize the solutions and proceed onwards at full speed. The Arab world has neglected its human assets for far too long. Any further disregard is sure to burry them ever deeper into the sands of time.
Lebanese-American poet, writer Khalil Gibran in his book ‘The Eye of the Prophet’ says "The true riches of a nation lie not in its gold or silver but in its aptitude to educate itself."