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Thursday, February 08, 2007

What is wrong with the Middle East?


Today, one of the most unstable regions of our mortal soil is the Middle East. There is not a single day that you do not hear something about this region in the news. This region, not only affects the daily lives of its residents, it has a global affect. It has affected many college campuses and it has been the subject of countless debates. I ask myself why? Why is this region so unstable? Why is this region so out of touch with reality?

The history proves that region has never been peaceful. This region is birth place of three powerful religions (with exception of Judaism which is not very powerful). A lot people say that the Middle East is the signature of co-existent. I say it is the clash of civilizations. This clash of civilization is not the same the one Samuel Huntington came described. I think this clash is rooted in a deeper level that goes all the way down to individual units in the society. I believe that this clash is the result of cultural teachings that is programmed in every single unit in those societies. I think since the problem of the Middle East lies within individuals, the cure rests in education. You have the educated the masses about democracy, practicing democracy in a responsible fashion, separation of religion and government, accountability in the government actions, human values, human rights, the right of the others to exist, tolerance, and many other Western values that is lacking in the Middle Eastern countries. If the education is completed, I think it would make it a lot harder to mobilize these masses. That means the support for militant ideologies will begin to diminish!

I am not introducing a new doctrine here; for years there has been countless demand within Arab societies for a better set of education, yet the ruling government has strictly opposed this plan due to the fact that it would promote democracy. Spread of democracy would mean the end of religious influence in the society, and the end of tyranny. Therefore, we have two powerful forces resisting such demand for a better education system. And so far, they have done a fantastic job in keeping Westernized education out of their societies.

This is one way to describe the situation. However, I do believe that this could be the remedy to the Middle East. The answer is still unclear to me! Anyone else has any better reason why this region cannot stabilize?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Modern day instability in the ME has its roots in 1948 w the birth of a racist state called Israel, after that, we've had countless wars, many of which were orchestrated by Israel and the creation of the world's largest refugee population.

1956, 1967, 1978, 1982, 2002, and 2006 to name a few.

Democracy means the end of religion? Really? What about the US? Is the US not a democracy? Yet, it is very very religious.

For as long as Israel continues the occupation, with or without democracy in the region, and with or without "westernized education," people will always want their freedom and will resist Zionism.

You cannot have the occupation and then blame the victims "Benyamin."

YOU KNOW WHO THIS IS.

Now tell your Zionist squad to come and defend your racist ideology on this insignificant blog.

Ill check back w this irrelavant blog in a week to shit on it some more.

Ben Kahen, ESQ. said...

I am amazed by the tone you use and with a magnitude of hatred! I like it, I have strik a nerve? Haven’t I?

Mr. Pouya, I can spot your argument from miles away; whether or not my blog is insignificant is not your business.

People like love to blame the Zionists for every single one of their problems. Iran is exporting its girls to gulf region; your so called sisters are being whored out to Gulf sheikhs! Yet, it is Zionists fault. Iraq is being destroyed peace by peace, it is Zionists fault. Arabs are about 100 years behind civilized world, it is Zionists faults. Everything is the occupier's fault; yes they are!

Mr. Pouya, don't try to rewrite history, every single war in that region were caused by Arab's act itself.

What happened to 1948 hour? Why did you leave that? Did you forget? Ooh wait, let me clarify every single those wars for you in case your education ins Berkeley has wore off!
1948: Israel was only hours old and there was no way it could defend itself, yet Arabs attack. 1956: Israel said many times how important that water way is for Israel and Egypt closed it.

1967; my favorite of all time: we shit on people like you, it was the Arab leaders such as Nasser and Syria who orchestrated the anti-Israel mentality. 1972: it was the Arabs who conducted the surprised attack on Israel. 1980: it was the Palestinian terrorists who conducted terrorist activity from Lebanon.

YOU SEE YOU MORON: How many times do we have to embarrass you? How many times are guys going to declare divine victories? YET, not even single g-d damn democracy; you guys are beheading people on TV, and yet it is Zionists fault. You guys are killing YOUR OWN KIND, AND YOU ARE CELEBERATING AND SAYING YES, U.S. IS LOSING THE WAR IN IRAQ! It is YOUR OWN G-D DAMN people and yet you guys are slaughtering each other like bunch of sheep in a slaughter house and you are telling me it is Zionists fault!

You see: before shitting on my blog, don’t' make up facts, don't hide the facts either.

On the last note: you are always welcome to shit on my blog because you show your type of stupidity that exist in Arab world and that has always kept your countries backward!

OH by the way: On a personal level Pouya, there is a reason a lot of people are calling you anti-Semite! Think very hard about it! And NO, I am not the only person who says it!

Anonymous said...

Fadel. i dont like using the word zionist so i will go with isreailian well let me tell u ben something u are right with some of ur point arab leaders are assholes but u know we can see many asking for peace like saudi and egypt and jordan .. but can u deny the role u guys played in many massaceres even in the civil war in lebanon ..u are too be blamed for many things tooo and u guys actually performed terrorists act let me remind u of one that the arab world will never forget mohammed al doura .. if u guys werent affected by that then u are not humans arabs or isrealian and u guys are thinking of fightig lebanon and hizbollah which i compelelty oppose well hzbollah is the tip of the root and not the stem"iran" destroying hizbollah is impossible because iran will keep on supplying them ...think u guys the only way is by establsihing peace and returning the shibaa farms then hizbollah has no excuse for staying and then any try for remaining in post will be fought by the lebanese ppl

Ben Kahen, ESQ. said...

Mr. Fadel:

let me tell you this that I didn't used to believe in it, but as time goes by everyday, I realize no matter how much we try, there will be another excuse for Hizbollah.

I am not denying the fact that mitakes has been made, but pleaes, show me a country, show me a nation who hasn't made any mitakes, no body is perfect, plus given the nature of conflict, events like that would take place. However, I refuse to accept the argument that this conflict is the reason why Arab nations are so backward in their school of thinking toward the world. I refuse to accept that it is the Israelis fault that Jordan massacared 10,000 Palestinians in black september and Arab world has shut the hell up for decades.

I do accept the argument that it is a tough conflict, however, grown men are not scared of the conflict, the rise above it to set the differences apart. Not the other way, try to beat adopt anti-semtic rhetoric and tactic to descredit a nation, a group of people, and a religion. Only cowards hide behind an excuse to justify everything that goes wrong in their countries and I have always said, Arab leaders are nothing but bunch of cowards! Including Nasrallah, Yassin, and Arrafat!

Anonymous said...

BEN IS HOT!

Ben Kahen, ESQ. said...

thanx for the thoughtful comment!

Unknown said...

I have to say that the Anonymous fellow, who clearly needs a lesson in history (Ben already did a great job of covering that lesson, so I won’t need to repeat), is presenting a typical ignorant and harmful view point. Harmful to the democratic world, yes, but more harmful to the Arab world, that he is so adamant about protecting. Those that brainwash themselves to believe that all the problems in the Middle East, including, totalitarianism masked with religious fanaticism, is the fault of a nation of a couple million, are essentially lying to themselves. Instead of looking within their own countries to see the economical and social issues and better themselves, they are busy blaming everything on Jews. Hmmmm, sounds all too familiar to Nazi Germany. That is why it is so important to learn from history and never let it repeat again. I suggest you pick a book that doesn’t have a title that includes “Protocols of Zion”, my not too educated friend. You might learn the greatest thing of all, and that’s the error in your own thought. Good luck with that.

Anonymous said...

I saw the link for this blog on a support IDF group on facebook and I figured I would check it out.

First of all I find Pouya hilarious! It is typical that this man, much like the rest of his brethren, can only complain about the tiny state of Israel because it removed natives from their land. Maybe it was right, maybe it was wrong, but its done. I would like to say that it was longer than 50 years ago since this occured, and it is better to deal with problems and solve them, than complain about them with no solution. Lets just take a hypothetical situation here... Had the roles been switched, that is, Arabs occupy Israel and kick the Jews out, then the Jewish community of the world would embrace our Israeli brothers. We would come together as an international brotherhood and find homes for our displaced. The problem with the Arab community is that there is no community. Arabs ruthlessly fight one another, and on a consistent basis. Your "freedom fighters" stand in a crowd of women and children for protection when they choose to engage Israeli soldiers. Your suicide bombers do not attack military facilities, they attack places that are occupied by young kids, or families. If these are your "freedom fighters", I would not want them to represent my community since they are nothing more than a band of cowards.

Moreover, I do not agree that democracy will establich peace in the Middle East, take a look at Iraq as an example. What will establish peace is a proactive approach by the international community as well as the Arab community in order to pinpoint the problems and work them out.

On another note, what does IDF stand for? Israeli Defense Force. It is the only thing that stands in between our nation and those who seek to destroy it. The wars that you have both spoken about have been started by Arab nations. It was a miracle that Israel withstood the war of independence, maybe that is a sign from G-d that Israel should have the right to exist? Either way, if the Palestinians could learn to live with the Israelis it would benefit their way of life. As we all know, Palestine is one of the poorest nations in the world. This is partially due to the new Hamas government that has taken over recently. As a result, millions of dollars of aid has been cut off by countries who refuse to deal with terrorist organizations. But let us look back to before the second intifada. Israel supplied jobs for the heavily unemployed Palestinians. Furthermore, they gave them opportunities for education and better medical facilities. I have no doubt that if peace were re-established, these would become available again to the Palestinian people.

Lastly, why is it that the Arab world fears democracy? Is it because if the Arab world knew any better they would leave and head west? Lets take for example the right to freedom of speech. In the Arab world, if you were to talk unfavorably about a leader it could get you killed. Here in America it is accepted to a certain degree -as long as you are not making statements that you are going to kill a leader-. It also gives the right for both of you to debate this topic without getting in trouble. Finally, the right to freedom of speech allows Pouya to continue to speak his mind. The more he speaks, the more we realize he does not know what he is talking about, that is the beauty of democracy.

Ben Kahen, ESQ. said...

Pouya:

First of all: the guy who visited Hitler was not just anybody, he was the leader of the Palestinian, people listend to him, he enjoyed a support from the community! He was not a military leader for you to claim that people were scared of him. He was the popular leader of Palestinians, so don't try to compare that moron to David Ben Gurion! David Be Gurion called for democractic nation of Israel and at the same time pleaded to Arabs not to attack! Did you forget that? He pleaded to lets live side by side, but they attacked!


Anyways, regarding Israel being racist: the rights of Arabs are much better preserved in Israel than ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST! ARABS ARE BETTER PRESENTED IN ISRAELI GOVERNMENT THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST!

You somehow always fail to define the terms you use such racism! If you consider Israel racist, then Iran is the king of Racism in the region! Don't make me to talk about Persian Supremacy toward Arabs or Afghans or Pakistanis in the region!

Do I need to talk about how badly Afghans are treated in Iran? Or should I talk about Arabs treatment of Pakistanis in the region? Who is more racist?

Plus, countries you are supporting are not only racist, THEY ARE ANTI-SEMITIC! They look at Nazi Germany and borrow the same rhetoric and cartoons; funny party is they are not even creative enough to come up with their own!

Ben Kahen, ESQ. said...

Siamak:

You forgot another idol among those morons who dedicated nothing to world but war and destruction and that is Hugo dumb ass Chavez!

He is another moron who is going to pull South America into another chapter of economic failure with his stupidity!

I don't know where Pouya stands on Hugo, but I am guessing, Hugo is his new found lover in world politics!

The thing is, what did Marx or Marxists do for humanity? What did they achieve? What was the result of it? NOTHING BUT DEATH! Any place Marxist took over, nothing but death resulted. Any sort of development that initialy took place was the result of capitalist tactics(ex China). Even though, I could bash Communism left and right, I am not going to get into that because I gota read about 100 pages for my class 2morrow!

Man I should write about this moron Chavez next time!

Anonymous said...

iv been reading all your comments, and to be honest i am quite disgusted. How can ne1 try to justify and agree with what either side are doing, how can ne1 be rite when violence and murder is involved. You use terms like 'us' and 'them' and its ideals like that that develope into problems in the first place and that dont allow problems like this to be solved. Do you really think by arguing over which side is right or wrong its going to solve anything? the whole time you guys are having this petty, never-ending argument the death toll continues to rise. Lets not think of two sides, think of everyone as an individual and what they are living in and going through. So please if you are that bothered as to debate and argue,rather than waste time doing that, you cud actually do sumthin that cud help. I kno this comment may come across naive, but i do genuinly believe that you are achieving nothing by doing this except perhaps creating more hatred, rather than rallying together as 'jews' or 'arabs' why not rally together as mankind.

Ben Kahen, ESQ. said...

Mr. Anonymous:

I read your comment and I don't how to respond to it. You have a very good point, but how is it possible to try to rally with someone who don't even believe in the right of the other as a country to exist. How's that possible? If you read my note, I was talking about how to allow Arab countries to prosper, but when you read the opposite side, they always talk about how to destroy Israel and kick out the U.S. imperialism and all the horse crap that Marx and other Pan Arab nations were trying to sell and stil believing in them.

Look at Iraq for example, the country was on the path to democracy and prospertiy excluding the pretex of the war; some of the same people and one of them, the first guy who responded, are dancing up and down when they see Iraqis are being blown up along with U.S. soldiers. They are celeberating calling it a U.S. defeat.

Now my question toward you is this: do you really think we can really talk to these guys rally behind the word "man kind"?

Israel is a different story, Israel reached out its hand for peace in 90s and the only thing it recieved in return was more sophisticated terrorism! We pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, and what we got in return was more powerfull terrorist group,

you see my point to you, unless you fight terrorism, there is no other way to deal with them. Negotiating with terorirst is nothing but hot hair, didn't we try that w/ Arafat? NOTHING! Statemen and kings are different than terrorist groups. We negotiated with Egypt and now we have safe borders. We negotiated with Jordan and we have a good peace with them. However, negotiating with terrorist will only empower the the terrorists and allow them to stock up more arms against you. Terrorists are powered by ideologies and religious beliefs, there is in no way they could just turn around and change it. Statement can do it, they can abondon one ideology and adopt a new one, terrorists groups can't and that is why it make it very difficut to side w/ terrorist groups and call ourselves "mankind"!

You see, in the war against terrorism, in the era where people fly civian carriers into civilian buildings and being called freedome fighters, there is really no room to find a common ground. Debates or not, at the end of the day, g-d knows who will prevail. However, I know one thing, if the other side prevail, get ready to force your women into kitchen and start going to Medreses instead of Universities.

Another issue, a lot of thosse pople who support the other side, goes to Universities here, and yet they are very happy when an American GI is shot, wounded, or Kill!

Now try to find your ammong these two groups!

Anonymous said...

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/03/Weightmansubpoena/

Committee subpoenas former Walter Reed chief

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 3, 2007 9:31:09 EST

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has subpoenaed Maj. Gen. George Weightman, who was fired as head of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, after Army officials refused to allow him to testify before the committee Monday.

Read complete coverage of the Walter Reed controversy.

Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and subcommittee Chairman John Tierney asked Weightman to testify about an internal memo that showed privatization of services at Walter Reed could put “patient care services… at risk of mission failure.”

But Army officials refused to allow Weightman to appear before the committee after he was relieved of command.

“The Army was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the decision to prevent General Weightman from testifying,” committee members said in a statement today.

The committee wants to learn more about a letter written in September by Garrison Commander Peter Garibaldi to Weightman.

The memorandum “describes how the Army’s decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was causing an exodus of ‘highly skilled and experienced personnel,’” the committee’s letter states. “According to multiple sources, the decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed led to a precipitous drop in support personnel at Walter Reed.”

The letter said Walter Reed also awarded a five-year, $120-million contract to IAP Worldwide Services, which is run by Al Neffgen, a former senior Halliburton official.

Anonymous said...

"We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population."
David Ben Gurion, Founder of Israel

"We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinian refugees] never do return" David Ben-Gurion, in his diary, 18 July 1948, quoted in Michael Bar Zohar's Ben-Gurion: the Armed Prophet, Prentice-Hall, 1967

"If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti - Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?"
David Ben Gurion, Founder of Israel

"Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushua in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population." Moshe Dayan, address to the Technion, Haifa, reported in Haaretz, 1969