On the one hand, it is clear that this author believes himself to be a very intelligent person and I say that without having read any of his other books where he brags about being a master of cycles of change who has a lot of insight to give, but on the other hand, he is not quite as thoughtful or as worth agreeing with as he thinks himself to be. It is very clear that the author has a very cynical, even deliberately Machiavellian viewpoint [1] but it is also clear that this is not a mindset I share or appreciate.
At best, the shrewd and worldly wise advice of the author is something that one should engage in without having any illusions as to the trustworthiness of the person giving the advice, but at worst, the author has a moral blindness that leads him to insult anyone whose behavior in the Middle East is motivated by any kind of idealistic concerns, whether on the right or the left.
And that blind hostility to morality and idealism is not something I can endorse either. This book of about pages is divided into ten chapters. The author begins with a plea to bring back the Ottoman Empire to keep the Middle East as a backwater under harsh military rule that keeps its people from fighting each other 1.
After that, the author rather sensibly points out that the Arab-Israeli conflict is not the fault of Israel and that it is based on anti-Semitic Muslim propaganda going back to the pre-Independence period 2. After that the author gives some depressing history about Iraq and its history of failure 3 and some unpleasant thoughts about radical Islam 4. After the author has some critical comments to make about Iran 5 , gives a fairly lengthy discussion of the Arab-Israeli wars from 6 , and then praises the Saudis as part of the solution to the Middle East rather than part of the problem 7.
After this the author discusses wars and peace in the Middle East since or so 8 , the history of September 11 and failures on the part of the Clinton and Bush presidencies 9 and what works and what doesn't work with regards to peace in the Middle East 10 , closing with the same sort of suitably cynical advice that he began with. Again, this book is to be noted mainly for its extreme hostility towards Western idealism and its extreme cynicism.
The book could not have been more cynical if it had been written by Kissinger or Machiavelli themselves, and in fact, much of the commentary reads like Machiavelli's own diplomatic reports on the Holy Roman Emperors of his day that he interacted with as a Florentine diplomat of the early 's.
This is not to say that the advice is bad; it would certainly be wise for the United States to encourage Saudi Arabia to be a counterweight to Iran and the idea of spreading democracy to the Middle East at this time is certainly unwise in light of the general lack of political maturity of the region.
To say that much of the advice of this book is either blindingly obvious for example, the author's insistence that other nations, including Israel, will act according to their understanding of their best interests and not our own or cynical is not to say that it does not deserve to be taken seriously, only that it does not lead the reader to trust the writer even as the advice is taken into account. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East by Martin Sieff tries to dispel erroneous myths about the state of the Middle East today and how it got to where it is.
It attempts to cut through the politically motivated interpretations and definitions of the history of the region including religious explanations for misunderstandings and actions of various groups. He present how mistakes by the western powers including Britain and the US set up much of what we see today, including trying to foster democratic governments when the people did not understand it and were not ready to accept it.
Great read for anyone who wants to get factual history without the usual spin. Nanami K. This book provides a lot of useful information, told in an easy-to-follow style of writing. As for the tourism, UAE, for example, have become a popular tourist destination and Dubai emirate has gained the name of luxury holiday resort, having the only 7-star hotel in the world and many other unique attractions.
However, this economic modernization in the Middle East, in my opinion, is the short term and does not guarantee the successful and stable economic development of oil rich states and the region as a whole in the long term. Middle East, despite its vast reserves of oil, is still considered as a Third World region due to the high reliance on oil revenues and rather weak production sector of the economy as well as due to some political factors such as lack of democracy, corruption, cronyism, reluctance to the reforms and other issues, which I will discuss later in my essay while discussing the political development in the region.
Extracting and selling oil are not sufficient indications of a productive economy. Income or wealth not invested to produce equal or higher value is used up. To be more precise, it is not possible to be per cent certain about what will the oil sales revenue be in a particular year as oil prices depend on many factors: overall situation in the world, world inflation, natural disasters and other force majeure situations; thus, the revenues also depend on the factors mentioned earlier and, as a result, are not stable or certainly predictable.
Such a situation, in turn, may lead to the redistribution of the lower than expected amount of money and cut of the government spending, leading to lower government investments in business development, health care, innovations, infrastructure and other projects.
I tend to believe that more confidence in future revenues and thus in the long term economic modernization and development could be achieved by investing in and developing the production industry which will reduce the reliance on foreign goods and services imports, secure stable source of revenue for the country as compared to oil that is not stable due to fluctuating prices and non-renewability and, finally, reduce the dependency on oil.
What is more, the investment in the production industry will secure more job positions and thus reduce the rate of unemployment, which is always beneficial for the long term successful economic development. All of these, by no doubt, will have a positive effect on the economy and will contribute towards further economic modernization as well as effective long run economic development.
Similar to the economic development, the discovery of oil is also thought to have an impact on the political development and processes in the Middle East. Many political scientists and experts tend to believe that the vast oil reserves as well as profits derived from oil utilization and exports have led to the political stagnation in the region.
In this section I would like to analyze whether huge oil reserves have indeed led to the political stagnation in the oil-rich countries as well as in the Middle East region in general. Is it referred to the lack of democracy and authoritarian regimes that are prevalent in the Middle East or is it about the reluctance to the political reforms?
I will try to answer at least some of these questions later in my analysis. Strap on your pith helmet for a rollicking ride through some of history's most colorful events.
Bet your teacher never told you: The Founding Fathers didn't rebel against British imperialism; they looked forward to the transfer of the great seat of Empire to America. The original Norman English invasion of Ireland was approved by the pope. Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer's hearts and minds counter- insurgency strategy was instrumental in defeating the Communists in Malaya. The breakup of the British Empire led Winston Churchill to conclude that he had achieved nothing in his life.
Citing declining coverage of classic English and American literature in today's schools, a 'politically incorrect' primer challenges popular misconceptions while introducing the works of such core masters as Shakespeare, Faulkner, and Austen, in a volume that is complemented by a syllabus and a self-study guide. Most commonly accepted economic 'facts' are wrong Here's the unvarnished, politically incorrect truth. The liberal media and propagandists masquerading as educators have filled the world--and deformed public policy--with politically correct errors about capitalism and economics in general.
Murphy, a scholar and frequent speaker at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, cuts through all their nonsense, shattering liberal myths and fashionable socialist cliches to set the record straight. Brigitte Gabriel lost her childhood to militant Islam. In she was ten years old and living in Southern Lebanon when militant Muslims from throughout the Middle East poured into her country and declared jihad against the Lebanese Christians.
Lebanon was the only Christian influenced country in the Middle East, and the Lebanese Civil War was the first front in what has become the worldwide jihad of fundamentalist Islam against non-Muslim peoples. For seven years, Brigitte and her parents lived in an underground bomb shelter.
They had no running water or electricity and very little food; at times they were reduced to boiling grass to survive. Want more?
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