Mubarak: Arabs Hate U.S. More Than Ever

You know, I don't quite see much difference if someone hates me a lot, or a really big huge lot. Mubarak says:

[...] "At the start some considered the Americans were helping them. There was no hatred of the Americans. After what has happened in Iraq, there is unprecedented hatred and the Americans know it," [...]

No hatred, eh? Then big hatred. Like a big switch on the wall marked "Hate." Having grown up in a time and place where certain people were hated only for the color of their skin, and tolerated only so long as they didn't get too uppity, I find it hard to shed tears for someone else who seems to be eaten up with similar feelings of misplaced anger and rage.

As I have in the past, I am going to link again to a 1998 paper written by Ralph Peters titled Spotting the Losers--Seven Signs of Non-Competitive States. Read the whole thing, obviously, but the meat of it is this:

[...] Traditional indicators of noncompetitive performance still apply: corruption (the most seductive activity humans can consummate while clothed); the absence of sound, equitably enforced laws; civil strife; or government attempts to overmanage a national economy. As change has internationalized and accelerated, however, new predictive tools have emerged. They are as simple as they are fundamental, and they are rooted in culture. The greater the degree to which a state--or an entire civilization--succumbs to these "seven deadly sins" of collective behavior, the more likely that entity is to fail to progress or even to maintain its position in the struggle for a share of the world's wealth and power. Whether analyzing military capabilities, cultural viability, or economic potential, these seven factors offer a quick study of the likely performance of a state, region, or population group in the coming century.

The Seven Factors

These key "failure factors" are:

-Restrictions on the free flow of information.
-The subjugation of women.
-Inability to accept responsibility for individual or collective failure.
-The extended family or clan as the basic unit of social organization.
-Domination by a restrictive religion.
-A low valuation of education.
-Low prestige assigned to work. [...]

Hate all you want, but it won't get you anywhere.
posted by Terry at 9:18:00 AM