Okay, the headline "Study Warns of Stagnation in Arab Societies" is supposed to a joke, right?

I suppose I'll just owe that to the New York Times and their interesting breed of writing.

Seriously here, "Study Warns of Stagnation..." as though this is a recent phenomena, not something almost 1000 years extant and readily evident even to those of the lowest IQ.

...missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity...

Thanks, addison -- now I know what annoyed me about the headline. Sort of like like "Study Warns of Possible Bear Excrement in Wooded Areas."

I think Juan Gato would consider that a "With Cheese!" headline. I think he'd be right.

This situation has been documented many times. See Bernard Lewis "What Went Wrong" or Fouad Ajami "The Dream Palace of the Arabs". What is new here is the source of the story, the UN. Of course the cause is cultural. The real question is how and when there will ever be a positive resolution of the downward spiral of the Arabs. Palestine represents 4 million out of 280 million Arabs. And yet, they use it as an excuse for everything. Someday the "Arab Street" may wake up and recognize that they have been had by their leaders, both secular and religious. Don't hold your breath for that to happen anytime soon.

From the same article:

"For the Palestinians in particular, the report says, human development is all but impossible under Israeli occupation. Moreover, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "has been a cause and a pretext for delaying democratic change," contended Ms. Khalaf Hunaidi, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. "

Israel once again emerges as a bogeyman of the arab world, never mind that the Pals living adjacent and within Israel have more access to eduation, technology, and other factors enumerated on the UN's Human Development Index to a greater degree thatn anywhere else in the arab world.

Allowing hatreds to cloud objectivity is of course a major failing of the arab world in ggeneral, if one can generalize at all.

That, and lying. Lying is a big one too.

What's so troubling is that the Arab potentates manage to deflect the criticism for all that is wrong in their countries as not being caused by them, but rather by the policies of the West or the Israelis. I don't imagine that things will ever improve in the middle east until those people realize that their problems are caused by their own governments and not by outsider "infidels".

Shit... if it weren't for that study I would have never have thunk it. What's next? "Why ants build anthills?"

Arab ants probably build tiny sand pyramids. Just guessing. I have to wait for the study.

I agree with Kathyn completely.

It's immature to constantly place blame elsewhere.

The Pals are immature. All they do is point fingers and complain about how Israel has 'oppressed' them in order to justify their murderous actions.

Have you ever heard any one of them actually taking responsibility for anything? There's always a 'but' involved. It's just tired. For how long are they going to be satisfied with being 'victims'? Another 1,000 years?

And now they complain that they are unemployed and without food because they are no longer permitted to work in Israel. And that's the Israelis fault? Why doesn't someone explain to them that the reason they are not working in Israel right now is because their buddies keep murdering Israeli babies?

Why is nothing ever their own fault? How is it that they are never wrong?

I say they grow up already.

What this all points to is that the psychological collapse when it comes will be on a scale that is truly immense. The demise of the USSR will be a foot note compared to this.

I'd say the collapse is immanent. One to five years.

What happens when their belief system is destroyed? When all that gave them their self respect vanishes in smoke. When their whole explanation of the universe turns out to be a pack of lies.

The Russians are just recovering. Their advantage was that they wanted what the West had. Material progress. They just chose a bad method to get it.

All the Arabs want is power and control. Material wealth is secondary. So when change comes they will not be able to just switch gears (hard as that is). They will have their whole internal structure destroyed. Nothing they believe in will be available to them. The Russians were praying to the right god - they just had the wrong prayer. The Arabs not only have the wrong prayer they have the wrong god. What happens when a man loses all faith? What happens to a nation? To a world?

One thing you get is the exploders. The educated are the first to lose their faith because they are the first to recognize the immensity of the problem.

The reason they can kill so easily is that they feel internally dead. Lifeless. All their truths have turned into lies.

At the end of the USSR the lies were bigger than ever and less believed than ever. That the Arab lies have reached such a fever pitch is a sign that the end is nigh. This little UN report is a ripple on the surface created by unbelieveable roiling frictions going on below. First the world fails them. Then belief fails them.

The European Socialists are having the same problem. Down trodden blacks in America are living better than the average Swede. Not in all respects it is true but none the less the trends are becoming so unmistakeable that even the pEUnuchs are beginning to catch on. They are talking about becoming more capitalist and less socialist to better compete with the US of A. So far it is just talk.

In America the computer revolution is about over. From now on the changes will be mostly evolutionary. But we are about to start the energy and biotech revolutions. Is it any wonder the world is in awe and fear of Ameica?

I love this country. What the world fails to realize out of envy is that American exceptionalism is based on American exceptionalism. The truly woderous thing is that instead of lording it over the world we are inviting everyone to join the party. This is misinterpreted because it is not what they would do if they were in our position.

Simon...sure hope you're right about the meltdown. It feels right but...you never know.

Stag nation is absolutely right on. They lock up their women so all the stags can have free reign to ruin their own nations.

Stagnation is the reason for the enormous number of Arabs moving to Europe, as well as the Mexicans to the US. Thank goodness we got the Mexicans.