Word: arabism
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...Those are important questions, and answers to them might shape attitudes everywhere about a war with Saddam. So far, they haven't featured much in the public debate. They should. The Arab world is in a disastrous state of its own making. The Arab Human Development Report, prepared by a group of regional experts last summer, makes truly depressing reading. "The wave of democracy that transformed Latin America, East Asia, Eastern Europe and Central America," the report argues, "has barely reached the Arab States... More than half of Arab women are illiterate... The quality of public institutions...
...insulting to think that Arab families don't have the same motives. Yet tapping that sentiment to build a constituency for change won't be easy. Those east of the Iron Curtain, Geoana points out, were conscious that Western Europe offered them an alternative that was geographically and culturally close. No Arab state, yet, acts as such a model. Moreover, in Europe, change was associated with the rejection of imperial - in this case, Russian - rule. But in Iraq, regime change through the force of American arms could easily be seen as the reimposition of imperialism. Fairly...
...ideal situation, the Arab world would deserve and have both. How the Administration plans to work toward that happy consummation is another of those awkward unanswered questions. This fall, there are too many of those around for comfort...
Will those roots be watered by a war with Iraq? Optimists within the Bush Administration argue that the removal of Saddam Hussein would open a space for the development of true democracy across the Arab world, one that would offer for the first time a real choice between corrupt authoritarian regimes on the one hand and millennial Islamic extremists on the other. But many experts are skeptical. French officials otherwise wholly supportive of the U.S. are worried that, as one puts it, "some of the headway made against Islamists is lost by American diplomacy that has alienated most...
...moment in the U.S. Following the 9/11 attacks, people began seeking knowledge about Middle Eastern society. Marta Schill, president of the 25-year-old Middle Eastern Culture and Dance Association, says membership has grown more than 30%, to 1,000, over the past year. This desire to learn about Arab traditions coincided with the release of music videos by pop stars Shakira and Britney Spears, who bared their stomachs and belly danced with abandon, sparking the interest of teenagers and young adults...