Olmert's achievement
Ehud Olmert seems to have, single-handedly, inspired great respect in the hearts and minds of Israel's Arab neigbours. Where military victories, prosperous economy, excellent education, have failed to yield in the Arab world any acknowledgement of admiration for Israel, his corruption investigation has...
The Jerusalem Post has rounded up a few quotes from the Arab blogosphere:
* Rashid Bohairi in Kuwait: "I swear Israel is a state that will succeed. They are prosecuting their prime minister because of tens of thousands of dollars. What about the millions of dollars that Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority stole? How come the Palestinian people are still hungry?"
* Hani in Ramallah: "This is democracy at its best! Enough of dictatorship in the Arab world! Let's learn from the Israeli example. Let's benefit from Israel's democracy."
* Abu Yusef in Egypt: "Unfortunately, this is the real democracy. Our enemies are very good in practicing democracy. In the Arab world, our leaders steal everything and no one ever dares to ask a question."
* Another comment, this time from Ahmed in Jordan, also referred to the alleged amount: "Only a few thousand dollars? What a fool! This is what an Egyptian minister gets in a day or what a Saudi CEO gets in 45 minutes, or a Kuwaiti government official in five minutes. This is what the physician of the emir of Qatar gets every 30 seconds."
To me these reactions suggest the obvious: the great thirst that exists in the Middle East for more decent political systems, for the prevalence of principles of accountability and lawfulness, for, in short, the benefits of democracy. It's what the Arab regimes most fear about Israel: its beaconing example. This fear accounts for 90% of the intransigence of this conflict. As soon as the masses get to understand this basic truth, their leaders will no longer be able to dupe them, unconditionally.
Alas, I fear that the wages of century-long socialization of the Arab world into wishing for the demise of Zionism and Israel, are going to remain effective for a very long time to come.
posted by The Contentious Centrist @ Tuesday, June 03, 2008
2 comments
2 Comments:
What I dont understand Noga, is why certain folks on this planet seem to do better than others in regards to systems that root out corruption and prosecute it?
Any thoughts? The British were excellent administrators and managers of law and order.
Is that why South America languishes behind the Anglo North America? Spaniards having a different method and paradigm.
Israeli Jews have it.
Most East Asians have it.
Europeans have it, but the Southern Europeans have a stereotype of being more corrupt.
What say you?
I don't know. I've never thought about it. People can be bludgeoned and intimidated into tolerating almost anything. The Arabs are being kept on a simmering anger against Israel and Jews. When your anger is focused on one point, all the time, you are not likely to have the energy or inclination to look elsewhere for possible other reasons for your misery. Are you familiar with the Plato's fable of the cave? It may be as good an explanation as any to your question. It's in the "Republic". I recommend.
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