Personal attacks are not allowed, so I'm wondering if calling you a racist idiot is allowed.

btw: sending a letter of complaint to your advertisers and urging the whole of the blogsphere to do the same.

I am wondering what the point of or reason for this article is.

And Persian carpets are not Arab. They're PERSIAN.

Walk into Iran and call someone an Arab. See what happens.

Those Arabs. They don't have much to be proud about. Do they have beautiful women? We wouldn't know - they've got them hidden behind veils.

Not in Lebanon, and not in other parts of the Arab world or outside of the Arab world, historically. There are many remarkably good looking women from Arabia or of Arab descent. Ever heard of Shannon Elizabeth or Salma Hayek or Shakira? Those three alone pretty much establish Arab women as pretty damned good looking.

Have they invented anything new lately? Not much. They didn't even invent suicide bombing -- that was invented by the Tamil Tigers.

They kind of have some credit in this department, having invented astronomy and our basic system of mathematics. Ever heard of Al Gebra? But if you want a modern contributor, are you aware that Steve Jobs is a first generation Arab-american?

Who are their great writers? Well, they've got this poet Adonis, but I haven't heard of a J.M. Coetzee or a Toni Morrison or an Orhan Pamuk (Turkish, not Arab) sprouting from their ranks.

Do you read Arabic? If not, how do you know if they have great writers and poets? And they certainly had them in the past. Are you familiar with Omar Khayyam? I'd hope so. Or more recently, perhaps Kahlil Gibran? For more authors, philosphers and policiticans check out the biography section on Salaam.

Do they have a great moral leader -- a Gandhi, a Mandela, a Dr. King, some luminary who's made a significant difference in Arabia in the last 50 years? No. They had a bunch of Saudi princes who used to gamble oil fortunes away in Monte Carlo a few decades ago. That's about it.

Really? Check this article on Sufism and its modern influence. While there is no single dominant Sufi figure, the overall influence of the philosophy is very positive.

Do they have a great artist -- an Andy Warhol or a Damien Hirst or an Anselm Kiefer? Nope.

Andy Warhol is a great artist? If you like Warhol maybe you'd like Dubai artist Najat Makki.

Do they make good cars, or design fine fashion, or produce famous wines, or create great cheeses, or stage excellent theater, or come up with beautiful furniture?

Actually, at one time Beirut was a center for fashion design, and interior designers are quite fond of north african furniture.

Persian carpets. That's what they do. They haven't been able to add one more product to this lineup of one for the last eight thousand years. Unless you want to count belly-dancing.

No, Persian carpets are NOT what they do. Persians are not Arabs.

I'm trying to think of famous contemporary Arabs besides blowhard politicos like whoever the Americans have put in charge of Iraq these days, or ideologues like Bin-Laden -- and the only one I can think of is that Saudi prince who invests in the West and is stinking rich.

You may be having some trouble with this because a lot of their best and brightest have moved to the west and often changed their names.

Have they got a Michael Jackson or a Bruce Springsteen? Maybe they do, but he's not trying to sell his records all over the world, is he? An isolated lot, those Arabs.

You can buy music from all the top Arab musicians on Amazon and some of them do quite well there. And actually, they DO have Michael Jackson. He lives in the UAE now and good riddance.

And how about the great Arab-American musicians. Ever heard of Dick Dale (actually, you probably haven't, but you should have). Maybe you've heard of Frank Zappa or Shakira?

To get really shallow, have they got a famous international film star?

You did mention Omar Sharif. I'll add academy award winner F. Murray Abraham, the hot actresses I've already mentioned and Tony Shaloub.

Heck, I'm trying, I'm really trying to think of great Arabs. Or great things they've done. Or great achievements.

Not terribly damned hard, I'd say. By the numbers they've probably contributed as much to the arts and literature as any other ethnic group. And remember, Arabs as a group are a much smaller population than the entire population of Islam.

Dave

Personal attacks are not allowed, so I'm wondering if calling you a racist idiot is allowed.

Well, when it's supported by direct evidence like this article it might get a pass.

btw: sending a letter of complaint to your advertisers and urging the whole of the blogsphere to do the same.

They're not HIS advertisers. This is a group blog - rather like a magazine. The advertisers advertise on blogcritics and have no association with the content.

As for the article, he's amazingly ignorant, but I'm not sure he's actually being racist. He's just trying to make a point about the degeneration of Arab culture into the mob mentality, and though I think much of what he says is idiotic, the basic point he ultimately makes is a good one.

Dave

For an ignorant prick, you sure are verbose.

Boy, Adam;

The Arabs did us all a huge turn by providing and atmosphere that allowed for the development of chemistry and mathematics, not to mention preserving the science of the Greeks. One of the most revered of Jewish scholars, Maimonides, wrote his texts in Arabic, the language spoken in Spain, Yemen, Egypt, and Israel at the time.

Maybe a pretty face or a best selling author is more important to you than what the Arabs contributed to civilization, but I'll take the scholarly development over the pretty face any day of the week.

They have had their butts kicked all over the place by the decline of their civilization, and it is a damned shame that the Wahhabis have poisoned Islam the way they have.

But they do not deserve the drivel that you have written about them.

The first thing you need to learn about an enemy is respect. That will keep you alive. In time, you may be able to turn that enemy into a friend.

yuore wrong as always ADAMN ASH

Not to mention the art, architecture, jewelry - heck, even the food. Arabs were also key to the entire western civ spice trade. As for great historical figures, there's Saladin (altho he may actually be ethnic Kurdish), and then there's one Muhammad, aka The Prophet; considering he has had profound influence on a couple billion folks thru the centuries, I'd say he qualifies, no?

Maybe Adam should take time to read the Book he has recommended with this post.

plus he has made some mistakes too. The zero and the Modern numeral system was invented by the Indians and the Arabs themselves acknowledged it by calling them as Hindu numerals. Since it reached the west through the Arabs it came to be known there as Arabic numerals.

The Gunpowder, compass etc... all reached the West via the Arab world.

Ok now they have lost their glory but that is not reason enough to imply that they are capable of nothing. perhaps they could well make it again.

I wrote the Necronomicon, you wrote a misinformed blog. Who's great now?

Well, you're a fictional character and he's a real person. That gives you a bit of an edge.

Dave

Just trying to amuse, folks, that's all. Maybe it should've been listed as satire.

But the Arabs are, let's face it, going through their Dark Ages. Until they reach an Enlightenment of some sort, we'll have to face up to the fact that we're dealing with a lot of dysfunctional societies. And if poor Lebanon hadn't gotten bombed by the Israelis, they were looking well on their way to becoming a role model for the rest of the Arabs.

Unfortunately even the one democracy in the Middle East, Israel, is not all that that much of a role model, although the Arabs can learn a lot from Israel's entrepreneurship, vitality, universities, educational standards, regard for women, and general cultural openness to the rest of the world -- but not from its militarism.

ugh

let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

(not the guy who arrested mel gibson)

jej

I've been thinking hard about being called a racist, and yes, I think the charge is correct as far as my rant went.

But it's interesting to think why that is. If I'd called the Arabs a bunch of sexist, fundamentalist, totalitarian, anti-Semitic, loony suicide bombers, would people call me racist?

"Racist" applies because I called the Arabs culturally underdeveloped. Seems you can accuse people of many things, but if you attack their culture, you're racist.

As it is, I think the world would've been a culturally poorer place without the Arabs, but I also think they're at a crossroads and have to work harder at joining the rest of the world, checking up what other cultures are up to (fewer books get translated by Arabs in a decade than the Portuguese do in a year), and stop being anti-modernist -- if they don't want to be mired in a stultification.

Those dirty Phoenicians. What have they done for us lately?

I know where this is going. This is the "Jews are superior to Arabs therefore they can steal Arab land and enslave the Middle East" argument that I see again and again and again. They go on about how humanity owes so, so much to the Jews and so, so little to the Arabs so we owe the Jews some Arab land.

Interesting that these Arabs who supposedly produce nothing of value have their countries demolished by Israel or on Israel's orders. It seems that Israel doesn't like seeing any kind of prosperity or production out of Arab countries at all. Israel has this insane mentality, perhaps captured in a quote such as "We must destroy them because one day in a million years, they might destroy us". Israel is a cancer, always was and it is proud of its role. Israel is a criminally insane country that ought to be restrained as such and not have its insanity pandered to again and again.

The victims of the maniac are always blamed because "you should know better than to annoy the maniac". It's about time that something is done about the maniac, isn't it.

General John Abizad
Casey Kasam
Paul Anka
Danny Thomas
Doug Flutie
Barney Miller ???(thought he was, but maybe not)
Jacque Nasser (Ford Motor Co.)
Ralph Nadar

Perhaps a distinction should have been made between the cultural group, the religious sects and the racial sub-group.

However ill-presented, though, it does contain a kernel of justified wonder that the region's former wealth of ideas and inventions seems to have declined in proportion as Islam has been accepted.

No not really, only in proportion to the development of their oil reserves and subsequent wealth distribution disruption as a result of the West.

As a jew, I grew up believing in the superiority of my religion/ethnic group. We drained the swamps and made the desert bloom etc. However, now I know that artists, writers and movie stars, the markers of wealth and culture are dependent on the stability that comes from good governance. The lack of this artifact has very little to do with ethnicity.

I also used to believe that we Jews were rightous and did no wrong. It was the for the Christians and Muslims to act like animals while they ground us underfoot for centuries. I now understand that repressive behavior is a conditioned response many societies have to power. Israel does brutilize the Palestinians and Lebonese and probabily anyone else if it came to it. It makes me sad to think that we have already forgotten how much it hurts to get kicked.

But if Israel is a "maniac" then its because of the psychological torture inflicted by the rabid hatrid from the sea of hostile Arab neighbors. From the moment of its foundation, Israel has been under consistant pressure to defend itself and if her enemies had even for a moment the power to destroy her, it would have already been done (by destroy I mean the end of a Jewish state). I invite anyone to tell me that I'm wrong. Blaming Israel as the sole agressor isnt just plain wrong, its also counter productive since this unilateral anger only re-inforces Israel's perceived desperation and paranioa, leading to more maniac behavior.

Aside.
Despite all that has gone on since intifada II, I believe peace is still within reach. We've regressed some but things have been worse. We are missing strong leadership and some of that good governance to make that final leap.

Martin - the centuries of oppression of Arabs under the Ottoman Empire had little to do with oil or the West

troll

That can't be right. The West is the source of all evil, e.g., Miracle Whip.

Q.E.D.

Victor - I have it on good authority that the newly discovered secret writings of Archimedes is in fact an early recipe for MW

troll

Didn't he use it to lubricate the screw?

well he certainly wouldn't have eaten the shit

You could make the same point about pertty much the whole continent of Africa. While I agree that this is a racist and fairly poorly argued article, it is true that Arabs have contributed very little to the world lately. Seriously, the concept of zero, gunpowder, the compass...? These were great advances in their time, but each of these things were discovered hundreds of years ago. The fact is that nearly all of the advances in science, philosophy, political theory, economics, etc. over the past few hundred years have come from the west. This is not because europeans or americans or jews are superior intellectually, but because our liberal culture encourages the pursuit of ideas. Until the Arabs discover this they will continue to wallow in their own dark ages.

Luke beat me to the some of the points, and hits the nail on the head here: "The fact is that nearly all of the advances in science, philosophy, political theory, economics, etc. over the past few hundred years have come from the west. This is not because europeans or americans or jews are superior intellectually, but because our liberal culture encourages the pursuit of ideas. Until the Arabs discover this they will continue to wallow in their own dark ages. "

The UN Development report on the ME, from 2002 IIRC points up a lot of these facts as well.

Also, while Dave points out that Adam probably doen't read Arabic, therefore can't judge if there are any great writers, he misses part of the point; if something written in another language, it will be translated into English. As a contrast, far fewer books are translated into Arabic. Like it or not, English is usually the language that two diverse people have in common at this time. Look at the many commenters we hace on Blogcritics to whom English is likely not their native language, but they post in English here to gettheir point across.
Not to get off track, Adam probably should label just about everything he writes as satire whether he is serious or not. Satire allows one to present ideas or controversial viewpoints but can allow readers to be less immediately hostile. Usually I am ready to shower his posts with vehement protest or obvious disdain, but this time I caught his tone to be satirical.

One should never make the mistake of tarring all the Arabs with the same brush, the Arab world is very large and its people are divers as well. The same could be said for rural versus urban people in the Arab lands, as much as anywhere else.

Several people threw out the names of many Arab-Americans to disprove Adam's assertions. To me that signifies a one thing; Arabs who wish to be successful have often sought to leave their homelands for economic and political reasosn, as a result, they or their children have met success due to the greater possibilities that America, and Britain to a large extent offer. Why is it that many Arabs cannot do that in their homelands? Is it the result of cultural taboos, governmental restriction, religious repression?

The cause of the relatively recent (the last 100 years, let's say) dearth of Arab-led advances in science, technology, culture, etc. is due to the political/religious situation in Arab countries. It is NOT due to some sort of inherent flaw in the genetic code of Arabs.

I think that is what Adam was trying to say...

#29 RJ and others

i'd put it at 250 years of decline. before that the arab world since around 800 was the first world.

The roots of the reformation, renaissaince and enlightenment go to baghdad, arab spain and arab italy, norman sicily. see roger bacon, university at bologna, frederick II.

what they need is not so much an "enlightenment" as "reformation" from traditional religious obsurantism, reform of politically anachronistic states, and a stable heathier political climate.

of course there are live factors and agents keeping things as they are for as long as possible.

best

Another thing to to consider is that the broad Arab world has only been independent of colonial influence for about 50 years, and oftentimes the colonizing power handed their former subjects a real mess; intertribal strife, little or no infrastructure in several countries, a lack in the basic necessary bureacracy to keep the country running, among other things. This allowed many dictatorial individuals or groups to foment unrest over the weak government, often seen as an imposed puppet, and take over. Corruption has also long been a problem in these countries, just one of many problems that stifles economic growth, social progress, and true democracy. The Arabs have gotten the shaft in recent history, but it's the choices they make today and the voices they respond to that will determine their collective future.

Oftentimes we refer to Arabs and mean Muslims and vice-versa. Why is it that Muslims in India seem to be doing much better than Arab Muslims since gaining independence. Any of our Indian commenters should feel free to let me know if the Indian Muslim world is not quite as calm as I perceive it to be.

Someone mentioned Sufism, which appears to be a more tolerant/enlightened branch of Islam. Unfortunately, I believe it is not accepted by Wahabis, etc as a legitimate form of Islam, and Sufis are not in the majority in any Muslim country I know of. I'd have to find out more of Sufism before I went further with either of these two point, though.

Your article is full of misrepresentation and misinformation. For instance, not all Arab women are hidden behind purdahs. Or that zero was not discovered by the Arabs. It were actually the Hindus who began to use a circle or a dot as a symbol for zero. The Hindu word for zero was sunya, meaning empty, or void. This word, translated and transliterated by the Arabs as sifr, is the root of the English words cipher and zero.

It will not be a bad idea to get your facts checked. Plus, Arabs have contributed a lot to our culture and science. Perhaps you should read more before making so definte judgements. You are being the loser otherwise.

SFC SKI. You wrote "Any of our Indian commenters should feel free to let me know if the Indian Muslim world is not quite as calm as I perceive it to be." You have stirred an intertsing subject. I will come back with an article. I will like you to read it then.

I think a lot more people than SKI will be interested in that article, Mayank.

Unfortunately, in a sense, Adam is absolutely right: currently the Arab/muslim world seems to be going through a period of profound cultural impoverishment & backwardness, compounded by the inherent violence of the cultural traditions that have always obtained in this area of the world, with long traditions of vendettas, tribal warfare, etc. The problem is, that those who used to do their fighting with swords & javelins now have howitzers & missles, but still have the same old iron-age mentality which mandates that the moment one feels threatened or dissed, one whips out one's sword - or in this case, missile launcher. The culture & mindset of the general population of the area have not caught up with the technology, which under normal circumstances would prompt the user to extreme caution because of the amplified danger & consequences of using such a weapon. Unfortunately, most middle easterners seem to equate missles with the rifles they like to fire off at weddings (!!!) and nothing more. They also don't seem to be able to grasp that kidnapping and mutilation are unacceptable exercises to use with Westerners to address grievances. It's almost like having to deal with people still living in the stone ages. The whole situation is not helped by the prevalent religions, two varieties of Islam, which is very much a militant and violence-endorsing religion. The theme of fighting, struggle, and revenge is rife through the entire Koran and its ancillary, the Hadith. It was a message brought by a fighting man from a violent and barbaric desert society of tenuously linked tribal merchant groups to those groups, and in his lifetime he was recorded as having no qualms about attacking perceived opponents, or even staging raids on caravans as a fundraiser, even while at the same time he urged a modicum of mercy on those attacked; still & all, the Koran has a long way to go to approach the far more pacific message of Yeshua or for that matter, Buddha. It IS a violent religion.

What do you mean the Arabs didn't invent anything ? They invented poverty for their people, unemployment, police state, censored media apparatus, and so on. Heck, in the Arab world the only place you can open your mouth is the dentist's office.
They invented child labor and abuse, corporal punishment, and head decapitation techniques. Sometimes it is performed in a professional manner such as in chop chop square in Saudi Arabia, and sometimes it is done in a sloppy manner by Zarqawi people like the case with Nicolas Berg.

Arabs are inventors of polygamy, a man can marry four wives but the woman can't marry but one man, divorce is so simple in the Arab world, all the husbands have to do is annunciate the word "divorced" three times in front of their wives and the rest is history. The husband of course gets the children too and in some cases the wife is never allowed to see her children again, nor will she ever get any alimony, eventually, she will be doomed to a perpetual state of misery.

In some Arab countries like in Saudi Arabia, women aren't allowed to drive, they aren't allowed to leave the country without a permission from a husband or a father, and aren't allowed to even chose who they are going to marry.

Arabs invented piracy, in the old times they used to practice piracy in the high seas, in the more modern times they pirate intellectual properties such as soft ware, Cd's, Movies, and other IT protected inventions by others.

Arabs invented faking : They can fake a laughs, a cries, even fake a heart attack, they fake brand names such as Nike, Reebok, Addidas, etc. They fake their loyalties to the west and to their countries & to their own families.

Arabs invented the phony sympathy, they always like to portray themselves as the victims, the oppressed, the usurped by the west and by the Israelis, and so on. They wouldn't mind selling their kidney to make that extra buck, they may even use the handicap status to make a buck too. If an Arab knows that he can make money by cutting one of his limbs to look like a forlorn person, and this will have other people feel sorry for him, he wouldn't hesitate for a minute to do that.

Arabs invented womanizing, besides the four wives if an Arab have plenty of money he wouldn't mind having additional ten or fifteen other women in addition to the four legitimate wives. Even the suicide bombers dream about going to heaven where seventy two virgins will be waiting for them up there.

Arabs invented blame, they blame Israel and the Imperial West for all of their past, present, and future ills. They never do anything about it because it is easy to always pass the buck, find the fall guy, blame it on somebody else, and when everything is said and done they like to come out smelling like a rose since no one can fault the Arabs for anything.

As far as contribution to the world, Arabs contributed refugees, extremists, airplanes hijackers, and suicide bombers. In short, Arabs are the world greatest losers and the saga contuses unabated.

The colonial pursuits of the West including the Turks have held down the Arabs and Africans to the point that any transformation into a more liberal society was forced upon them by brutal dictators. These dictators are typically overthrown and then a more strict religion based government takes over. The cycle continues. If Japan had not embarked on it's own Imperialistic ventures, modeled after the views of the Western colonials, then their isolation by literally and physically would have kept their contributions ahead of the curve. The Arabs had no true physical isolation to maintain their development of high society. Without the conquests of the West including the Christian Crusades, then I would gather the Arabs would be much farther in their stability and comfortableness within their own society skin.

I agree. I think that all the so-called third world countries should've just been left to develop their own way, and in their own time. In the early middle ages, the Arab civilization was one of the most advanced of the day. Can you imagine what would've happened if they came over to Europe during OUR dark ages and tried to convert us to Islam while forcing their scientific knowledge, technology, philosophies, etc., into our culture when we weren't ready for it? What if someone provided us with the technology to build nuclear bombs in the middle ages when EVERY feudal lord was fighting with someone - that is, if his entire country wasn't already at war with another? So WHY did we start imposing on other countries this way? I know that our ancestors had good intentions, but still. We should've just left less-developed countries alone, just as we were left alone during our own dark ages. It wouldn't have solved ALL the problems currently plaguing the Middle East, but at least, they might not be directing most of their ire at the West.

Why is Israel a maniac? An interesting question. Could it be because Jews are a "wounded people". It could be. I have three wounded people to mention here and let's figure out how differently they are treated. First off are the Jews. The Western powers help them get nukes and then some among them declare that these same powers should get nuked because they allowed the Holocaust to happen. As they are wounded Holocaust victims, we pander to them in every way, they have licence to kill up to six million, perhaps?

They rampage throughout the Arab world, use their influence to have Iraq destroyed in 1991, subject to sanctions, killing at least a million. Their influence is decisive in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, more hundreds of thousands of people dying in gruesome ways. They destroyed parts of southern Lebanon through the 70s, invaded in 1978, and again in 1982, setting Beirut on fire and killing more tens of thousands. They have turned the West Bank into a maze of horrors where they can paralyse civilian life on a whim, and pleasure in that. They are torturing the entire population of Gaza with sonic booms and random attacks while putting them under siege. Now there is this savage attack on Lebanon, a new low.

Secondly, I will mention the Tutsis of Central Africa. As a result of their murder of 250,000 Hutus, all the educated and those in the military, in 1972 Burundi during the regime of Michel Micombero, and other subsequent massacres, as a result of Western support for a Tutsi takeover of Rwanda, as a result of the assassinations of three Hutu presidents in six months, what is known as the Rwandan Genocide took place.

Since then, the Tutsis have rampaged through Central Africa, conquering the Congo once and almost twice, plunging that place into an endless conflict that has killed millions, they have plundered mercilessly from that country, and displaced over a million people. When they slaughtered 200,000 refugees near Kisangani, it was someone else who was blamed, someone who later was a new victim of these Tutsis. Again, the Tutsis are pandered to, the Tutsi Empire strategy pursued, to disasterous effect to all in the area. We argue that it's all right as they were "genocide victims".

The third wounded people are the Serbs. They suffered 1.5 million deaths in World War I and the Serbs west of the Drina were subject to a genocidal regime in World War II in the Independent State of Croatia that herded them into concentration camps and burned them alive in churches. 700,000 were massacred, though recently Holocaust revisionism on these numbers has become acceptable; imagine if this kind of speculation were publicly aired about the Jewish holocaust. When Karadzic mentioned this to Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, he was told "Get over it, it was 50 years ago", while the Western powers gleefully bombed Serbs and portrayed them as monsters. Serbs never did anything one fraction as horrible as either the Tutsis or Israelis, but they are known as evil monsters. Something to think about.

You know r. my last post was concillatory in nature. I point out that Israel abuses its power (its so true) but its a response to Arab aggression. Even though I'm a partisan, I do try to see things from the other side and I know there is plenty of blame to go around. However, your conspiracy filled tirad is warped.

"(Israel)use their influence to have Iraq destroyed in 1991." --- Sorry this is an American power-play. This war was about oil and keeping Saddam away from too much of it. But if you want someone to blame you can start with Saudi Arabia and the rest who probably thought they were next.

"Their (Israel)influence is decisive in the 2003 invasion of Iraq..."---- You would have to have half a brain (sorry Dubya/Cheney) to think this would be a good idea. Only an idiot could think that a fractious society, long brutilized by despot with no functioning electoral, administrative or judicial institutions is on the cusp of democracy. Having radicalized islamists fill in the vacume of power is hardly in Israel's best interest. Its discusting to hear alligations that the Jews somehow pull the strings behind world events. It smacks of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion bull shit. This mess came out of Texas and could only result from the hubris of man to mold the world to his liking.

"They (Israel) destroyed parts of southern Lebanon through the 70s, invaded in 1978, and again in 1982..." --- And 2006 too. These are vestages of a continuing W.A.R. Here is a little scenario. Maybe you have a dispute with your neighbor. This is a serious disput and maybe your neighbor starts to shoot at your house from across the street. Maybe your not going to do anything about it. But maybe this shooting terrorises (as it is intended to). Maybe you will be shot while going about your everyday life. Since this scenario could easily describe the conditions for people on both sides of the green line, maybe you should reconsider your remarks about Israel being the proginator of all suffering.

On April 1 (or was it the 2nd) 1990, Saddam Hussein told some party meeting that "If they attack, fire will eat half of Israel".

All of a sudden, the American media was speculating about a war to eliminate Saddam's so-called weapons of mass destruction. He became the monster, the epitome of evil, and why? Because he threatened Israel with a response in the event of an attack.

All of a sudden, we started hearing about the "gassing of the Kurds", when in 1988, the official American position was that Iran was responsible.

Saudi Arabia never believed itself to be threatened.

The second war was planned by the same group who wrote "A Clean Break: A Strategy for Securing the Realm" for Netanyahu in 1996, a group whose members included exposed Israeli spies who nevertheless were advising Bush and had access to classified information, much of it no doubt that went to Isarel. Some of them were caught recently and trials have resulted; the AIPAC affair.

The whole Iraq war was waged to preserve Israel's WMD monopoly to give it a free hand. This war in Lebanon is also waged to give Israel a free hand. We are told it is intolerable for Israel to live under the shadow of rockets yet Lebanon must live under the shadow of Israeli bombers and are reminded of that fact all the time with the violations of Lebanese airspace that took place almost every day since Resolution 1559 ( a violation of said resolution) and the frequent sonic booms to terrorise people.

The point of disarming one side while the other keeps its arms is that the price of war and interference becomes much lower. The disarmed government, it is hoped, becomes aware of its weakness and becomes obedient, a satellite. That's what this is all about. Why do you think the Americans want to build a missile shield? It's because they don't like the fact that they don't have as free a hand in nuclear-armed countries. A missile shield, they think, will allow them a freer hand.

Israel must not be allowed to succeed. I think this is a good time to remember Bush the Elder's words when he was preparing for his war for Israel in Iraq: "Aggression must not be rewarded. Principles must not be compromised".

My aunt's husband is from Lebanon. He just visited and it was about a month later when the kidnapping of the two soldiers and the subsequent war started.

I asked him what Beirut was like. He told me that there are two sides. Arab and Christian Beirut. I asked him what the difference between the two sides is. He said, "Christian Beirut is like paradise. It is beautiful, shops everywhere, partying all night. The Arab side is run down and looks like a slum; that's the way they want to live."

I asked him about the situation in Lebanon now. His parents live there with other family. He said, "We all hate Hezbollah. The dirty little trick that Syria played was that when they left, they left their weapons with Hezbollah; the Lebanese government is too weak to do anything. We want them to destroy Hezbollah."

My point is that the situation there is complicated and we all know that If you disarm Israel, the Palestinians would slaughter them.

Europe and Russia created the problem by making their countries unsafe to live in. I don't believe in the Bible but it has some historical merit. Geographically, a place called Israel esisted. This place was a home to Jews; a place they could call their own country. They are like anyone else. They want a safe place to live in.

Whether you agree with the first post or not, I would find it hard to argue that culturally, the Middle East is in any kind of renaissance.

The fact is that there are many intelligent people in the Middle East like anywhere else but if you do not have a culture and society that supports using one's mind and that is free, then you have a situation similar to the dark ages. The point is not about middle easterners per se, its about Islam. Its anti-intellectual, anti-material world and irrational and is no place for a mind to flourish.

As I am not a Jew nor Arab nor Christian nor Hindu, I cannot say this articles seems from those viewpoints.

I ask that one recalls that not all Arabs are Muslim. Some of those in Lebanon and Palestine are Christians. Some are neither Jew nor Muslim.

I do know that were I in Israel I would be asked not to talk about my faith, so I would say that there is no real religious freedom there and I cannot say that would be worth defending.

I wonder how long countries that have been split asunder by foreign imperialism, had their leaders tortured and their women used and rape, how long such countries will take to heal and become whole. When I ask that, I know that although the American Civil War ended in 1860 that there are some in the Deep South that have not forgiven Lincoln and the Yankees. I know that the vestiges of racism that justified slavery still exists. How long will it take the native American nations to recover from over two centuries of white imperialism?

I do not know the answers to these questions. I do not believe that the writer of this article has thought about these questions.

I know that it was less than 100 years ago that some of these Arab nations were freed from the Imperialism of European and American nations and yet they must deal with these same nations as those nations are the ones that still wield the power in the world, power bought by the exploitation of the nations of Africa--both North and South, India and the rest of Asia.

I do not know much about Arab literature, but I know that few Americans are familiar with the great writers of Asia and that Asian films have inspired Americans to make movies as diverse as Star Wars to The Lake House.

I do not know much about Arab music, but I hear the strains of something not traditionally European in pop music today and I understand that Algerian Arabs--Muslim or not--are somewhat responsible for this.

Surely, I agree that there are backwards attitudes in Africa--such as female circumcision--but this preceded Islam and is practiced by Christians as well.

I also consider gambling and drinking alcohol and smoking backwards as well as forgetting that in places like Dearborn Michigan there are many ethnic Arabs, that people like Ralph Nadar and Casey Kasem are ethnic Arabs.

As for movie stars...like any other minority, you might consider how backwards Hollywood has been and still is before you ask those questions. The people you are talking about are white. They are not from the true native population which would be the Aboriginines from Australia, the Maori from New Zealand and black Africans from numerous tribes from the African continent. Those people are white, very, very white. So maybe it has more to do with whom one considers beautiful by white Eurocentric standards.

This entire piece should be evidence enough of American arrogance and the reason so Americans are not so well-liked around the world.

I think one should remember that part of the advances of Western civilizations were the enslavement and/or exploitation of vast populations. Western civilization includes Hitler, the A-Bomb, the H-Bomb and the poisoning of the environment.

From North Africa, I admire the late Edward Said and his books about Orientalism and the media covering Islam.

If you have not read these, then that is more a sign of your ignorance than the lack of great works coming out of the Arab world. These works are in English.

And since you confuse Arabs with Persians, I would add that out of the Persian world, great philosophers did rise: the Bab, Baha'u'llah and Abdul'Baha. These works have been translated from Arab and Farsi (Persian) into English as well as French and Spanish and many other languages.

Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi and Kahlil Gibran are two of the greatest poets in history.
Moslem art includes great architecture and tile work.
The Arab script is in my opinion the most beautiful in the entire world.
The music is an acquired taste, but their talent is unquestionable.
I have wondered if the Moslem law against usury has kept the region as an economic backwater that inhibits world artistic expression, that and the conservative nature of their politics.

I see here many of the type of peoples that like to says good things about differnt cultures than theirs own because it make them look sophisticated and scolarly. Arab peoples dont need you to make the Western guilt formulas statements like that Arab has contribtue as much to the world as any other cultures. This is not true, and you make me less respect you for speaking these lies. I am from Arab country , but it is very bad. In the old ages, they only copied the Persian peoples. They chopped me in the hand bad too for politics.

Thank you. Shukraan, wa y'akel kuluhum zibri, min fadlak?

Indians invented modern day numerals, passed it onto to the Arabs who then passed it ontot he western world. THat's why we think they came from the arabs but they didnt. Even in arabic these numerals are called 'hindsa', and hind means india in arab. so the numerals came from india. check it out on google if you dont believe me. Conclusion = mathematics kudos goes to the Indians, not Arabs.

Lol inspite of all this, you still need their oil. And if pride gets in the way then dont use it. Lets see how that goes. And dont give me the Venezuelan oil crap, as they dont like you either.

Stayin in an Arab state this seems so true.poor people have no intellect to invent anything.they are people obsesed with religion.Adam ash u r smarter than a million arabs.These people are ruthless,injust and lack basic integrity.Even a 5 yr old girl cant walk the street without the fear of kidnap r rape.They are also very shallow people.thats de obivious fallout of the lack of intellect and hits their current generation hard(time wasted on lookin good).Saudi has executed 64 ppl so far dis year in some crime r other.I feel unless the Giant hold of saudi doent wane out these guys cant be leberated in thoughts.Saudi may have forced Bharain to ban Liquor.Dubai is too far to be influenced by Saudi.Point is Saudi enforces a home grown formula of religious fanatism all around an curtails freedom in the name of religion.It potrays religion is the objective of life an therefore arabs r made peigon brain by god an given all wealth so they can pray all their life without any productive work.thats the home grown formula i think.A long stay in the gulf is a intellectual suicide.
Wish they could respect the Opposite sex and have a more lebral society where lebral thoughts an intellectual thinkin prevails. Right now all they can mange to think is how to attract de opposite sex,to much time wasted on this...Dont hate them sympathise with them...Arabs people are alive wid no souls....

Arabs used to be more developed than western nations at one time, maybe they were thinking these exact things about europeans. But it doesn't do any good. In this article, the results have been put, maybe exaggerated, but still true. 3 arab women won't save the reputation when many many women in arabic countries are treated worse than animals.
So, seeing these consequences is one step. But we need to go further and think of the reasons, when we figure out the reasons we can find a solution to the problem. Only then can we act, all the people, as one, and bring a solution, bring equality and conditions humans deserve.
It's always easy to blame. You could have easily been born as an Arab. Nobody chooses the ethnicity they have. Don't blame the Arabs for being Arab. You were just born in a developed country. You haven't painted those famous art works, you haven't brought peace, you haven't done anything for open mindedness. And its never done by one person. Those things require time and masses, determination and so many more factors. But you protect those qualities, and as important, you can spread them. Spread your values and humanity. People in arab world weren't as lucky as people in europe or america for they were born in an underdeveloped nation. Don't blame them, help them. Women who are treated as objects, abused kids, people who are brainwashed, who cannot open their eyes need your help. But they are left abandoned, continuing their so-called-lives, with no freedom, no education, no knowledge. Why are they left alone?