Here is Barack Obama, April 2008, as quoted in the Huffington Post:

'You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. AND IT'S NOT SURPRISING THEN THEY GET BITTER, THEY CLING TO GUNS OR RELIGION OR ANTIPATHY TO PEOPLE WHO AREN'T LIKE THEM OR ANTI-IMMIGRANT SENTIMENT OR ANTI-TRADE SENTIMENT AS A WAY TO EXPLAIN THEIR FRUSTRATIONS."'

See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obama-no-surprise-that-ha_b_96188.html

Steven Meyer here today:

'You go to many of these Middle-Eastern countries and you see the effects of decades of oppression, tyranny, corruption and economic stagnation. You see persecution of minorities, high rates of illiteracy and often increasing impoverishment. You see rapid population growth and not enough jobs. AND IT'S NOT SURPRISING THEN THEY GET BITTER, THEY CLING TO HATREDS OR RELIGION OR ANTIPATHY TO PEOPLE WHO AREN'T LIKE THEM OR ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT OR ANTI-JEWISH SENTIMENT AS A WAY TO EXPLAIN THEIR FRUSTRATIONS."'

Both statements are over-simplifications. But I suggest that both have an uncomfortable element of truth.

The bottom 60% of US society has not done well under Bush.

The bottom 60% of Middle-Eastern society has not benefited from the region's natural resource wealth or proximity to the EU.

Any comment on what ails the US that does not address the issues raised by Obama are besides the point.

Any comment on what ails the Middle-East that does not address the pathologies that afflict most Middle-Eastern societies are equally pointless.

The US being an open democratic society with a free media, it is likely that the pathologies that afflict America will be addressed eventually.

The Middle-East is another story.

Folks, despite what you may all think, most of the pathologies that afflict the Middle-East have little to do with big bad America or Israel. They are mostly self-inflicted wounds.

Dear Steven,

The solidarity of any community
is enhanced if it perceives a common
outside threat.

Ian Robertson, "Sociology," tells us:

"In the Middle-East the principal
foreign enemy of the fundamentalists
is the United States. They fear the
impact of American culture and
political interference in their
societies...

The fundamentalists regard Americans
essentially as barbarians, but as
barbarians whose economic, technological, and
military influence threatens the integrity of
Muslim societies and traditions. Their own
governments, they claim are often used as mere
pawns ... in which the interests of ordinary
Muslims count for nothing."

Steven, you say that their wounds are self-inflicted.
I believe that the fundamentalists are concerned
as Robertson points out, mainly with conditions in
their own countries.

Most Muslims are desperately
poor, for their nations' oil wealth has
been unequally shared, creating a new elite whose
extravagant lifestyle arouses deep resentment in the
population.

The fundamentalists aimed at nothing less
than the replacement
of their rulers by Islamic governments in which the
distinction between the religious and the secular
disappeared.

Islamic fundamentalism therefore arose
out of specific social and cultural conditions.

stevenlmeyer

"The US being an open democratic society with a free media, it is likely that the pathologies that afflict America will be addressed eventually."

Not everyone is quite as sanguine as to the health of American society and its ability to correct its course, as you obviously are, Steven.

To begin with, the ownership of most of the US media, as it is here, is concentrated in the hands of a few powerful corporations. (Yes, I know I've used that term again, Steven, and will continue to do so, despite your best efforts to re-educate me!) As a result, most of what passes for news and current affairs is more accurately described as spin, rather than genuine critical analysis aimed at enlightening and empowering the populace.

Already, the media there, and here, is blindly parroting one or two simplistic slogans deliberately aimed at creating doubts about Obama in the minds of the voting public. The latest, that Obama isn't sufficiently experienced in foreign affairs, is a total joke when you consider the lack of experience the incumbent had in this area. Bush has committed one foreign policy blunder after another, and his decision on Iraq single-handedly destabilised the world as few others have ever done, and yet Obama's short time on the world stage is being trumpeted by the media as a risk!

Obama has blundered in his choice of running mate though. Biden voted to invade Iraq and as such will damage Obama's strong anti-war stance.

Michael Moore recently circulated an open letter, pleading for Obama to ask Caroline Kennedy to run with him as the Democrat's vice presidential candidate. Now, what an inspired choice that would have been! An Obama/Kennedy ticket would have had the potential to really capture the imagination of the US and the world.

Oh well, we can still dream!

An indication of the way Arab society has neglected the development of its people.

The most widely used ranking of global universities is the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) published annually by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. ARWU ranks the top 500 of the world's 17,000 or so universities.

In the 2007 ARWU the entire Arab World had just one ranked university, Cairo University.

By 2008 Cairo had dropped out of the top 500. In 2008 the entire Arab World has no ranked universities.

By contrast South Korea, with a population less than a quarter that of the Arab World, has EIGHT ranked universities.

As recently as 1960 South Korea was poorer than any Arab country. Had rankings been available in 1960 I suspect NO Korean university would have made the cut.

That is a small measure of the extent to which the Arab World has fallen behind. I would have thought that Saudi Arabia, UAE or Kuwait with all that oil wealth would have managed at least ONE ranked university between them.

According to the Arab Human Development report of 2002 almost a third of Arab adults are illiterate. Subsequent Arab Human Development Reports show small improvements.

Also according to Arab Human Development Reports South Korean inventors filed more US patents in one year than the entire Arab world managed in 25. Even Israel, population about 2% of that of the Arab World, files more US Patents than the entire Arab world.

No wonder European investors have been largely shunning investment in the Arab world in favour of China and other Asian countries.

Steven,the Muslim philosophy is to subjugate it's women who are great organisers.When you omit at least half of your population's intelligence,how can you compete?Islam is the philosophy which retards them,not generally their genetics.

Steven,
Perhaps you should take a wider view of your obsession or go there and do what you have to. I can assure you it the problems won’t be solved here. Australia has its own integration issues.

“Obama and Steven Meyer” is a stalking horse for your real obsession (Poor diddums Israel’s self made problems).

You have a keen mind so use it objectively. Myopic reasoning is not going to solve the problems.

Yes you’re right it isn’t all the USA or PdI’s faults. But their input into the area is hardly benign or positive. They provide a clear focal point. A bit like Priscilla and entourage doing a street show on the Sabbath beside the Wailing Wall.

In the Middle East history, culture and religion play a huge part in understanding the problems.
The Brits, French, Russians, USA, Israel the cold War, Turks (The Ottoman Empire) World war1&2, Oil, corrupt leaders, Petty politics, Imposed states and/or dictatorial regimes, indifferent and exploitive Corporate Capitalism et al are some of the causes.

The base reason the Muslim Brotherhood (its birth place) got traction in Egypt was largely because the population grew too fast, not enough development, Historically well founded Cultural suspicions, (the Suez canal problems etc), all resulting in poverty including graduates that couldn’t find work. The Muslim Brotherhood preached radicalism a new Muslim way setting up quasi social security structures where their is non. Not to mention the corrupt govt. That is supported by other dubious Arab and USA regimes for selfserving reasons..

Steven, Israel’s place in this is more symbolic of all the Arabs see as centuries of domination by others than the root cause. If Israel were to disappear tomorrow the basic problems would remain. The trick therefore is to learn how to survive in the situation and work with rather than against..the Arabs. The inequities in Israel discriminating against Arab Israelis also don't help