Hitler Youth Middle Eastern Youth

Going back to the road to 9/11 and the image of the little boys and girls of some Middle Eastern countries reciting "I will willingly die for Allah." made me think about how similar it is to the Hitler youth. The adults brainwash these kids into thinking it is okay to die for a cause. Each of these kids is awarded weapons and are encouraged to use them. They are told that if they are loyal to their country and religion they will be prosperous in the afterlife. Much like the Hitler Youth, the kids were brainwashed by propaganda and are told to kill. The children are brainwashed and scarred for life as these angry people that is the reason that these countries are so angry, because as young people they were beaten and oppressed and in result take it out on the generation below them, it is a vicious cycle. AM

wOMEN voting

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4874990.stm for the first time women will be allowed to vote. This is proof that womens rights are begining to change and sufferage is becoming more universal.Out of 28,000 voters 60% of them are women and will be making their vote this year. Last year women actually recieved full politcal rights yet, we know women do not seem to be equal in common everyday life.
ASM

Ethnic Cleansing or Ethnic Brainwashing?

The art of persuading a large group of people is all about political and social propaganda. When a country is lead to a dictatorship the main reason that not only is the person allowed to stay in power but get to that stature is usually because of propaganda and brainwashing. For instance, in Iraq there were posters and signs everywhere with Saddam Hussein's face on the front. The posters were powerful and intimidating. People are forced to be sheep and follow everything that the government tells them to do. If not, they will be killed or severely beaten. They use fear to get people to do what they want, which in many ways is terrorism. People say that most these days is the middle east attacking other countries, for instance, 9/11 in 2001, the London and Spain bombings in summer 2005, but at the same time terrorism in the middle east is happening to itself, sure the suicide and car bombs but also the more settle form of terrorism, governmental terrorism, the act of using fear to get people to do what they want. AM

"Welcome to Tehran,"he said in unaccented English."You are American, yes?" I nodded, still catching my breath. "I hate America," he continued."It is not personal. I like Americans very much. I went to UCLA for four years." (pg. 239)

These are the words from a man Horwitz meets while finding his way in the streets of Tehran. I do not find these words funny, but different because when you meet someone for the first time, it is uncommon to greet them by bashing their country. If say a man from North Korea was meeting you for the first time, I am sure that your first words would not be,"Hi how are you? By the way I hate your country; nothing personal though." I find it strange that this man at first says "I hate America" but then goes on to say things about how he likes Americans as in the people that live in America, and that he attended school there. Today in schools, especially after 9/11, parents and teachers are trying to educate people that just because a select few Middle Eastern men are considered "terrorists" that doesn't mean that the whole Middle East is full of them. As we are being taught that all middle eastern coutries aren't the same, and Chinese and Japanesse aren't the same, on the flip side the same thing is happening. Because of politics and the way our government has gone into war, all Americans are given this label that we are too power hungry. I think that this quote this man said is a great example of how little everyone knows about everyone else.
*ml

Governing a Place

“It is a useless place and we could not govern it… The Sudan could be made to pay it’s expenses, but it would need a dictator, and I would not take the post if offered to me” (pg176). Charles George Gordon, a British commander in 1884, said the quote above. I believe that it is astonishing how some views of this place has not changed in the eyes of many in over a hundred years. As we look at what was written over a hundred years ago and today is that the fact that now Sudan has oil and is being ruled by the few who are in charge by owning these oil refineries. But even now, we all have herd the man or woman say “Bomb the hell out of them, that will solve the whole problem”. Quotes like this one shows us how little some understand about how fragile a government can be. Even if there was drastic bombing the land will still be there, as well as some people left who would need to find a way to get back into reality, starting with an actual government, throwing a place even further behind in history/ making the problems worse.
ASM.

Solutions?

Although many people do not agree with any U.S. involvement in Iraq, or anywhere in the Middle East, the fact is our military is there. And, depending if you look at is future heaven or hell, troops of ours will probably be there for quite some time. Maybe we need to find out what ‘we can do.’ While most of us will not travel there, at least not “to change the world,” that does not mean we cannot be productive. I have mentioned that things such as pollution and crime need to be changed here, too, but to a much larger degree there. Perhaps because many of the countries are dry and denser than the U.S. as a whole, their pollution stands out? Either way, there are more important matters. The book was one of the only first hand accounts of experiences in the Middle East. I hope that by saying I doubt too much has changed I do not offend anyone. The news, at least, has barely changed its’ theme over the last 10 years. Different people and places are always introduced, but similar themes are used over and over again: the oil industry, Palestinian and Israeli suicide bombings, feuds over religious rights and restrictions, etc. Again, not to insult anyone, but the fact that it has been so long and little change has taken place should indicate something. Whether ‘it’ is that the west needs to intervene is debatable, and of course what the west should do if we do intervene is debatable too; however, I believe that change is needed soon. Changes are not always economical, political, or even within their societal traditions, but ‘it’ has to be along those lines, and drastic. The reason for all this talk of change, to me, is simple: the Middle East is so large and important to the rest of the world in several ways that as long as they ‘suffer’ others may too. I would not mind the abolition of things from the Middle East such as incredible numbers of extremists and terrorists, but I truly believe the Middle East, as a whole, is more important to the world than people realize. Quite selfishly, I want improvement in the Middle East. Sincerely,
C.S.

The UAE boom

Although it was earlier in the book, I wanted to comment on how strange the UAE’s situation when Tony H. visited, seemed to me. I am not ignorant enough to think of the average Middle Easterner as poor, but I certainly do not see the majority of a country being very wealthy. They were not just wealthy in their terms, but ‘western’ terms as well. It was comparable, I believe, since they mentioned the different cars they had. Cars are oftentimes symbols of social status here in the U.S. so the fact they all had new and nice “rides” was impressive. When I think of people in the Middle East who have been successful with oil, I picture a small percentage of an average to below average economic nation. I picture them being the top 9, for example, wealthiest people in that particular nation. UAE undoubtedly had its top winners, but it was fascinating to learn how many people gained so much in such a short time. The thing that will help explain my intrigue with this was how they were still traditional Arabs in many senses. They did not seem like sell-out bread winners to me. They had mixed wealth and comfort into their everyday lives. I found only a few good quotes to display what I’m talking about: “…They came here only on Fridays to race their camels and picnic in the desert. Even the food had been prepared beforehand in Mobarak’s kitchen. ‘It is nice sometimes to live in the old way,’ he said, sipping Pepsi.” “…seemed as much at ease in air-conditioned splendor as he had that afternoon squatting in the sand.” (pgs. 54, 56 respectively) There is no central theme or message to this blog, so I guess I was just intrigued how the U.S. as a nation is not the only one (recently) that is/has benefiting/ed from oil. –C.S.