About the monarchy thing - well, I believe that one of the main reasons the rulers of these countries don't want a free market, democratic society is because the fortunes of the rulers are tied up with the oil barrels their country produces. I believe King Zayed, the President of UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi gets for his personal cofferes, AED 1 <or is it USD 1, I forget> or more per barrel of oil produced from Abu Dhabi. I'm not sure of the production capacity, but I believe it is more than a million barrels per day.
Now, this makes the maths pretty simple. Why wouldn't he want to continue being the ruler ? Why would he usher in democracy ? What incentive does he, and all the other leaders in the region, have to give their people a better standard of life, to make them more educated, independent and literate. OTOH he has enough incentive NOT to want his people and his country to progress.
Trust me, without this income, and this absolute power over their people Sheikh Zayed and the rest of his kind, wouldn't qualify for a job selling burgers at McDonalds, and what is more, these guys know it too ! And they cannot get this kind of absolute power by politics alone. So they marry politics and religion.....and the stupid people fall for it, for they haven't seen any other way of life and because they are good, God fearing people.
The ruler of Oman is the only person who is as democratic as a Moslem ruler can be. He freed Oman from the rule of his despotic father and tried to restore SOME sembance of choice in that country. But of course the moment he goes all the way, he knows he will be assasinated. By his own Sheikhs, or by the rulers of his neighboring countries.
To this extent, the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain was more of a modern thinker. Despot, but a modern day despot. If guided correctly, if Ms Gaspie and US hadn't messed him up, he could have been a great US ally in helping bridge the gap between ME and the West, between US and the Central Assian countries. His relationships with countries like India were very deep back then. He fought AGAINST fundamentalist Iran. He was a friend of Soviets as well as of US. His foreign policy was better than that of ALL Arab states.
USSR had a very different equation. It was easier to defeat communism. Division of wealth and power was not so very defined there. The Arab world is totally different. The leaders can punish the public and the punishment can be pretty intimidating for the people and their families, or they can bribe them with luxuries of life, with position, power, money...stuff which an average or above average family in the West can't even dream of.
This is not going to be an easy war. It cannot be won in a few months, or years. Just like US thought they had deccimated Iraq after the first air attack, and find Iraqi's defiant to this date....its not going to be easy defeating the Taliban. And US better not piss off any more countries....or we'll have an Axis coalition in the making. |
