considering the West did not relinquish most of its control over the ME until the 1970s, I am not sure what the author is saying.
Uhmmmm, hate to burst your bubble there, but the most successful nations in the ME today are the ones that didn't get their independence until the 1970's. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE (all British protecturates until the early 1970s) are the jewels in the ME crown as far as stability, freedom, education, virtually any metric you want. Immigration from other ME countries into those four supports that claim.
On the other hand, the country's which got their independence sooner rather than later (Saudi, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt) are years behind in terms of development. The Saudis have tons of material wealth because of their natural resources, but fail in basically every other metric of development.
Watched Syriana yesterday, interesting film. At one point the oil analyst tells the sheik he is wasting the greatest natural resource in the history of mankind. Hard to disagree.... |
