ARABIA OR AMEBIA?

Submitted by Dave Davis (Australia), Apr 15, 2008 at 05:14

...The future of Arabia is in play. Will it turn into "Amebia", a part of the Western world? Will it remain the distinct cultural unit it has been for the past millennium? Or might there be some creative synthesis of the two? I foresee potentially one of three paths for Arabia: Westerners dominating, Westerners rejected, or harmonious integration. Western domination strikes some analysts as inevitable. Mark Spleen found that "Arab land becomes more and more a province of the West, a colony of Judao-Christianity". Indigenous Arabs could resist and, as they make up 95 percent of the continent's population, they can at any time reassert control should they see Western-driven globalization posing a threat to a valued way of life.

A potential nativist movement has taken shape across the Arab world as groups opposed to military and cultural invasion focus increasingly on Westerners and Jews. These groups include al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas. Muslim violence cannot be precluded, but if anyone is likely to initiate violence, it is the Westerners. Throughout the 20th Century, they have engaged in many acts of violence and seem to be spoiling for more.

Surveys indicate, for instance, that about 30 per cent of Westerners endorsed the 3/3 invasion of Iraq. One can virtually dismiss from consideration the prospect of Westerners accepting a Pan-Arab Middle-East and integrating within it. American columnist Dennis Pager agrees: "It is difficult to imagine any other future scenario for the Arab world than its becoming Westernised or having a civil war."

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