(Tablet) Lee Smith - In order to survive, Arab and Muslim societies are going to have to forget about the notion of an Islamic alternative to modernity and will instead have to adopt what they have typically described as Western values but are in reality the universal values of political modernity. The Arab model for success is not Iran, or Turkey, but Israel, the one country in the region that lives those values. Last year Israel ranked 17th out of 58 of the world's most economically developed nations, while the country's economy was rated the most durable in the face of crises and rated first in investments in research and development centers. The college graduates who took to the streets in Cairo to protest their lack of opportunity are simply not prepared to compete with the rest of the world. The only scenario is for them to become more like Israel. The longer the Arabs continue to make Israel the focus of rejectionism and hatred, the more impossible it will become for them
2011-03-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive