Required Reading
January 29th, 2011 - 7:59 am
Robert Kaplan:
The most telling aspect of the anti-regime demonstrations that have rocked the Arab world is what they are not about: They are not about the existential plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation; nor are they at least overtly anti-Western or even anti-American. The demonstrators have directed their ire against unemployment, tyranny, and the general lack of dignity and justice in their own societies. This constitutes a sea change in modern Middle Eastern history.
The best (I might say only) evidence for this is that both sides are blaming the U.S. for the other. Strictly speaking, if both sides hate America, then their beef with one another can’t be anti-American — but it is no cause for encouragement.