Damascus High Class of 2012

Damascus High Class of 2012
StratFor publishes another special for WorldNetDaily. Today’s topic is possibility of an explosive crisis in the Arab world.

Stop laughing — they mean something even worse than normal daily existence.

Driven by a burgeoning youth population, stagnant economies and the regionally unpopular U.S. war on terrorism, domestic challenges in many Arab states are nearing critical mass. Arab governments are moving to counter this trend and have taken a number of unusual or unprecedented steps in recent months. But the measures so far are half-hearted at best and will not resolve the underlying pressures nor halt a surge in popular unrest in the coming year.

Too many angry young men, too few jobs, no freedom to change it. Oh, plus a hefty dollop of state-sponsored religious fanatacism.

A U.S. military campaign against Iraq will only exacerbate these resentments. Many Arab governments such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia may not support the war. But given their own intimate relationships with the U.S. government, they aren’t likely to oppose it with anything more than rhetoric either. This will stoke tension between frustrated and angry Arab citizens and their governments.

So in making it better, we’ll first make it worse.

Really, that strikes me as the strongest possible endorsement of not just toppling Saddam, but of Marshall Planning Iraq. And not just Iraq, but any Arab nation whose government topples under the triple pressures of autocracy, stale economics, and the New War.

A new colonialism? Perhaps — but under the peacekeeping auspices of the UN to take away some of the sting.

At the same time, a population bulge combined with high unemployment is creating a pressure-cooker scenario across the board. More than 50 percent of the population in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria is under 25.

Ah, impressionable youth. If they can be turned to terror under the tutelege of Riyadh-sponsored mullahs, why can’t they be turned to Kylie Minogue and the profit motive under our care?

Read the whole story. There’s some hard stuff there, but I don’t find it bleak. Just makes you want to roll up your sleeves and get to work.