What ails the Arabs?

ECONOMIST:...a revolution in satellite television has broken the spell of the state-run media and created a public that wants the rulers to explain and justify themselves as never before.

SHOOT: Fascinating to see how free/accessible information exposes liars.

clipped from www.economist.com WHAT ails the Arabs? They have, for a start, failed to make their people free: six Arab countries have an outright ban on political parties and the rest restrict them slyly. They have failed to make their people rich: despite their oil, the UN reports that about two out of five people in the Arab world live on $2 or less a day. They have failed to keep their people safe: the report argues that overpowerful internal security forces often turn the Arab state into a menace to its own people. And they are about to fail their young people. The UNDP reckons the Arab world must create 50m new jobs by 2020 to accommodate a growing, youthful workforce—virtually impossible on present trends. clipped from www.economist.com The old pattern of Arab government—corrupt, opaque and authoritarian—has failed on every level and does not deserve to survive. At some point it will almost certainly collapse. The great unknown is when.