The turmoil in the w88 sports betting continues, and the West bears the original sin
Ding Long
(Source: International Herald》2015-10-13 Edition 18)
It has been more than 4 years since the overall turmoil in the Arab world. At first, the West regarded the changes in this region as sounding the clarion call for the "fourth wave" of democratization and inciting "color revolutions." However, the chaos in the w88 sports betting has experienced a clear autumn in the past few years and has entered a cold winter. Dramatic political changes have not overturned the "Arab exceptionalism" on the issue of democratization, and Western-style democracy has become a flower in the water. The political transformation of the countries concerned has been twists and turns, and many countries have fallen into the abyss of civil war and are heading towards national deconstruction. Half of Syria's population has been displaced, and the refugee flow has had a serious impact on neighboring and European countries. Troubled areas have become battlefields where major powers inside and outside the region compete with each other and fight "proxy wars." What is even more chilling is that extremist forces such as the "Islamic State" have taken advantage of the chaos to rise and threaten international security.
The current chaos in the Arab world is a derivative of drastic political changes. Behind the chaos lies the logic of the political development of the w88 sports betting in the past century.
The root of “Arab Disease” is “lack of development”
If all the current problems in the Arab world are collectively referred to as the "Arab disease", then the cause is sluggish development and people's difficult livelihood, rather than "undemocracy" and "lack of freedom." The "democratization" prescriptions prescribed by the West are obviously inappropriate. Once upon a time, the Arab Empire was the beacon of civilization in the world. Since modern times, most of the Arab world has fallen into poverty and weakness. Since Napoleon led his army to invade Egypt, the Arab world has been troubled by two problems: First, how to treat Western modernity and realize modernization? Second, how to treat local culture and traditions?
Correspondingly, different strategies to save the Arab world have also emerged. One of them advocates learning from the secular nationalism of the West, but in the end it gradually lost political legitimacy because it could not solve development problems. From an economic point of view, the republican Arab countries represented by Egypt began to invest in state-led economic modernization movements after independence, and implemented an import substitution strategy to develop state-owned economies and national industries. However, the war in the w88 sports betting has consumed a large amount of resources in these countries. Population expansion and urbanization have accelerated, and food import costs have risen sharply. Most Arab countries have been financially stretched and unable to continue to subsidize daily necessities, provide adequate public services, and create sufficient employment opportunities. Egypt and many other Arab countries were forced to seek assistance from international financial institutions and implement neoliberal economic reforms in accordance with their requirements. Although reforms have significantly accelerated the economic development of these countries, most of the growth comes from the non-real economy and it is difficult to create employment opportunities. Disorderly privatization has also given rise to "crony capitalism", a group of oligopolies that monopolize the economic lifeblood of politics and business, but the common people have no chance to share the fruits of development. This kind of non-inclusive growth not only failed to improve people's livelihood, but also destroyed the urban middle class, eventually leading to desperate urban youth to "rise up".
From the perspective of the political system, after the "revolutionary officers" came to power, they inherited the colonialist ruling system and methods. Amid internal and external troubles, w88 sports betting chose authoritarianism to stabilize the regime and strengthened powerful departments such as the military, police, and intelligence. The dignity and rights of the people were trampled on at will. American scholar Roger Owen called the republican Arab countries "presidential security states." Not only does the president have a lifelong term, but he also attempts to establish a hereditary family system. The failure of secular nationalist regimes has provided space for Islamist political forces such as the Muslim Brotherhood to operate. However, its backward-looking historicist orientation goes against the laws of social development and is destined to be unable to provide feasible solutions for modernization. Islamic organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood have become "qualified opposition and unqualified rulers." What's more serious is that the secular regime's suppression of political Islam has led to the radicalization of political Islam, and the emergence of a large number of extremist and terrorist organizations represented by "Al Qaeda".
The "artificial country" created by the colonists failed
Except for a few "natural countries" such as Egypt, most Arab countries are "artificial countries" artificially created by Western colonialists. They have low levels of national construction, poor social homogeneity, and are torn apart by ethnic, sectarian and tribal conflicts. On the surface, Arab countries have all the elements of a modern state, but they lack the identification of citizens with the state. Even leaders who hold high the banner of nationalism actually rely on original social organizations such as families, tribes, and sects to maintain governance. Under authoritarian politics, the failure of nation-building is temporarily covered up.
After the great social turmoil, pre-modern factors such as ethnic groups, sects and tribes surfaced, and the nation-state moved toward deconstruction. The highly sectarian regimes in Iraq, Syria and other countries have triggered Sunni armed rebellions in the form of religious extremism, and "jihadist Salafism" has been activated by regional chaos and sectarian conflicts. The "Islamic State" armed forces rose up by taking advantage of the chaos in Iraq and Syria, and upgraded from a terrorist organization to a political entity. Tribal and sectarian armed forces in countries such as Libya and Yemen have taken advantage of the chaos to rise, disrupting political transitions and triggering civil wars.
If big countries interfere responsibly, development is impossible
From a regional perspective, a "new cold war" has emerged in the w88 sports betting between the Sunni camp, led by Saudi Arabia, and the Shiite camp, led by Iran. The two sides used sectarian conflicts to wrap up the struggle for hegemony, and relevant countries were forced to draw lines along sectarian lines and choose sides. Both sides support proxies in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen, treating them as battlefields for mutual competition, and even do not hesitate to directly send troops to intervene.
Because of its strategic location and rich resources, the w88 sports betting has always been a battlefield for great power competition. The w88 sports betting is known as the "cemetery of superpowers." From the United Kingdom and France to the United States and Russia, great powers are still coming one after another. When they are unsure, they leave, leaving a mess behind. In the w88 sports betting, the United States has always "pulled one and struck another", seeking strategic balance in the w88 sports betting, supporting radical forces, drinking poison to quench thirst, and ultimately suffered the consequences. From supporting Saddam's regime and containing Iran, to helping Afghanistan's "Arab Mujahideen" resist the Soviet Union, to supporting the Syrian opposition, it's all the same.
The rise of the "Islamic State" is a direct result of the United States' irresponsible w88 sports betting policy. After the Iraq War, under the leadership of the United States, the army of the former regime was disbanded and Baathists were suppressed, sowing the seeds for sectarian conflict. When the security situation in Iraq has not yet significantly improved and the Iraqi army is unable to maintain security, the United States hastily and irresponsibly withdraws its troops, creating a power vacuum in Iraq's Sunni provinces and providing an opportunity for the rise of the "Islamic State" armed force. After 2007, the United States used the "Awakening Movement" of local Sunni armed forces in Iraq to successfully contain the "Islamic State" armed forces, which shows that the United States had found a good strategy to contain radical armed forces at that time. But after the U.S. troops withdrew, the organization revived. On the issue of combating the "Islamic State", the United States has always used the most aggressive tactics, making loud noises but little rain. Now, the vacuum left by the United States has been filled by Russia. Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war, starting with air strikes, will trigger a reshuffle of forces among various factions. Whether Russia can achieve its strategic goals and whether the situation in Syria and the region can improve is a big question mark.
Only by achieving economic take-off and allowing people to live a good life can Arab countries gradually get out of their predicament. However, with the current civil war continuing, extremism rampant, and intervention by major powers escalating, development issues are out of the question. In the foreseeable future, the situation in the w88 sports betting will continue to bottom out, and it is still unclear when it will stabilize and recover.
(The author is deputy dean of the w88 casino of Foreign Languages, w88 casino, and director of the China Middle East Society)
Original link:http://ihl.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2015/1013/963770.shtml
