Middle East Uprisings - True Quest For Democracy Or Tribal Civil Wars?   
      
   I was just reading a very informative opinion piece from an op-ed editor of   
   the NYT called "Tribes With Flags". I don't always agree with Mr. Friedman's   
   views, but quite often, he demonstrates that he has put considerable thought   
   into his comments, and he offers sound advice to those who may be listening   
   to -- or reading -- his perspective. This particular piece poses some very   
   interesting questions regarding current uprisings in the Middle East. For   
   example, it asks whether they are truly fueled by a desire to achieve   
   democracy, or simply motivated by the desire of one tribe or sect to   
   overpower another. Are they in fact just tribal civil wars being disguised   
   as democratic uprisings?   
      
   He also offers one possible explanation concerning why so many Middle   
   Eastern and North African nations have been ruled by military dictators, or   
   other authoritarian heads of state over the decades. This is in fact one of   
   the topics that I likewise covered in one of my articles concerning Saddam   
   Hussein a number of years ago. Contrary to those people who believe that   
   democracy is the best form of government, is it possible that due to their   
   ethnic constitution, some countries of the Middle East in fact need strong   
   dictators just to hold them together? As I've asked before, as brutal as he   
   was, did Saddam Hussein know and understand something about his own people   
   that the American government did not, and which has taken them eight long   
   years to figure out? Read the op-ed and form your own opinion.   
      
      
      
   Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23   
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