NYT columnist Tom Friedman notes:
“After World War
II, Asia was ruled by many autocrats who essentially came to their people and
said, “My people, we’re going to take away your freedom, but we’re going to
give you the best education, infrastructure and export-led growth policies
money can buy. And eventually you’ll build a big middle class and win your
freedom.” Over that same period, Arab autocrats came to their people and said,
“My people, we’re going to take away your freedom and give you the Arab-Israel
conflict.”
Asian autocrats
tended to be modernizers, like Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, who just died last
week at 91 — and you see the results today: Singaporeans waiting in line for 10
hours to pay last respects to a man who vaulted them from nothing into the
global middle class. Arab autocrats tended to be predators who used the
conflict with Israel as a shiny object to distract their people from their own
misgovernance. The result: Libya, Yemen, Syria and Iraq are now human
development disaster areas.”
Despite his proclivity for over-simplification, Friedman does possess an uncanny ability to spot fundamental truths regarding international affairs.