Friday, July 27, 2012

It is a bad sign when Arabs are being hectored and lectures by Aaron David Miller

""can they liberate themselves from the fears, conspiracies and prejudices that also shape so much of their politics and identity?"" By the way, Miller did not study the Middle East and does not know Arabic or Turkish or Persian (he may know some Hebrew).  It is his fanatic Zionism that qualified him to work at the State Department when experienced and seasoned Arabists were being replaced by non-expert Zionists.   And then this Miller borrows from the concepts of honor and shame that he read in Raphael Patai's The Arab Mind--his only source of knowledge on Arabs--to say this:  ""On the other hand, Israel is a source of dishonor and shame—and perhaps secretly a source of admiration too, which makes matters even more complex. How could a tiny country defy the will of the great Arab nation and make itself into the strongest military power and most technologically advanced country in the Middle East? For the Arabs, Israel is one tough and painful look in the mirror."  (thanks Hussam)