PhotoDude.com

Tue. Jul 23, 2002

UN Report: Arabs Abandoning Ship

UN Report: Arabs Abandoning Ship – "A United Nations report warns that a majority of older Arab young people want to leave their homelands in favor of the West."

What an absolutely awful opening sentence. First of all, why does it say ”warns”? It almost sounds like the UN thinks Arabs immigrating is a Bad Thing. Secondly, what exactly is an older Arab young person? Well, on to the meat of the story…

"The report cited lack of education, freedom and job opportunities as the major reasons for emigration. The report said out of seven world regions, the Arab countries had the lowest level of freedom during the late 1990s. ’Remarkably, 51 percent of older youths expressed a desire to emigrate to other countries, clearly indicating their dissatisfaction with current conditions and future prospects in their home countries,’ the report said."

Can you imagine if 50% of American youth between the ages of, say, 18 and 25, openly said, ”there has got to be a better place than this. I’m so convinced of it, I’m willing to completely uproot, leave my family, and travel thousands of miles into an uncertain future in a completely different culture.”

”Among those contemplating emigration, European countries were the favorite destination [46 percent of respondents, 21 percent of whom chose the United Kingdom alone, followed by the United States and Canada [36 percent], and other Arab countries [13 percent]. The implicit judgement of how liveable these young people consider Arab societies to be is evident.”

Remember last fall when we were asking, ”why do they hate us?” Were we asking the wrong question?

"The report said Jordan rates highest among Arab countries in the level of freedom of expression and government accountability. Kuwait is second on the list. Qatar is regarded as the most politically stable country followed by Oman and the United Arab Emirates."

And this also sounds like a laundry list of the Arab countries that will allow us to use their bases in any war against Iraq.