Japan
Reader comment on item: After Saddam? Remaking the Mideast

Submitted by M Schultehenrich (United States), Feb 13, 2003 at 14:31

There is a slight difference. Japan, and by extension Germany and Central Europe, had been evolving into liberal/republican societies and economies for decades and in Europe's case, centuries. The US and UK merely added to a trend that had already been established. These trends have only begun in some Middle Eastern countries and quite tentatively at that. Iran is an example, but it is still firmly in the grasp of clerics. Turkey perhaps, but it is still a military dominated goverment. These concepts discussed above are totally alien to the Saudi's as well as nearly every society from Marrakesh to Dacca. When more Kemals become Ataturks, change will come from within these societies.

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