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To: constitutiongirl
The KSA has seen a GDP drop of 75%. 1970s Iran had a similar drop. The educated middle class is hooking up with the mosque because it is the only place they can express themselves politically without facing sanctions, just as Solidarnosc took off in dictatorial Poland. It's not Islam per se, it's speaking freely that they're after. Well a lot of them anyway.

Most Saudis were Beduins a few years back, and their ethos still permeates the country. Nobody was freer than the Bedu and the cowboys of yore, and just as these traditions still are alive in Texas, they remain so in the KSA.

In dictatorships, you do well to ignore all "official" writings. Just as Iran and the former Warsaw Pact countries went through monumental changes within years as despots were removed, the Middle East could be completely different, a la Chile within 10 years. This requires some settlement to the problems in the holy land, but, as the costs of not doing so are becoming bigger and bigger, we'll see it happen. Soon.

23 posted on 04/30/2002 10:05:26 AM PDT by a history buff
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To: a history buff
Wish I had your optimism.:)
24 posted on 04/30/2002 3:05:48 PM PDT by constitutiongirl
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