Breaking News: Arabs Suck

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article;jsessionid=D78B384E505C6FA372587C938D6B73E1.w5?a=303365&f=20

That may as well be the headline of this opinion disguised as news piece in the NYT. The story is disorganized and meandering (Did you know Arab schools are terrible? Did you know Arabs are hypocrites? Did you know Arabs have different national interests?). But the bias and sense of 'the region is a mess and it is all their fault' is pretty clear.

What would be more informative and interesting would be for the NYT to give a voice to the many progressive Arabs who have been fighting for years to bring better education and social services and equality to the region (or at least someone who didn't just learn that not everyone supports pan arabism).

I am by no means an expert on the region, but they at least deserve credit for recognizing their problems and things like the GCC, building King Abdullah City, and the growth of SABIC (and yes I know those accomplishments are all in the Gulf, give me a break that is most my know knowledge in the region).

And whitewashing the negative impact of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict (which extends far beyond just 'the arab street gets mad' - it includes the refugee issue, respect for minority rights, water, and national security) doesn't help anyone. Just because you have a broken leg and migranes doesn't mean you ignore the cancer.