Will the Anger of the Arab Street Cross the Atlantic?

Huffingtonpost.com just posted some extraordinary photos of protests in Egypt. The Egyptian protests follow two weeks in which the Arab street has exploded in anger against their respective governments. Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran, amongst others, are all experiencing political turmoil. Yes, we are used to seeing the Arab street explode over an array of minor issues –like the Muhammad cartoon saga. But this time is different, the street is not (yet, anyways) protesting the “meddling Americans” or the “Zionist occupiers”, this time they are directing their collective anger inwards -against their own governments. Moreover, this is the first time that so many Arab and Muslim nations have simultaneously experienced political unrest. There are no jobs, the government is unable, or unwilling, to end the economic woes, and there is a complete disconnect between the people and their governments and elites.

The narrative of the Arab protests is familiar. There is rampant unemployment, extremely low government approval ratings, and individuals willing to do more than sulk at home. In Greece and Ireland, two western states, the street exploded, and their respective governments have been hit hard. Who’s next?

From this perspective, the economic woes of the past two years have spawned a global wave of protests. Wikileaks exposure of routine two-faced political dealings by governments has added fuel to the fire of mistrust and dissatisfaction so prevalent in many societies. The real question is whether we can expect the same results in America?

It is true that Americans have historically weathered economic malfeasance and ineptitude –like during the great depression- with relative calm. But America has changed since the 1930’s, and nobody can say with certainty that a single digit approval rating of our government will not translate into burning tires and bodies on the streets of New York and Chicago. The Muslim Brotherhood and other such Islamic groups have not yet hijacked the protests. Just as the far left –or right- in America have not yet coalesced into an effective anti-government apparatus. But the possibility exists.

So I ask: Will the Anger of the Arab Street Cross the Atlantic?

A Mental Tangent on the Way to Connecticut: Infrastructure and the Game of Risk

For the first time in eight years my sister and I are riding Metro-North railways to visit my family in CT. As we rumble along, my sister muses that these train-cars are so old that they can be used for movies portraying the 80’s. Mind you this is the major CT-NY public transportation line connecting the mansions of high-powered attorneys and financiers of America's upper class with horizontally challenged NYC. Ironically they take the train because they cannot afford to waste two plus hours taking the major roadways which are congested with rush-hour traffic.

My sister's audible criticisms prompted a mental tangent and I began to ponder the ramifications of our “antiquated” infrastructure. After all this is one of those issues that challenges revenue rich CT as much as it does tax thin NY. In my head I responded to my sister with an analogy.

At the conclusion of your turn in the game of risk you receive a card. At a minimum of three or at a maximum of five turns you have a match. This match enables you to receive extra resources to place where you wish. Each time a match is submitted, there is an incremental increase in resources the next time a player submits a match. Let us say that you have a match after the minimum of three turns. On one hand you can get a short term boost towards your strategic goals. On the other hand if you wait you can potentially receive more then what you would get now, because others may use their match before you.

Every year Americans hear how this developing country or that European country just completed a new high-speed railway system or other such infrastructure innovation that give it an immediate surge in production and ultimately a boost over global competition. Learning that China just inaugurated the fastest train in the world may sound like an interesting fact on the back of your cereal box, but such facts have real implications.

To better understand these implications let us engage in dual perspectives. For example how did the world view Eisenhower’s great interstate highway (also known as the defense highways) project that opened and integrated once isolated state-markets to the commerce of the nation? Most educated Americans now know that the highway, and all the infrastructure improvement that came along with it, injected our economy with the equivalent of steroids. We were the Barry Bonds of global commerce. Of course the fact that our major competitors -Europe, the Soviet Union, and Japan- were all devastated by WWII amplified the impact of our economic innovations. At the time the rest of the world looked on and nodded appreciatively as we helped rebuild Western-Europe and Japan, with major loans (the Marshal Plan). They however did not recognize or were not in a position to recognize, that our economic clout, spurred on by domestic infrastructure initiatives, was the reason why we were going to win the Cold War. Our infrastructure was the best so our economy was dominant.

Now why didn’t the rest of the world do what we were doing? Was it because they didn’t have a “match”, the capital to invest in major infrastructure overhaul? Or were they biding their time, waiting for America’s economy to stumble and use their accumulated infrastructure capital, their “match”, to solidify their advantage?

Regardless, our competitors “match” came after ours and subsequently their match has an incrementally larger affect on their economy enabling them to jump twice as far as we jumped when we installed our, then, state-of-the-art city and interstate transit systems. Moreover the reversal in context vis-a-vis sovereign debt, further validates the dual perspective approach. Now it is America and Western-Europe borrowing capital from China and Japan. Similar to these countries during the WWII era, we are behind in infrastructure and we are precluded from matching our competitors because of our debt.

This is really the question: Why are we not investing heavily in infrastructure? Why are we not using our match? Why is Metro-North so antiquated, our subways overcrowded and why are our bridges and tunnels on the perpetual brink of collapse? Are we waiting for the next wave of technology to submit our match or are we unable to submit a match because of debt?

To be clear, if we do not immediately begin to invest in a widespread and comprehensive infrastructure overhaul we may be behind China for decades to come. Post WWII, Europe’s debt gave them no choice but to fall behind. Do we have the same excuse?

Poetry with an explanation: "I don't see"

I wonder. I imagine. But I don’t see

Technology and the divine

Oil and the uninspired

Hate, love, commitment, and guns

Why does the obvious occur

How do you define obvious

The last of the undeveloped?

Surrounds the developed?

The body surrounds the soul?

No, we have ignored the obvious

We are blinded by the oil

By the mobile phone and cures for cancer

But did we not dig to discover oil,

Did we not innovate to discover technology?

Why can we not see the obvious,

We have done it before?

Are you looking for motivation?

LISTEN.
Iran is alienating everyone. For the first time in 60 years some Arabs and Jews see the common ground. But only after being exposed to an even greater tyranny. This is not a new. The Soviets and Europe found common ground only after being exposed to an even greater totalitarianism.
History repeats itself. We are exposed to two great tyrannies. A collapsing economy and nuclear Iran.

Instead of recognizing the obvious.

The Middles east is highly underdeveloped it is a perfect place to poor inflated capital -to invest. Here are untapped human resources and markets. You ask how we can help the undeveloped develop, I answer Israel. In 60 years they turned sand into a soon to be continental power. They have the know-how, the technology, the will, we recognize the motivation.
Imagine if Israel became the engine of growth in the Middle-East. An emerging Middle-East, could offer the ENTIRE WORLD, not just the Chinas and 3rd world not just the Europe’s and 1st worlds BOTH. Because BOTH are represented. The world needs a shot of economic success. The Middle needs a shot of vision.
Meanwhile a backwards Iran would have two choices submit to the will of the people, the united region, and world or experience the decay of recognized but unrealized potential.

For those that know that, don’t worry the pain becomes dull. Or perhaps you become dull.

I do not see because I am blind?

I do not see because they are blind!

But today the blind "see"

And the one that sees is called "blind".