Arab dictators lost control of their "solution"

Sorry I have not written anything in a long time. I've been extremely busy with work, which has just left me too tired to sit on a computer to work on personal things.

There was a tetonic shift in the politics of the Middle East today. Enough to get me to mention this development. Today Israel and Hezbollah have entered into a cease fire. Hezbollah has, in the eyes of the Arab world, beat Israel.

In the world of advertising, the most basic method used to sell something is to (a), create a problem, then (b) sell the solution. You see this all the time in everything from cars, shampoo, medicine, electronics, and even politics. For example, ads tell you that you might have dandruff, and will be embarrassed by your friends (the problem). The solve this problem, you can buy their sponsor's downdraft shampoo (the solution).

As I've mentioned before in this blog, the ruling dictators of the Arab world have used this same principal over the last 70 years to sell themselves to their own citizens. It is why the Palestinian problem still goes on and on for 4 generations now.

In this case, the dictators of Arab middle east create a problem. The problem is the oppression of the Palestinians by the evil Jews of Israel (and their American sponsors). This problem is perfect for them. They use it as an excuse to justify their rule, to suppress political opposition, to ignore human rights, to ignore abuse of authority, and so on.

They sell themselves as the solution to this problem. They claim that they are holding up the dignity or fellow Arabs, or Muslims. They claim that they can't address the grievances of their own citizens while their poor Palestinian "brothers" continue to be repressed.

And to their credit, they have been extremely successful with this. They have managed to stay in power and make themselves and the friends rich. They have managed to keep this "problem" from being solved. It is a perpetual problem, and they are the perpetual solution.

But, their "problem" has gotten away from them, and now it may be their cause of their undoing.

September 11 demonstrated that their problem has turned vicious and had spread internationally. The hatred they fostered at home against Israel (and America) in order to distract their people from revolting muted into something they never imagined. They lost control of it. They had created a monster, and it was now loose in the world.

At first, they pretended it didn't exist. Only when this monster attacked Saudi Arabia and Egypt did they finally wake up and realize what they did. But it was too late. They are trying to get their monster back, but they can't.

Now, they have a more serious problem. They have competition. A new "solution" to their problem has appeared. It's name is Hezbollah. And the recent war with Israel has shown that Hezbollah not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. The Arab citizens are starting to notice, and it scares the shit out of the Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

For so long they have pounded the message that Israel is the problem and the cause of their misery that their citizens now accept it without question. It is as fundamental as the sky is blue and water is wet. They can't undo it.

So now Hezbollah shows up with a better solution. The citizens of Egypt, Kuwaiti, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab dictatorships are now looking at their governments and asking "How was Hezbollah able to do in one month what you could not do in 40 years?"

Naturally, the next question is going to be, "How can I replace you with Hozbollah?" That is why so many Sunni Arabs, especially opposition groups like The Muslim Brotherhood, are trying to align themselves with Hezbollah. This attraction is powerful enough to even overcome the inter-religion difference of Sunni Arabs and Persian Shiites.

It is funny that these same Arab dictators never imagined that a better "solution", other than themselves, could ever come along when they decided to make their perfect problem.