Keywords

Powell Unveils U.S.-Arab Initiative

Old Blog Import

This initiative is small change compared to the billions of dollars spent on supporting undemocratic governments, like those in Egypt, but Powell is saying the right things:

Powell also provided a tour of the bleak economic, political and educational landscape in many of the Arab nations of the Middle East.”Any approach to the Middle East that ignores its political, economic and educational underdevelopment will be built on sand,” he said.

Powell said 14 million Arab adults are unemployed and that 50 million more Arab young people will enter the job market over the next eight years, but that Arab economies, which account for only 1 percent of the world’s non-oil exports, are not growing fast enough to produce the jobs they will need.



"A shortage of economic opportunities is a ticket to despair," Powell said. "Combined with rigid political systems, it is a dangerous brew indeed."”

(washingtonpost.com)

Previous
Next