http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MH27Ak02.htmlThe protests for regime change that are sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have been interpreted as the quest for democracy. While democratic reform is undoubtedly in the hearts and minds of the protesters, the core of the struggle is for economic justice. How to divide up the pie in all these countries, especially in countries where the pie is largely baked by depleting oil and natural gas resources?
The ruling elite in all these countries wants to control the levers of power not for political power per se, but to grab a disproportionate share of the economic pie. But the quest for economic justice and a more equitable division of the pie is made all the more problematic because of intertwined foreign economic and financial interests.
Although the autocratic rule and the subpar economic
performance of these Arab countries (and Iran) over the past 50 or so years, especially given their vast oil and natural gas resources, is widely recognized, it recently appeared that the corruption and self-enrichment of the rulers was a surprise to some in the sophisticated global press.
The wealth, lifestyle and excesses of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and especially Muammar Gaddafi and his family in Libya seemed to be a surprise to the media. Yes, they had not reported it in any detail before, but to be surprised? Frankly, it was much more surprising that the media was surprised. Where have they been all these years?