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Far From the Boston-Washington Corridor: Bush's Legacy to America
The following link is to an opinion article on the Bush Legacy from the 'Arab News.'
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=111305&d=28&m=6&y=2008
The Arab News describes itself thus:
"ArabNews Overview
The First English Daily Newspaper in Saudi Arabia
Published simultaneously from Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran
In 1975 Saudi Research & Publishing Co. (SRPC) launched the first Saudi English-language daily newspaper, ArabNews. For more than a quarter of a century ArabNews has been breaking cultural barriers and unifying Arabs and non-Arabs alike in responding to their need for information. ArabNews has evolved successfully into the well respected, leading paper it is today.
From its initiation, the paper has been serving the interests of both the Saudis and a large expatriate community and in consequence introduced them to each other. The challenge which is successfully accomplished each morning is meeting the needs of the different cultural communities which make up the diverse population of the Kingdom. ArabNews offers regional news from Europe, America, India, Pakistan, Philippines and other Middle Eastern countries in English for the heterogeneous mix of its loyal readers. Local news, business news, sports and features are provided for all, unlike other newspapers which may be serving a homogeneous audience.
Circulation: 51.768 (ABC, January-June 1998)
Distribution: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Near East, North Africa, Europe and USA
SPRC, established 1972, has become one of the most important publishing groups in the Arab world. Since then, the list of publications has grown to include 18 daily, weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines, all leaders in their respective fields in the Arab and non-Arab world.
Readership Profile
Average Issue Readership
General Public
PARC Media Index 1997, Saudi Arabia
Sex
Male
86%
Female
14%
Ethnic Groups
10%
Saudi Nationals
10%
Other Arabs
5%
Non-Arabs
85%
Occupation
Management
32%
Employees
58%
Housewife
5%
Income
SAR4,000-SAR7,000
24%
SAR7,001-SAR12,500
5%
Over SAR12,500
13%
Education
Secondary
34%
University & Above
52%
ArabNews Online
With technology opening the new doors of communication and the distribution of news and information, ArabNews Online is not bound by physical limitations. ArabNews Online is published by ArabNews from its offices located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and is now available to readers around the globe. It offers Arab and non-Arab readers news from an Arab perspective. What viewers can expect is in-depth regional information for those outside of Saudi Arabia, and a forum within which to interact with the sources of information. We hope to provide a glimpse into the daily life and activities within the Kingdom, from human interest stories to political events.
ArabNews is also proud of its Islam section and special Islamic features. The objective is enlightenment of Muslims and non-Muslims of a great faith by providing an arena in which to pose questions and receive answers.
The news market has been changing dramatically in recent years. Around the world people have less free time and, as a result, are more discerning about how they spend it. ArabNews Online endeavors to reflect this changing lifestyle, by offering accuracy, selectivity, immediacy, and interactivity. The Internet allows for a more personal relationship between reporter and reader. And at ArabNews we value that relationship.
Please contact the Editor in Chief Mr. Khaled Al-Maeena in reference to our website via email at: almaeena@arabnews.com"
[I link to ArabNews on my Blog, but in now way is that an explicit or implicit endorsement of ArabNews or any of its content.]
MyBlog: httpProteanPerspectives.blogspot.com
Comments (8)
And what broad impression have you come away with from covering it?
June 28, 2008 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
F,
That it could have been written by a Democrat speechwriter.
And does this represent the view of the Saudi government? I don't know.
F
June 28, 2008 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Frankly, the short piece in Arab News barely scratches the surface in relating the damage Bush and his rabid supporters have done to America.
It would in fact be difficult to tally all the ways Bush has made life worse here and calculate how difficult it will be, and how long it may take, to slow or reverse our accelerating decline.
June 28, 2008 8:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
NCD,
It won't take long to "slow" the decline if the right person is elected president.
"Reversing" the decline will be a "long, hard, slog."
FB
June 28, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
In more narrow terms, what really gets me now is the way no-one seems to be talking about the deficit.
Obama continually represents the need to withdraw from Iraq as an economic equation: he argues those billions could then be spent domestically: infrastruture, the green transformation. But at the same time he also talks about those troops being needed for Afghanistan and the Pakistani border.
If the troops are all exhausted and need to be brought home, how can you then argue that they're going to have to be turned around immediately and sent off to fight the other war? And, if they are to be sent to Afghanistan etc, where then the moola to fund his domestic spending and his tax cuts?
And where then the deficit? Many economists are arguing that the deficit has been one of the principal culprits in the astronomical rise in gas prices.
My problem here is that Obama's inheriting an absolute nightmare and I don't see how he can juggle all these different strands. And crucially I don't see him recognising them.
(McCain's even worse! The Tax Policy Center estimates that `over 10 years, McCain's tax proposals could increase the national debt by as much as $4.5 trillion with interest, while Obama's could add as much as $3.3 trillion.`)
Nowhere is there any suggestion that either of them has any measures in place to reduce the debt.
June 28, 2008 9:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
F,
Thank God for the deficit, though I am not happy where the money is being spent, however.
Clinton's balancing of the budget toward the end of his term is what sent the country into an economic slowdown during the beginning of Bush's first term.
If the USG were not running in deficit right now, the economy would be in even worse shape than it is. Like it or not, USG deficits stimulate the economy. The questions is: Where do you spend those deficit funds? Guns or Butter?
Any cutback of significant in USG spending at this precarious moment for the economy would send us, not only into an unambiguous recession, but possibly an actual Depression---worldwide. [High oil prices and USG surpluses, as strange as this sounds, both have essentially the same effect: Slowing of the economy.]
The grotesque mismanagement and regulatory inaction of this Administration will earn Bush the moniker of the 21st Century Hoover, not to mention his already well-entrenched legacy as the 21st Century Lyndon Johnson.
Never has the need for a change in ideological leadership been more apparent in my lifetime. It's getting more and more difficult for me to remain non-partisan.
F
June 28, 2008 10:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just occurred to me - are you related to Ben Bernanke?
Well I see running deficits slightly differently. I don't have a single problem with them done deliberately during a recession in order to stimulate demand; or to spend on vital domestic infrastructure where you're going to get a real long-run return. But long-term status quo just out of control spending that doesn't have any real direction to it - when it's not being invested in productive capacity - just signals to me that things are out of control - inflationary. Funding wars you can't afford...
It's nuts and a recipe for disaster.
June 29, 2008 5:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
F,
Bernanke is such a unique name--there are literally a handful of us in the US--that I assume Ben and I are related, though not closely. I never heard of him until he made the Washington scene, and have never researched the question.
My opinion on deficits is that they have become structurally part of the US economy, for better or worse. And that the economy now requires deficit spending to avoid slipping into recessions. The question is, how large a deficit is required.
I don't know the answer.
F
June 29, 2008 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
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