What has the war in Gaza revealed about the world?

Part III: Muslims in America

This essay was first published here, by the Friday Times on July 10th, 2024.

We will now focus on what lessons the carnage in Gaza holds for America’s Muslims. To appreciate the full impact of this war, one must first understand how it fits within the context of America’s relationship with the wider Muslim world, which has largely been shaped by its desire to control the Middle East’s energy resources and make sure no Muslim state can threaten apartheid Israel.

In pursuit of these goals, it established de facto military control over much of the Middle East. It has had bases in Turkey since the advent of the Cold War, but once that conflict ended it used Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait as a pretext to establish a permanent military presence in the Gulf. As the recent attacks on its forces in Jordan, Iraq, and Syria show, it has troops scattered throughout the region. It maintains several air squadrons composed of advanced fighters, bombers, and drones and a permanent naval presence in the region that includes constantly rotating at least one aircraft carrier battle group into either the eastern Mediterranean Sea or Persian Gulf. In total, America has roughly 60-80k troops in the region on any given day. 

In addition to its substantial military presence, it has managed to ensure every Arab state, except Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan, is governed by dictators who must comply with its wishes. To make sure Muslim states are ruled by compliant rulers, it has employed the full spectrum of violence from assassinations and coups to all out invasions. It has also used special forces, drone strikes, and the occasional missile volley to quiet those opposed to its agenda. However, its preferred method of control is selling weapons to Muslim states, thereby making them dependent on America to maintain and equip their militaries. Through these various mechanisms, it has established a form of neo-imperial military control over much of the region and fittingly given it a neo-colonial façade.

It has achieved this power by inflicting unspeakable pain and suffering throughout the region. Gaza is but the latest in a long line of massacres America has committed or enabled against Muslims. An estimated 576,000 Iraqi children died because of the sanctions it imposed before the 2003 invasion, another 4.5 million died because of the War on Terror, and its support and weapons allowed Saudi Arabia to kill 377,000 Yemenis and Egypt to jail 60,000 non-violent political prisoners. Due to these actions, as well as many others we simply do not have the space to list, America has the blood of millions of innocents on its hands.

In sum, at the same time America was inviting Muslims from all over the world to its shores via immigration policies that made it easy for educated professionals to settle there, it was also violently attacking their homelands or supporting the brutal regimes that may have prompted some of them to seek new homes. Given this history and its long-standing support for apartheid Israel, being Muslim in America has always been complicated. By virtue of its decades long attempt to subjugate and control the Muslim world, America’s Muslims have often been in the uneasy position of being viewed and treated as a fifth column who cannot be fully trusted. As a result, dealing with bigotry and Islamophobia is an implicit part of the Muslim American experience.

Despite everything, America’s Muslims have thrived as a community. The Economist went so far as to call the twenty year period after 9/11 a “golden age” for us in which our population doubled and our influence grew. Until eight months ago, we were fully integrated into the fabric of American life and enmeshed in the pursuit of our American dreams.

Gaza has shattered those dreams. The images of mutilated and lifeless Palestinian children have reminded us that America is still perfectly capable of massacring Muslims while hiding behind vile, racist justifications to obscure its crimes. Watching Gaza’s poor people brutally murdered from afar and living in and paying taxes to the country enabling these crimes has been excruciatingly painful.

It has also led to action. As a community, America’s Muslims have spoken out loudly in defense of Gaza’s children. We have marched, petitioned our leaders, and even blocked traffic to bring attention to their plight. Despite our desperate pleas and the overwhelming evidence of Israel’s crimes, most have demonized, dismissed or ignored us. Instead of listening, many accused us of being terrorist sympathizers, pro-Hamas, or antisemitic. Congressman Mike Rollins went so far as to praise blatantly racist counter protesters in Mississippi, one of whom was mimicking an ape and gesturing towards a Pro-Palestinian African American protester. But Mr. Collins is hardly the only bigot in Congress. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, was censured by 234 of her colleagues for daring to object to the slaughter of her people and call for their freedom. On the other hand, Brian Mast faced no consequences for justifying the murder of Palestinian babies by comparing them to Nazis.

These officials are merely a reflection of the society that elected them. America has always tolerated violence and discrimination towards Muslims. Since the start of this war, our children have been stabbed and shot. We have been fired from our jobs, arrested, expelled from our schools, sued, and even barred from speaking at our graduations. All because we refuse to be silent when Israel’s military murders children or ignore that it is a brutal apartheid state guilty of denying millions of Palestinians their basic human rights for nearly 60 years.

While all of this has been going on, most Americans have proven they simply do not care. About the mass murder their government is enabling in Gaza, or the blatant discrimination Muslim Americans face. Aside from a small, vocal minority, most have done their best to ignore Israel’s crimes and their nation’s role in aiding them.

The cumulative weight of this data reveals some very harsh truths. The most obvious: America’s Muslims are second class citizens who do not have the same right to express ourselves as our neighbors. Even when our government actively helps slaughter thousands of children, we must accept its actions without dissent or suffer the consequences. Despite our increased numbers and influence, neither our lives nor our voices matter. Not only do they not matter, but those who insist on expressing them will be silenced.

In many ways, Gaza reinforces what we have known the whole time. Muslims in America will always be viewed with suspicion and hostility. Even when we fully embrace the American ethos and fight for universal concepts like defending children from mass murder, we will be vilified, then ignored.

Gaza has reminded us how precarious it is to be Muslim in America. Nothing proves the point better than the upcoming presidential election. Our choices are Genocide Joe Biden, a self-described Zionist guilty of enabling the worst massacre of Palestinians since 1948 or Donald Trump, another self-described Zionist who believes his opponent has shown too much restraint in trying to limit Israel’s massacre. The only difference between these men is that one gaslights and lies to deflect criticism of his crimes while the other openly embraces and celebrates them. But when it comes to valuing Muslim lives or protecting children from slaughter, they are the same.  

Which leads us to another even harsher truth: Muslims do not belong in America. We are not wanted, and will not be safe if we stay here. As referenced in Part I, America is not on a sound trajectory. Over the next few decades, several seemingly unrelated factors will come together to cause economic and political upheaval of the sort that often leads to violence.

The starting point for such a discussion must begin with the massive debt America has accumulated to pay for its hegemonic ambitions and the exponential rate at which the interest payments required to service it are growing. This expense will cost $12.4 trillion over the next decade, making it the largest item in the budget and creating an unsustainable situation in which America will be printing and borrowing money to pay interest on the money it has already printed and borrowed. In an ironic twist, the debt Ronald Reagan first took on to pay for the arms race that bankrupted the Soviets now threatens to do the same to America. It is no longer difficult to imagine a day when it reaches $70-80 trillion, and the interest payments alone consume more than the federal government collects in tax receipts.  

Aside from printing the dollar into oblivion, America’s leaders have also been entering into free trade agreements that incentivized their companies to shift their manufacturing operations overseas. These agreements have caused millions of once high paying factory jobs to disappear. What was once described as the world’s workshop now consistently imports far more than it exports and has had an incredibly weak balance of payments for over thirty years in a row. This has had wide ranging political, social, and economic effects, the most obvious of which is the MAGA movement. As America’s leaders continue to debase their currency, paying for the massive quantity of goods and inputs their economy no longer produces will become prohibitively expensive. The destabilizing impact of dismantling its manufacturing base will only grow over the next few decades.

The root cause of America’s financial distress is its insistence on maintaining a military that can simultaneously control Western Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. America’s military is not built to protect the homeland but to project power throughout nearly the entire world. Due to its hegemonic ambitions, it has spent an obscene amount of money on national security over the years and continues to do so. It spent $21 trillion on its military between just 9/11 and 2021 and another $1.7 trillion in 2022 and 2023, which accounts for most of its $34 trillion debt. In its quest to dominate the world, America maxed out its credit cards and the bills are starting to come due.

Alas, its corporate military interests now have such a strangle hold on its political economy that having an honest conversation about the desperate need to stand down and re-adjust the country’s spending and national security priorities is impossible. Instead of being honest about its dire finances, America’s elite wax on about silly ideas like modern monetary theory. Its rival political factions can only agree on massive spending packages that further add to its debt and their desire to dominate the world.  Due to their refusal to accept simple truths, America’s leaders have overextended themselves.

Having dismantled the factories that were the true source of their nation’s power, they no longer have the resources to control Eurasia from end to end. Not only have they overextended themselves, but they have gone against decades of very sensible policies that sought to prevent China and Russia from coming to together by doing everything in their power to unite these giants and their interior lines of communication. If Eurasia is the world island, America is firmly on the outside, looking in, and trying to dominate from the perimeter.

From both a financial and geopolitical perspective, America’s leaders are doing everything possible to accelerate their own demise. When historians look back at their fall, they will probably describe it as the greatest own goal in history. America is arguably the most geographically blessed political entity that has ever existed. It possesses formidable natural defenses that could have allowed it to spend a minimal amount on its military. Rather than use these blessings to strengthen themselves by educating their people and building world class infrastructure to maintain their considerable economic advantages, its leaders spent the past eighty years investing in war and hegemony. In doing so, they have neglected the true source of civilizational power, namely, economic, scientific, and industrial infrastructure and capabilities.

The only thing propping up this house of cards is the dollar, which is the currency of choice for people and governments throughout the globe. In their drive to control the world, America’s leaders are doing their best to change this. They have turned their control of the dollar and the international trading system that relies on it into a cudgel to punish their enemies and coerce any who might disobey their wishes. In doing so, they are incentivizing the rest of the world to find a substitute currency that cannot be controlled from Washington DC. The long-term economic consequences of using the dollar as a geopolitical weapon will ultimately be reduced demand that lessens its value.

Combined these factors will lead to a variety of woes like hyperinflation, exorbitant taxes, high interest rates, higher input costs, reduced investment, diminished public services, and insolvency. These will, in turn, lead to spiraling social and political chaos. By themselves, these developments would be enough to cause violence, but they are not the only trends to consider. At the same time its finances are collapsing, America will also be undergoing significant demographic changes that will only add to the tumult. By 2045, white people will no longer form the majority in America.  

Western societies have frequently featured overtly racist ideologies and discriminatory policies that violently oppressed people based on their faith, race, or ethnicity. The Inquisition, the various progroms against Jews culminating in the Holocaust, the Atlantic slave trade, the genocide perpetrated against Native Americans, America’s and South Africa’s histories as apartheid states, the internment of Japanese Americans during WW2, and Israeli apartheid all have their origins in the Western world’s bigoted and violently xenophobic cultures. These values have been an important component of the Western ethos for centuries and, as Gaza shows, still shape the perspectives of many Americans. Considering this history, it is not unfair to wonder how white people will react to having to share power as a minority, particularly since their declining numbers and power will be accompanied by significant economic upheaval.

As January 6th showed, there are already large swathes of white America who feel alienated and marginalized by the way their country is changing. As their share of the population shrinks, these feelings will only grow. That awful day may have marked the first violent coup attempt in America’s history, but it will not be the last.

Over the decades, America has trained millions of its men in the arts of subverting governments and organized violence. It has also made it easy for them to arm themselves. As the world’s preeminent merchant of death, America is flooded with weapons. There are over 400 million personal firearms floating around the country. According to the Washington Post, 20 million of them are AR15 style assault rifles. In addition to personal firearms, America is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of jet fighters, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, large caliber machine guns, rocket launchers, drones, and literally anything else needed to kill or maim human beings en masse. It features warehouses, factories, military bases, storage depots, and armories full of the tools needed to level places like Gaza. Each of its fifty states even has its own military.

Climate change will only make things worse. The increasing severity and frequency of large-scale natural disasters like wildfires, flooding, and exceptionally strong hurricanes and storms has already caused some insurance companies to abandon several particularly vulnerable states like Florida and Iowa. As the scale of these disasters grows, the costs and impact will too. The burden to rebuild and make the victims whole will ultimately fall to a federal government drowning in debt and therefore unable to adequately cope.

Predicting the exact fallout when these trends collide is obviously impossible. Nevertheless, it is possible to analyze this data, compare it to additional data from the historical record, and use this information to make logical inferences and extrapolations. A reasonable analysis of the macro-trends suggests large scale violence is a very real possibility within the next few decades and that America will soon find itself in serious trouble. Of course, “soon” is a relative term in the historical scheme of things. The Abbasid, Roman, and Ottoman Empires took centuries to fully collapse and be reborn. America seems poised to follow a similar path.  

It is certainly possible its leaders react to the collapse of the dollar by peacefully dismantling the security state they have built, thereby managing a soft landing for the end of Pax Americana. However, given the number of resources they have invested into war and death and the degree to which this has warped their minds, this is not a likely scenario. A society that empowers men like Congressman Thomas Massie, who sends holiday greeting cards showing his family armed with assault rifles, is unlikely to react rationally.

The more likely scenario is that the same people who stormed the Capitol blame this collapse on a “woke” Federal government and react by launching an insurgency that eventually grows into a civil war. They may not even wait for the dollar to collapse and could easily resort to violence if Donald Trump is imprisoned or the next time they refuse to admit they lost an election.  

These possibilities present America’s Muslims with impossible choices. Do we stay where we are not wanted and may not be safe, or do we return to the Muslim world and the hyenas and jackals who rule it?  We will not fare well in an America experiencing economic collapse and social unrest. As a visible minority that has always been viewed with hostility, we would be particularly vulnerable to violence and systemic abuse if the situation devolves into lawlessness or civil war. But for the reasons addressed in Part II, returning to our homelands is fraught with danger too. It will be up to each of us to consider our unique situations when deciding what path to take. Both are full of peril and risks.  

When making this choice, the author can only suggest that the skills and capital we have acquired during our stay in the West might be put to good use in those few Muslim countries like Turkey, Bosnia, Malaysia, or Indonesia that have more inclusive political, social, and economic systems. If we were to move to these countries in sufficient numbers, it is entirely possible we could have a positive impact like the one Crusaders returning from the Holy Land had on Europe so long ago. Their experiences in the more developed Muslim world changed their tastes and perspectives, sparking changes that eventually led to Europe’s Renaissance. There may come a day when America’s Muslims have no choice but to try and spark a similar transformation in their former homelands. Those Muslims who would prefer to avoid the anarchy and upheaval that is sure to accompany America’s looming implosion would do well to start planning for that day now.   

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What has the war in Gaza revealed about the world?

Part II: the Muslim world

This essay was first published here, by the Friday Times on July 6th, 2024.

Having discussed what truths the war in Gaza reveals about America, it is now time to consider what it has shown us about the Muslim world. Here, the lesson is simple and has been painfully obvious for a long time. The Muslim world is incredibly weak.

Not one of its 57 nations had the power to stop Israel from murdering Gaza’s defenseless people. Over 14,000 Palestinian children have died so far. Many were just babies or toddlers who were intentionally murdered in their homes as they slept because Israeli soldiers decided it was more cost effective to kill their fathers while they were asleep among their loved ones. Instead of trying to protect these children, nearly the entire Muslim world impotently watched as they were torn apart by Israeli and American bombs and missiles.

The Arab world’s reaction was particularly muted and cowardly. But the Arabs were hardly alone in standing aside while the IDF was busy massacring children. Muslim leaders across the world busied themselves issuing scathing press releases denouncing Israel’s crimes. Turkey, to its credit, even cut off trade ties. But most of them took no real action.

Those few who tried, like Iran and its allies, were immediately labeled “terrorists” and attacked. Since Oct. 7th, Israel and America have worked hard to prevent this conflict from “escalating” by bombing Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran. Hundreds have been killed and the message sent: anyone who tries to help the Palestinians will suffer.  

Aside from the Houthis and Hezbollah, the entire Muslim world has been cowed into submission. Though the willingness of Yemen’s and Lebanon’s fighters to engage Israel’s far more powerful forces is certainly commendable, the sad truth is their arsenals are inferior in every way. They do not possess air defenses that can protect them from Israel’s deadly fleet of F35s and F15s. Nor do they possess fighter aircraft that can match them. As such, they are forced to cede control of the skies to their adversaries and suffer immensely as a result.

Their supporters in Iran possess a more potent arsenal; however, it is still qualitatively inferior to Israel’s in every way. Iran has a few 3rd and 4th generation fighters it purchased from Russia and China and has even managed to keep some of its vintage American gear working. But on their best days, none of them can match the lethality of Israel’s and America’s fighters. Similarly, its air defenses would quickly be overwhelmed by a determined Western led bombing campaign. Perhaps most consequential of all, Iran is highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks that could disable large chunks of its infrastructure in the event of a war.

Iran and its proxies suffer from the same weakness as every other Muslim nation. They cannot build the same sort of advanced weapons as their adversaries. Their economies and industrial bases are too backwards and underdeveloped. Many, like Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey have worked hard to close the gap in manufacturing and technological abilities. None have fully succeeded.

Iran has come a long way since the days it was forced to use human wave tactics to defend itself against Iraq’s forces. It has built an industrial base that can supply its military with moderately capable weapons like ballistic missiles and drones; however, its technological and manufacturing capabilities are still primitive in many ways. This has prevented it from building aircraft or air defense systems that can protect it. Even its vaunted drones are built from mostly imported parts. Its economy suffers from numerous structural defects, some imposed by the West, most self-inflicted and related to its corrupt and repressive government.  

Pakistan, as a nuclear power, is considered to have the most powerful military in the Muslim world but lacks the means to project power far beyond its borders. Its economy is hopelessly inefficient and most of its “factories” are used to assemble imported parts rather than build goods they can sell to the world. As a result, Pakistan developed neo-colonial relationships with America and then China to supply it with the arms it cannot build itself. Its forces still use several American made weapons, like the F16 fighter jet. Since Pakistan is dependent on America for the spare parts needed to maintain these aircraft, it could never take a strong stance against Israel for fear of being cut off from them. In fact, it is so wary of angering America it cannot even build a gas pipeline with Iran without first asking for permission.

Turkey is also one of the Muslim world’s most powerful states. It has a well-developed manufacturing base and a strong military. However, it must still import its most advanced weapons like the S-400 air defense system it purchased from Russia or the F35 fighters it was supposed to buy from America before being cut off due to the S-400 purchase. Despite years of trying, Turkey has been unable to build a jet with capabilities like the F35. Due to these constraints and the fact that many of its weapons require spare parts imported or licensed from America, Turkey also suffers from critical vulnerabilities that prevent it from meaningfully helping the Palestinians.

In addition to suffering from similar industrial and technological deficiencies, the conventional military forces of the Arab world are incompetent on the battlefield. Saudi Arabia, for example, is the fifth largest military spender in the world and possesses an array of deadly American weapons. Despite spending hundreds of billions to arm itself, the Saudi military is useless. It is entirely dependent on American and Pakistani mercenaries to function on a day-to-day basis and its officers have proven incapable of properly using their sophisticated American weaponry.

Saudi Arabia is, in many ways, representative of the rest of the Arab world, which has become a bastion of incompetence, cowardice, repression and regressive thought. Arab leaders, particularly those in the Gulf, are an anchor keeping the Muslim world stuck in place while slowly pulling it under the waves. Though some have implemented superficial social reforms, none have embraced the sort of political changes that could truly free their people. Instead, those who rule the Gulf have worked hard to destroy any trace of democracy in the region as evidenced by the significant roles they played in the coups that toppled Egypt’s and Tunisia’s democratic governments and even Sudan’s recent descent into civil war.  

Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia are some of the most powerful Muslim nations and yet each suffers from similar weaknesses, to varying degrees, that have prevented them from developing the industrial and technological capabilities needed to build militaries that are not dependent on outside powers for support. Aside from Saudi Arabia, they have managed to build decent military industrial complexes capable of producing heavy weapons like tanks and artillery, but they are still incapable of building the most advanced weapons they need. For example, outside of Malaysia, no Muslim nations have the foundries needed to make the weapon most vital for modern warfare: microchips. Due to their technical deficiencies, Muslim societies are still hopelessly outgunned by the Western and Russian armies that have been invading them and massacring their people for centuries. As a result, they simply do not have the power to protect Gaza’s children. Which raises the question of why. Why have Muslims been so weak, for so long?

Like America, the Muslim world’s dysfunction can be traced to its relationship with the truth. In the Muslim world, the truth is forbidden. The tyrants who have ruled it for centuries refuse to allow their people to speak their minds about anything that might threaten their power, under penalty of death or jail. Even democratic Turkey features a stifling intellectual climate in which saying or tweeting something critical of its leaders can lead to jail time. By suppressing the truth, Muslim leaders have crippled the ability of their societies to evolve or have honest conversations about complicated issues.  A society that forbids people from expressing themselves will always be weak because it will always be ruled by dictators who rely on force instead of persuasion to sustain their power. When a society is ruled through force, its leaders’ only preoccupation will be doing whatever it takes to hold onto their power and the privileges and impunity that comes with it. As the Muslim world shows, this is the path to weakness, servitude, and slaughter.  

Muslims have been ruled by dictators for so long, they have lost sight of some fundamental truths. The first and most obvious: they will remain weak until they build governments designed to empower and educate their people, not oppress and control them. To do so, they must establish democratic and inclusive political systems based on the rule of law that guarantee freedom of expression. That is the surest path to nurturing the economic and technological development needed to build powerful militaries.

Inexplicably, some Muslims have argued democracy is not compatible with Islamic values. Scholars working for Iran’s Qajar dynasty went so far as to proclaim monarchies are the only type of government sanctioned by Islamic law. However, as discussed in more detail here, even an elementary understanding of Islamic history shows hereditary monarchies, like the one that rules Saudi Arabia today, are patently un-Islamic and that democracy is the only form of governance consistent with Islamic values.

The early Islamic period is referred to as the Rashidun era and corresponds to the reigns of the first four Caliphs to rule the Islamic world. Many Muslims believe the precedents established during this period represent the ideal towards which they should aspire, and that contemporary governments should be modeled after their example. Groups such as ISIS have even waged war to try and re-establish their own version of the Caliphate, while the Taliban claim to model their government after it. But they do not understand the defining characteristics of the government they idealize or the lessons they should learn from its example.

Though some of the details surrounding the appointment of the Rashidun are unclear, certain facts are not in dispute. Not one of Islam’s first four Caliphs used violence or the threat of violence to secure their reigns. They were chosen by building a consensus through dialogue between members of the community, including its women. Not one of them tried to pass power onto their son either. Instead, each left the choice of successor to the community or engaged it in the selection process when circumstances allowed.

The Caliphate may not have been a democratic system by modern standards, but it was a far cry from the dictatorships that dominate the Muslim world today. Caliphs were chosen after getting input from the community in Medina and they ruled by engaging with this same community to get its opinion regarding policy debates.

The only real question is how to apply these principles to modern-day realities considering the vast cultural, technological, and demographic changes that have taken place over the past fourteen centuries. The Muslim world is no longer comprised of a small elite ruling over masses of non-Muslims in distant lands. Instead, it has been separated into independent nations like Turkey and Iran populated by millions. Pakistan has over 240 million people, 97% of whom are Muslim but separated through myriad linguistic, ethnic, regional, and doctrinal differences. Engaging in dialogue or achieving consensus is a lot harder today than it was in the much smaller and homogenous community of Medina.

Groups like ISIS, the Taliban, and their friends in the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) believe the answer is simple: nothing changes. Not only do they believe nothing changes, but they have violently tried to stop their societies from making some necessary changes. They even blame the changes various Muslim societies tried to make for Europe’s conquest of the Muslim world, which is a laughable and completely insane argument that highlights the irrational nature of their ideas. It was the Muslim world’s inability to change that led to its conquest. And its continuing refusal to do so makes it incredibly weak today.

Despite the incoherence of these literalists, it should be obvious that it is the broad values and ideals of this era that must guide Muslims, not the minutiae of how they were implemented. The only practical way to emulate the values of the Rashidun era today, given the much larger populations and advances in communications technology, is to create democratic systems that give citizens the ability to choose their rulers and freely voice their opinions.

Muslims have bathed themselves in conservative ideologies that deny simple truths for too long. As a political philosophy, conservatism makes no sense because it is opposed to one of the most basic natural laws. As humans learn through the simple process of aging, change is an intrinsic part of life. Philosophies that deny this truth are incapable of forming coherent or moral ideologies because they are inherently illogical and, as a result, must resort to authoritarian methods to maintain power. Hence, the violent oppression instigated by men using religion and tradition as an excuse to stop their societies from evolving.

This religious repression is based on the political absurdities created by the dictators who have taken over the region. Enforcing religious orthodoxy goes hand in hand with suppressing political speech. The two reinforce each other and help to buttress the region’s dictators who have spent centuries obscuring the fact that the ideal Islamic government is, and always has been, a democratic one based on consent rather than force. Until Muslims accept these truths, they will remain too weak to prevent massacres like the one consuming Gaza. 

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What has the war in Gaza revealed about the world?

Part I: America

This essay was first published here, by the Friday Times on July 03, 2024.

Wars have a habit of revealing ugly truths about the world. The war in Gaza has been no different. This discussion will focus on what this war teaches us about America, the Muslim world, Muslims in America, and the “rules” based international system. Accordingly, it has been divided into four parts.

Since October 7th, the Israeli military has been on a rampage. It has killed at least 37,746 people, an estimated 70% of whom were civilians. Another 84,942 have been wounded while 20,000 Palestinian children have been made into orphans. Apartment buildings full of women and children have been crushed under the weight of 2,000-pound bombs, turning entire neighborhoods to dust and rubble. Mass graves dot much of the terrain, which consists of a hellish landscape of shelled out buildings. In short, Gaza has been turned into a wasteland.

This carnage is the result of the synergy between Israeli ingenuity and America’s military industrial complex. Armed with the deadliest weapons America has to offer, as well as its own locally made arms, Israel fields one of the most lethal, technologically advanced militaries in the world. Its arsenal contains state-of-the-art drones, strike fighters, artillery, and tanks. It also has cutting edge electronic warfare and signals intelligence capabilities, which are powered by the latest artificial intelligence software.

This software has been used to generate “kill lists” of over 37,000 targets for Israeli forces to attack even though it has a ten percent margin of error. This is merely consistent with the Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF) rules of engagement which allow it to kill 20 civilians for every low-level Hamas fighter or 100 for a high-level official. Due to this software and its lax rules of engagement, the IDF has launched thousands of attacks using American made weapons knowing with absolute certainty they would kill innocent women and children.

America’s leaders, who often claim to stand for a universal concept of human rights and an international system in which civilians are protected during times of war have not been silent. No, they have seen these crimes and spoken loudly in support of them. Nearly the entire spectrum of America’s political elite, from its right-wing blowhards like Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton to its supposed progressives like President Biden and Richie Torres, have gone out of their way to justify and express their unequivocal support for Israel as it engages in the mass murder of tens of thousands of civilians. They have also worked hard to secure billions in funding and a steady flow of munitions to make sure it can keep the slaughter going.

When news of fresh crimes, like mass graves full of people with their hands tied behind their backs leaks out, they deny and deflect. When videos of Israeli snipers shooting an elderly grandmother or unarmed men waving a white flag emerge, they pretend not to see them. They remind us that the glaring evidence of these crimes comes from the Hamas run health ministry of Gaza and hope we will ignore the truth staring us in the face.

We are taught to question information received from Palestinians as inherently untrustworthy. But we must always believe Israel’s government. Never mind that it is run by Kahanists like Ben Gvir, who was convicted of terrorism, and Bezalel Smotrich, who believes Israeli Arabs should live under a set of “differentiated rights.” When this extremist government releases casualty figures claiming to have killed 12,000 Hamas fighters, we must take it as fact while ignoring that this number represents every adult male killed in Gaza. Instead of expressing outrage at the absurd premise that all Palestinian men are in Hamas, America’s leaders suspend logic for the sake of their allies.

But their greatest lie is describing Israel as a healthy, vibrant democracy when it is clearly an apartheid state by virtue of the different set of laws governing Palestinians and Jews in the West Bank and its de facto annexation of this territory. Western and Israeli human rights organizations like Amnesty InternationalHuman Rights Watch, and B’Tselem have all described it as such. Even the former head of Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, finally admitted it. But America’s leaders cannot.

On a superficial level, their deceit stems from self-interest and their complicity in Israel’s crimes. To admit the truth would be to indict themselves. Aside from being complicit in the massacre committed these past eight months, they have provided $260 billion to fund and arm Israel over the decades. Without this support, the brutal military occupation and violence it has inflicted on the Palestinians would not have been possible. Admitting Israel is an apartheid state would be tantamount to admitting America supports a nation that is closer to Nazi Germany on the ideological spectrum, thus its leaders simply refuse to do so.

The inability of America’s leaders to be honest about Israel and its brutal war in Gaza shows that in America, the truth does not matter. It can be dispensed with when it does not match the preferred narrative no matter how much contradictory evidence gets live streamed to our phones by the brave Palestinian journalists Israel has been doing its best to murder. The truth has become a matter of perspective, not fact. It is a commodity that can be shaped to suit the preferences of consumers. Fox News for some, MSNBC for others.

Part of the reason America’s leaders lie so shamelessly is that they are never held to account by the “watchdog” media meant to act as a check on their power. In America, the media is part of the establishment and most journalists are little better than tribal propagandists cheering for their side as they demonize their adversaries and refuse to examine facts critically or impartially. Given the degree to which America’s media and leaders work together to suppress the truth, it is not surprising that TikTok, as one of the few sources of information they cannot control or twist, was banned with such overwhelming bipartisan support. As Sen. Mitt Romney explained with such refreshing honesty, this ban has far more to do with “widespread Palestinian advocacy on the app” than national security.

In their hubris and arrogance, America’s leaders ignore the obvious: those who are not guided by the truth are blind. They can neither see nor logically process simple facts. As it has buried itself in lies and contradictions, America has stopped making sense. The world’s supposed “arsenal of democracy” sells weapons to brutal dictators all over the world. Its leaders talk about freedom and democracy to justify invading other countries. Treasonous, orange buffoons rule the day. By refusing to embrace the truth, America is sowing the seeds for its own demise.  

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Rather than help Gaza, Iran and Pakistan prefer to attack each other

This essay was first published here, by the Friday Times on Jan. 23, 2024.

Israel’s rampage through Gaza has left an unprecedented swath of destruction in its wake. Its military has now murdered at least 24,762 Palestinians, including 9,600 children. 85% of Gaza’s people have been displaced while a third of its buildings have been destroyed, leaving roughly half a million Palestinians homeless. Due to this destruction and Israel’s continuing blockade, 576,000 Gazans face the very real prospect of starving to death this winter. In the words of one analyst, Israel is waging a war of “extermination” against the Palestinians, one its leaders have promised to continue without mercy or reprieve regardless of the international outcry.

It was obvious at the outset of this war that the Muslim world is too weak to help the Palestinians and would therefore be forced to impotently watch this massacre unfold. The recent hostilities between Pakistan and Iran show exactly why. In fact, it is hard to conceive of a better example to illustrate the dysfunction that has gripped Muslim societies for centuries. Instead of working together to stop Israel’s brutal assault, these two Muslim nations reacted to its outrages by attacking each other.  

Iran’s decision to attack Pakistan had little to do with animosity towards its neighbor and everything to do with the war in Gaza and its long confrontation with America and the West. It has been locked in conflict with the Western alliance since its religious elite deposed the Shah and took power in 1979. Since that time, it has adopted an anti-imperial agenda predicated on challenging Western domination of the Muslim world. To that end, its leaders have invested in improving their technological abilities so they can design and build the weapons needed to protect themselves. They have also provided money, training, weapons and diplomatic support to the Palestinians as well as like-minded allies throughout the region. As a result, Iran is the only Muslim nation to openly defy the West.

For these crimes, it has been forced to endure brutal economic sanctions, its government officials are routinely assassinated, and even the ceremonies commemorating these fallen leaders are subject to attack. The Western bloc has also used its coercive powers to prevent other Muslim states from developing close relations with it, which is why it has been forced to develop alliances with mostly non-state actors.

Given these dynamics, Iran’s desire to defend itself is understandable. Its decision to target other Muslim nations is not. Iran’s volley was part of a three-pronged attack that also targeted Iraq and Syria. These targets and the means used to attack them were intended to deter Israel by showing off its robust missile capabilities. While its attacks certainly showed what its missiles are capable of, they are best viewed as an admission that, despite having ample justification, Iran does not possess the power to directly attack its enemies. Iran’s leaders were forced to vent their frustrations on their Muslim neighbors precisely because they knew an attack on Israeli or American targets would lead to a violent and unpredictable reprisal.

This episode also shows that talk of an axis of resistance is mostly bluster. Israel and America are happy to exaggerate the threat posed by Iran and its allies since it provides a convenient excuse for their aggressive policies. But despite their tough talk and impressive arsenal of rockets and missiles, they were powerless to stop the massacre in Gaza. Hezbollah and the Houthis have done their best to dissuade Israel from its current course, but their efforts have done little to lower the body count. Neither Iran nor its allies have been willing to fully commit to the fight because they do not have the means to protect themselves from the combined might of Israel and its Western backers. Thus, they have been unwilling to escalate their attacks beyond a limited threshold.

Iran’s leaders deserve praise for their willingness to stand up to the genocidal policies and racist hypocrisy of the West, but they also deserve a great deal of criticism. Their inability to effectively help the Palestinians is rooted in the authoritarian political system they have built to oppress their people. As explained previously, democratic systems are the best at allowing a nation to develop the technological and economic abilities needed to build powerful militaries in the modern age. By refusing to acknowledge this obvious truth, Iran has been fighting America and Israel with one hand tied behind its back. The ease with which Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency operates inside Iran and the massive protests that have rocked it since 2009 are the natural result of this oppression. One does not need to be Sun Tzu to realize that alienating your own people while locked in a confrontation with foes as powerful and ruthless as America and Israel is not a smart strategy. But that is the path its rulers have chosen.

Iran’s leaders have clearly made mistakes in their quest to help the Palestinians, but at least they are doing something. The same cannot be said for the rest of the Muslim world. The leaders of Pakistan and Turkey, for example, have repeatedly expressed their outrage at Israel’s atrocities but taken no actions to stop them. Despite possessing stronger militaries than Iran’s in many ways, both are fundamentally more constrained in their freedom of action because of their dependence on America for some of their most advanced weapons and their desire to remain part of an international trading system that runs on the US dollar. Neither can defy America’s wishes out of fear it may cut off their supply of weapons or torpedo their economies with the same sort of sanctions it has levied against Iran.

Based on these factors and their unwillingness to upset their Arab patrons, Pakistan’s leaders have refused to build closer relations with Iran. As usual, they are prioritizing short-term needs while ignoring the bigger picture. America’s history of violence in the Muslim world, its unequivocal support for apartheid Israel and its growing relationship with India’s extremist government show it is a threat to Muslims everywhere. This threat will only grow during the next few decades.

America’s political system is broken but its leaders are too busy printing money to pay for their massive military to notice. This has led to $34 trillion in sovereign debt. The interest payments required to service this debt are growing by the day. It spent $659 billion on interest payments this past year and this figure is expected to grow to $2 trillion by the end of the decade. When the financial house of cards America built to pay for its imperial ambitions finally implodes, the dollar will be worthless. Those nations that have tied their economies and currencies to it will find themselves impoverished and their central banks filled with piles of worthless green paper. The sooner Muslims build an economic system that is no longer ruled by the dollar, the better off they will be.

The simple truth is that Pakistan and Iran need each other. Both will need to protect themselves from the chaos that is sure to accompany America’s decline. Both have a moral obligation to help the Palestinians, and of course, there is the need to secure the sparsely populated and lawless border areas that sparked this controversy. These have often been used as a base for those opposed to being ruled by elites in Tehran or Islamabad. It is in the interest of both nations to secure this area. The most logical way to do that is to work together. Instead of using missiles or airstrikes, the camps that prompted these attacks should have been destroyed via a joint operation involving troops from both militaries. The fact that these neighbors have not developed the means to conduct such operations is an indictment of both their leaders. This entire fiasco could have served as the perfect springboard to further enhance Pakistan’s and Iran’s ability to cooperate with each other. Instead, it proved why Gaza has been forced to suffer on its own and why Muslims have been so weak for so long.  

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Why I hate talking about Israel and Palestine

This essay was first published here, by the Friday Times on Dec. 30, 2023.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not terribly complicated. The difficulty in talking about this subject has nothing to do with its complexities and everything to do with the racism and gaslighting that dominates the conversation. Those who express pro-Palestinian sentiments are accused of being antisemiticterrorist sympathizers, or Hamas apologists and face the very real prospect of losing their jobs or being expelled from their schools. Just last week, an Arab-American teacher in Florida was fired from her job while her son was expelled from school on the basis that her comments on social media highlighting the staggering number of women and children murdered by Israel’s military were “hateful and incendiary.” To be clear, she did not praise Hamas or try to rationalize its violence. Her only crime was speaking out against a massacre.

The vitriol directed towards those advocating on behalf of Palestinians is enough, by itself, to prevent reasoned debate or silence those who would speak for Gaza’s children. But when the blatant gaslighting that has always surrounded this topic is added to the mix, things that should be easy, like agreeing on basic facts become impossible. For example, despite an abundance of clear and overwhelming evidence, many Americans refuse to admit Israel is an apartheid state. Instead, they ignore or castigate the conclusions of human rights organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B’tselem that have all described it as one. Even the former head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, Tamir Pardo, was vilified then ignored for finally admitting the truth.

Many Americans, like David Ignatius, seem incapable of even using the word apartheid. Mr. Ignatius recently wrote a lengthy article chronicling what he described as “a pattern of Israeli domination and occasional abuse that makes daily life a humiliation for many Palestinians.” He discussed a laundry list of systemic and institutionalized practices, like the different colored license plates issued to Jewish settlers in the West Bank that allow them to bypass the IDF’s numerous checkpoints and the impunity with which they can attack Palestinians or destroy their property. Curiously, he never once used the word apartheid to describe these policies. Like many American pundits, Mr. Ignatius knows admitting the obvious truth that Israel is an apartheid state would fundamentally change the nature of this debate by making their support for it morally indefensible. Thus, most refuse to do so even when the ugly reality is staring them in the face.  

Unfortunately for its supporters, no amount of willful ignorance can obscure that Israel is, in fact, an apartheid state. The best way to show how is to start by defining the term. Apartheid was originally used to describe South Africa’s political system, which institutionalized the segregation of blacks and whites while violently discriminating against and marginalizing the black majority. It has since evolved into a shorthand way of describing any political system designed to disenfranchise or marginalize people based on their religion, race, or ethnicity. Based on this definition, America during the Jim Crow era was also an apartheid state. That segregation was officially limited to the south, affording African Americans in the north slightly more rights, does not change this fact. Similarly, the greater freedoms granted Arabs living in Israel Proper versus those in the West Bank does not absolve Israel of its guilt.

As Mr. Ignatius’ piece so poignantly illustrates, Israel is the governing authority in the West Bank in all but name. It has been since 1967. Its 56-year occupation and creeping colonization of this territory, and the different set of rules governing Jews and Arabs within it, has turned it into an apartheid state. Which means, by definition, Israel cannot be a democracy since it is impossible to be one while simultaneously maintaining a violent military occupation designed to subjugate and disenfranchise millions of people based on their ethnicity. It should be obvious that being a democracy and military occupier are mutually exclusive but the degree of gaslighting infused into this conversation prevents many Americans from admitting this self-evident truth. Instead, America’s leaders prefer to pretend the two-state solution is still viable and Israel has not already annexed the West Bank. This allows them to mask their guilt by talking about non-existent political processes rather than substantively addressing the oppression of the Palestinians.

When people will not even admit to basic facts, it becomes impossible to discuss more complicated issues, like whether Israel’s military is intentionally murdering civilians. Here, the fog of war makes knowing all the facts impossible. However, a pattern has begun to emerge that deserves greater scrutiny. Since the start of this war, Israel’s forces have murdered three hostages waving white flags as they tried to surrender who were clearly mis-identified as Palestinians, a good samaritan who intervened to stop a terrorist attack as he was kneeling and raising his hands who was also mistaken for an Arab, a mother and daughter sheltering in a church, a poet whose greatest offense appears to be sending insensitive tweets about the country bombing his home, 42 members of a single family as they huddled together in their home, an adorable three year old child named Reem, and an unprecedented number of journalists. In total, the IDF has slaughtered over 20,000 people. 70% of whom were women or children like Reem.

There have also been numerous videos showing IDF troops acting abhorrently as they desecrate places of worship, loot shops, or wantonly destroy property. One even showed them attacking an unarmed man, who was not being violent in any way. The sheer number of egregious incidents point to a pattern of abuse that makes recent reports of Israeli forces summarily executing unarmed civilians depressingly credible. Taken together, these examples suggest Israel’s soldiers are acting with the blessings, either implicit or explicit, of their superiors as they maliciously and intentionally murder civilians. The only other plausible explanations are that the IDF is suffering from systemic and widespread discipline issues, or its troops are incompetent and, as a result, keep accidentally attacking and killing civilians. Given its widely acknowledged reputation as a well-trained force, these seem highly unlikely.

Rather than have a difficult conversation about these crimes and America’s role in enabling them, we are confronted with more gaslighting and racism. In America, people like Florida state rep. Michelle Salzman who suggested the IDF should kill “all” Palestinians or Congressman Brian Mast who refused to distinguish between Hamas and Palestinian civilians shield Israel from criticism by shaping the debate to blame and dehumanize the victims. Absurd comparisons to the Nazis are made, past atrocities like dropping atomic bombs on cities full of emaciated women and children are cited as justification, and no one bats an eye.

Many even argue Hamas is solely to blame for Gaza’s dead. Under this line of reasoning, the men pulling the triggers or dropping the bombs bear no responsibility whatsoever for their actions. Hamas, as the catalyst, must shoulder it all. An interesting argument that would probably appeal to Hamas’ leaders more than anyone else since they could easily point to the obscene number of Palestinian children Israel has murdered over the years as justification for their crimes. Of course, holding Hamas and Israel to the same standards would make me a “terrorist sympathizer,” so I’ll segue to the conclusion instead.

Having an honest and logical conversation about Israel and Palestine is nearly impossible in America. The discussion is usually driven by overt racism and hypocritical, nonsensical arguments. Which is why I hate broaching the subject. Given its own ugly history as an apartheid state, America’s current support for Israeli apartheid is that much more repugnant and inexcusable. The degree to which the white majority bullies, disparages, or ignores people of color when we speak out against these injustices shows America has yet to fully exorcise its racist demons. Nevertheless, I have no choice but to speak up when children are being murdered by the thousands. I can only hope that justice might some day prevail, that America might someday evolve. I will certainly do my best to help it along by challenging the bigoted and silly arguments that have always surrounded this topic.

In the interim, Muslims must consider America’s entrenched Islamophobia and its inability to have a rational discussion about its violent policies in reference to its massive $886 billion military budget, its sale of extremely powerful weapons to countries like Israel and India, and its habit of attacking or invading Muslim nations. Combined, these data points show America is a threat to not just the Palestinians, but the entire Muslim world.

The danger will remain until Muslims develop the strength to protect themselves by implementing deep rooted reforms to create democratic governments based on the rule of law that empower their people by educating them and guaranteeing freedom of expression, religion, and association. That is the only way to stimulate the sort of socio-economic and technological development that can lead to improved military capabilities. Until Muslims free themselves from the tyrants and clerics who have ruled them for centuries, they will continue to fall victim to massacres like the one happening in Gaza right now.

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Why Iran’s proposed alliance with China will be bad for Iran

It has recently come to light that Iran and China are negotiating a sweeping new agreement to integrate their economies. Though details are scarce, the agreement will likely be similar to the CPEC agreement between China and Pakistan in that it will fund infrastructure meant to integrate Iran into China’s economic orbit. Entering into such an agreement will alleviate Iran’s short-term economic issues but at a serious cost to its long-term strength and independence. Iran is making the same mistake as every other Muslim nation that enters into unequal bi-lateral arrangements with more powerful nations. The power disparity inherent in these relationships creates unequal alliances that puts the weaker party at a significant disadvantage. This results in economic development that decidedly favors the stronger party such as deals to extract oil on terms that are extremely favorable to it. The elites of the Muslim world are happy to enter such arrangements because they benefit from the corruption and bribes used to cement these deals.

If the conservative faction currently running Iran’s government gives in to the temptation to enter into such an agreement, they will be confirming themselves in the same sort of dictatorship that has governed the Muslim world for far too long. Instead of compromising with the progressive elements within their society in order to develop political and economic institutions that can allow Iran to develop its economic resources in a manner that prioritizes the needs of its people, its leaders will skew its development by prioritizing China’s needs. And they will do so in the sort of corrupt manner that will incentivize them to continue using violence and repression to maintain their control of Iran’s government.

Not only would such actions entrench Iran’s dictatorship, they would also prove that Iran’s rulers have no interest in preserving Islamic values or leadership. The Chinese government is actively murdering its Muslim Uighur population in a genocidal campaign designed to facilitate the colonization of Western China by Han Chinese. They have created camps full of innocent Muslim women and children and are in the process of slowly murdering and sterilizing them. Humanity has stood by and done nothing so perhaps it is unfair to blame Muslims for not caring either, but one would think that a country that claims to care so deeply about the Muslims of Palestine would be just as concerned for the well-being of China’s Muslims. The fact that Iran’s conservative faction is likely pushing for the deal is even more galling since they claim to care the most about Muslims and use these claims to justify their usurpation of power. No Muslim should be doing business with China until it has freed every single Uighur from these camps. But those Muslim countries that claim to care about the plight of oppressed Muslims as part of their official government policies should be particularly ashamed.

Muslims do not criticize China out of fear. This fear is rooted in our weakness and this weakness is primarily rooted in our divisions and dysfunctional political institutions. China can easily deal with just one Muslim nation speaking out and since Muslim governments do not work together, they only ever speak as individual nations. Organizations like the Arab League that claim to represent Islamic unity are just vehicles used to create the illusion of unity without any of the substance. But if Muslims finally stood together China would have to take notice. It is only when Muslims learn to stand together that we will be able to stop such atrocities and our strength would be such that we would not even have to resort to violence. If Muslims were united, a conversation would suffice. Instead of turning to a nation that is engaged in the ethnic cleansing of other Muslims to protect itself from the US and Israel, Iran should look to its brothers in Pakistan, Turkey, and Afghanistan for help. And its brothers in Pakistan, Turkey, and Afghanistan should be ashamed that they have not more vehemently offered their help. If these four countries were united as brothers, a conversation would have also put the troubles between Israel and Iran to bed. Instead of working together, Muslim leaders continue to allow themselves to be divided and conquered. The only way to rebuild the bonds of brotherhood that once kept Muslims united is to rebuild the networks of trade, social, and cultural exchange that once turned the Muslim world into a common cultural and economic zone. Rather than negotiating a massive investment deal with China, Iran should be discussing a similar agreement with Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to link their infrastructures and develop the ties that can bind these nations together.

The most efficient way to accomplish this would be by strengthening the rule of law in each country by zealously fighting corruption. This would allow the political institutions of these nations to work together in a transparent manner to help each other prosper through trade. The creation of inclusive political institutions like those that led to the development of the EU would be vital to efforts to integrate Muslim nations as well. Sadly, most Muslim nations are run by governments that will not allow such links or reforms to develop. They prevent these reforms because they are governed by dictators who only care about preserving their power so they can steal as much money as possible. Their greed and shortsighted obsession with control has blinded them to what real power is. The rulers of the Muslim world import luxury cars from Europe and parade around pretending to be royal when they are just thieves. The only difference between a common thief and these rulers is that they have stolen so much money that they were able to buy themselves titles. Instead of working for the betterment of their people and faith, these rulers resort to violence and oppression to maintain their power. The great powers of the world help them stay in power out of a combination of greed and fear of what Muslims would do if they were ever freed from the shackles of dictatorship. Policies rooted in fear and greed can only ever lead to chaos and destruction and that is exactly what has consumed the Muslim world.

If Muslims ever hope to revitalize ourselves, we will need to begin looking inward by examining the cultural and social factors that have led to the current state of affairs. Ultimately, the oppressive governments of the Muslim world are a reflection of its people. In order to correct the issues of governance that have plagued the Muslim world, its people must engage in an intellectually honest debate regarding how best to correct the deep-rooted issues in Islamic societies that have prevented the development of vibrant and effective political and economic institutions. The current authoritarian governments in the Muslim world have prevented this much needed debate from happening and must be significantly reformed before an intellectually honest environment can be created. Until that happens, we will continue to see leaders like those in Iran who sell their souls for power and money. Although the need for reform has been clear for centuries, the absence of an intellectual environment conducive to honest and unfiltered debate has prevented Muslims from correctly analyzing the root causes of our weakness. Out of pride, we refuse to admit that we are a conquered people. We have been so thoroughly thrashed by the West in the ancient conflict between our two civilizations that we do not even think about picking ourselves up from off the floor to rebuild our societies. Since most Muslims cannot even admit defeat, it has been impossible to convince them of the need to implement reforms meant to reverse this defeat. Without serious reforms, our subjugation will never end, and we will continue to see atrocities such as those being perpetrated against China’s Muslim population.

Rather than enter into an agreement with China that will likely use Chinese firms and technical expertise to build its infrastructure, Iran should enter into agreements with its Muslim neighbors designed to improve their technical abilities and economic foundations. Using Iranian, Pakistani, Turkish, and Afghan companies to plan, design, and build the infrastructure that will be necessary to integrate their economies will allow these nations to truly modernize. Instead of importing the machinery needed to exploit its mineral resources from China, Iran should work with Muslim allies to create a free trade zone with each other in which local firms are incentivized to build the equipment and infrastructure needed to modernize. Utilizing local companies would allow investments in infrastructure to benefit the local economy while simultaneously improving the technical skills of their people. Until Muslim nations develop the capacity to build high quality machine tools, construction and mining equipment, fiber optic relays, automobiles, electronics and computer hardware and software, etc., they will always be impoverished. Rather than allow China to import its unprocessed natural resources for its own industrial needs, Iran should build an industrial infrastructure that can turn its natural resources into finished goods, and it should work with Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to accomplish this goal. Though this path is considerably more difficult, it would lead to real and sustained economic and technological development for all four nations. Iran’s potential deal with China is unlikely to lead to the development of these capabilities. Instead, it will probably follow the same path as Pakistan which has used Chinese loans to hire Chinese firms and buy Chinese equipment to build infrastructure China needs without improving its indigenous capabilities.

The economic policies suggested above will not work until Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan build the political and educational institutions to implement and support them and this process will also be extremely difficult. Since the time of the Ottoman Empire, Muslims have consistently relied on foreign capital and technical expertise to build modern infrastructure in their quest to develop industrial economies. In every instance this has led to economic dependence and conquest. While building modern roads and infrastructure are vital for economic development, they are not the most important aspects of modernization. True modernization cannot happen without political and socio-economic reforms meant to empower and educate the masses. The reason most Muslim governments have been so bad at modernizing themselves is because they refuse to share political power with their people. Most of their reforms have only addressed the superficial symbols of modernity while ignoring the foundations upon which such reforms should be based. They have done this because their primary focus is retaining power. Only those reforms that do not threaten their power have been allowed and these have not been enough. Also, using foreign capital removes the need to improve their governing institutions and capacity to generate the tax revenue necessary to finance economic development locally. Again, they have chosen this path because, as counterintuitive as it may seem, improving their governing institutions such as their law enforcement agencies, tax collection agencies, or courts would threaten their power which is based on subverting these institutions in order to maintain their rule. Muslim rulers do not want functioning courts or administrative agencies because they are afraid these bodies may serve as a check on their power. Without the important government services these agencies are supposed to provide, the economic growth the Muslim world so desperately needs will never happen and its people will remain trapped in the same cycle of poverty and disenfranchisement that has ensnared them for centuries.

If Muslim rulers continue on their current trajectories, they will doom their people to slavery, and they will doom themselves to rebellion and weakness. Instead of suffering the fate of the Romanov or Pahlavi dynasties, Muslim rulers must embrace the path of Japan’s feudal rulers who prioritized the well-being of their people and power of their civilization by giving up much of their own power to oversee Japan’s transition to modernity. Muslims must create the democratic political institutions necessary to oversee such change and invest in educational, economic and scientific development if they ever hope to end their subservience to outsiders. As an astute, though cynical, man once noted, rulers that come to power by betraying their fellow citizens through treachery and murder may achieve power, but they will never achieve glory[1]. It is time for the rulers of the Muslim world to start thinking about the glory of their people and civilization rather than just chasing power. 


[1] Machiavelli, Niccolo, The Prince, trans. by George Bull. London: Penguin Books, 1961 at pg. 27.

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