NP - The Real Problem Over There

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/02/international/middleeast/02ARAB.html

Study Warns of Stagnation in Arab Societies
By BARBARA CROSSETTE

blunt new report by Arab intellectuals commissioned by the United Nations=
=20
warns that Arab societies are being crippled by a lack of political freed=
om,=20
the repression of women and an isolation from the world of ideas that=20
stifles creativity.

The survey, the Arab Human Development Report 2002, will be released toda=
y=20
in Cairo.

The report notes that while oil income has transformed the landscapes of=20
some Arab countries, the region remains "richer than it is developed." Pe=
r=20
capita income growth has shrunk in the last 20 years to a level just abov=
e=20
that of sub-Saharan Africa. Productivity is declining. Research and=20
development are weak or nonexistent. Science and technology are dormant.

Intellectuals flee a stultifying =97 if not repressive =97 political and =
social=20
environment, it says.





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