Big is not necessarily powerful, as is shown in the Russo-Japanese War (10 February 1904 - 5 September 1905), perhaps the only blow for freedom that Japan ever struck in world history, contributing to the decline of autocracy and populace's discontent that led to the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. :->
Big, however, tends to be powerful because it is economical, as the history of the USA* shows, and as the Chinese, the Russians, and the Europeans realize (though very grudgingly in the case of the Europeans). So do the Venezuelans, though animated by an alternative vision.
Arabs and Muslims ought to understand that, too. The Third of March is a fateful day in the history of the overlapping Arab and Islamic worlds.
3 March 1924: the Turks depose Abdul Mejid II and abolish the Caliphate 3 March 1938: the Americans discover oil in Saudi Arabia**
Ever since then, the Arab and Islamic worlds went downhill. :->
The task of peoples in the Middle East is not just to end the occupations of Palestinian lands, Afghanistan, and Iraq, but also to depose the Gulf royalty, make Israel a "bilingual and multicultural state," integrate the region politically and economically, and educate their populaces at least to the level of the Iranians. Only then can they reclaim and surpass their former eminence.
* My beloved Islamic Republic is only "slightly smaller than Alaska," though Alaska is bigger than most maps lead you to imagine -- see "a map showing Alaska's real relative size," i.e., relative to the rest of the mainland USA, at <http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/02/15/080243.php>.
** <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1004498,00.html> March 3, 1938 Monday, Mar. 31, 2003 By ADAM ZAGORIN
The King of Saudi Arabia, Abd-Al-Aziz ibn Saud, had authorized a team of American engineers to explore the trackless desert bordering the Persian Gulf, an arid landscape marked only by the occasional palm-fringed oasis. He hoped they would find water. A tribal leader with precarious finances, Ibn Saud believed the Americans might discover places where he could refresh his warriors' horses and camels. But the team, from Standard Oil of California, had something else on its mind. Oil had been discovered in other countries in the region, and the engineers thought they would find more in Saudi Arabia. Over several years, they drilled more than half a dozen holes without result. In desperation, they decided to dig deeper at well No. 7. They plumbed to a depth of 4,727 ft. and finally hit what would turn out to be the largest supply of crude oil in the world.
The King did not appear to appreciate the news fully at first. It was an entire year after the discovery when he and his retinue arrived in a caravan of 400 automobiles at the pumping station of Ras Tanura to witness the first tanker hauling away its cargo of Saudi crude. Henceforth the King would no longer rely for income on the pilgrims arriving in Mecca, Islam's holiest city. And his kingdom's petroleum wealth would emerge as a crucial factor in Middle East politics and the bargaining over global energy supplies. --By Adam Zagorin
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:FDR_on_quincy.jpg> President Franklin D. Roosevelt on board the USS Quincy (CA-71) Meets with King Ibn Saud, of Saudi Arabia, on board USS Quincy (CA-71) in the Great Bitter Lake, Egypt, on 14 February 1945. The King is speaking to the interpreter, Colonel William A. Eddy, USMC. Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, USN, the President's Aide and Chief of Staff, is at left. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
