General Motors

"What is good for General Motors is good for The United States". How far this statement has become from reality. The General is in a mess. They do not know where to go and in what direction. According to articles in car magazines and Fortune, GM is in great need to continue to reinvent itself, be more creative, more artistic in it's products lines. 

Basically it needs to make nicer cars with better quality. A great example of GM's failure is the Saturn brand. I have read that since it's inception, this division has been losing money, it did not break even and did not make a difference in competing with the Japanese cars. The question that begs an answer: Why? why it's still in production?? Another problem GM faces is that it did not reinvent itself in the way that Mercedes and BMW did. 

GM still belongs to the glory past of the fifties and the sixties. New generations and younger ones do not feel connected with this company as they do with BMW, Mercedes and even Chrysler with it's new lines of attractive cars. Look at an ugly example of GM's lack of imagination and artistic touch, the Aztec, I believe I have it spelled correctly. It is so ugly that I can not see how can anyone come up with such a car! GM needs to trim itself, be a lean company, close losing divisions and just hire someone on the helm that can grab it from the deep hole it put itself in and just be again be a great innovative organization.

The Arab Monarchies

Historically, the Arab Monarchies have played a stabilizing role in the Middle East politics. They have been the voice of reason and moderation in the midst of the nationalistic turmoil that engulfed the region in the fifties and the sixties. Then, the monarchies stood against Nasser of Egypt in his quest to overturn the Arab regimes into ones that embodied his version of Arab Nationalism. They also have neutralized the religious extremes by getting them under their tent and provided them with a legitimacy. They also were, specially in Saudi Arabia the voice of Islam to the world. At that time the Shiite power did not exist and Iran, the protector of militant Shiite was part of the western alliance. Now, time has come to evaluate the Arab Monarchies. In a time where democracy spreads , the Arab people have aspirations for freedom and human rights, and their is a need for The United States to ensure that the Middle East exports oil and not extremism, the Arab monarchies need to be developed. The most problematic monarchies are in the Gulf, the oil area, where a historic alliance between religion and politics has shown signs of ineffectiveness in the era of the Internet and the information age. Most of the fanatics that use Islam as an umbrella for their actions come from the Gulf and particularly from Saudi Arabia. In Saudi, there is a political and spiritual and social vacuum. There are frustrations and aspirations. Rich kids from will known families are drawn towards extremism because of the vacuum and the suppression they live in. The Kingdom can not continue with it's current alliance. It has to address the aspirations of it's people, it has to open up the place and start the steps towards a constitutional monarchy. This monarchy will continue to protect the Holly places in Mecca and Medina, and will continue to provide the moral leadership to it's people and to billions of Muslims around the world who come every year for pilgrimage. It's difficult to imagine Saudi Arabia opening up completely but it's imaginable to have a government that is accountable to a an elected body. In Jordan and Morocco I see steps and a momentum building up towards constitutional monarchy faster than the Gulf countries or in particular faster than Saudi Arabia. In Jordan, a final solution to the Palestinian question will provide a healthy ground towards that goal as well as in Morocco where a democratic North Africa will help the monarchy there to work towards full parliament accountability. I personally believe that the monarchies can survive the winds of change and very much so can be a great stabilizer in their upcoming fledging democracy. At some point those monarchies will resemble the one in England with a little more authority.
PS: For more relevant information check my previous article.

Why did we elect George W. Bush? One Year after..

We the American people have elected George Bush twice mainly for the same reason; he is one of us, a regular guy, no complications, not much polishing around to show off as someone he is not. We have defeated Al Gore in 2000 because, among other reasons, he came across as an elitist, and sometimes as a bully thinking that he deserves the position just because who he is and because of his career. He came across as a bully when he walked towards George Bush in one of the debates, he looked threatening and annoying. We did not like it. Bush came across in that debate as your regular all American guy that will do his best to protect his home from the enemies either at home or abroad. We also defeated John Kerry almost for the same reasons; as we did with Gore, add to the list being married to a woman that felt cold and disconnected. Remember how she forgot where she was, which state, and then made the face as if they are all the same to her. Kerry also sounded as a preacher more than your regular guy. Add to that his running mate, John Edwards that really did not cut it for him neither in the south nor anywhere else, and Kerry's association with the Hollywood crowd and ignoring the base. Bush managed to have a wide base of people ranging from the corporations to the regular Joe with six packs. He tapped into the religious feelings of the people, deep into their very souls. We also are at war and this is another reason that many people felt strongly the need to stick with their guy. Clinton before Bush came across as your regular guy. It is the persona that got these two elected and reelected. This is just an observation, it's neither a Republican nor a Democrat’s: We also did not like the fact that Kerry and Edwards were so ungracious that they mentioned Dick Cheney's gay daughter. It was a cheap shot.

Note: During the Democratic Party primaries, Time Magazine put Kerry on its cover and if I recall questioned whether or not he can win. I sent a comment on that cover to Time, was not published, where I gave my opinion on the cover and on Time covers in general. I said that the way Kerry paused show either he was constipated, did not like the Time photographer, he was looking at his wife or he knew that he is not going to win. Now you know why Time did not publish the comment.

The Great Transformation

The Arab countries should lead the Muslim world including the Arabs into the 21 Century mentality of cooperation, democracy, free market, the rights of individuals including women and minorities. As I mentioned in previous articles or thoughts, we should start from the very beginning, from the curriculums that are in our schools and universities. Those curriculums that focus on struggle and conflict as a way of life for our people rather than just recording history as it was, unbiased. The outlook to the world should be different, rather than being the victim and wait for help, we should stand as many Asian countries did , and before that Europe and The US, and create a political, social and business models that focus on the future. It all should start by creating grass root social movements that use peaceful means to achieve democracy. A real democracy with freely elected parliaments. The process started in Iraq, with all its deficiencies, and it should continue all over. Syria and Egypt probably will be next to start the democratization process. The Middle Eastern countries should not be afraid of the political movements that use religion as its mantra or slogan. As long as everybody agrees that changes must be achieved peacefully. Turkey is another example. The ruling party now is an Islamic party that does not want or at least agrees that it's possible to combine the beliefs of the religion with the requirements of the modern state. In Europe and the US we have seen conservative parties rule with strong faith background. The Republican Party in the US and the Christian Democrats in Europe. The most important is that we must embrace faith as a private bond between the individual and God, not to be imposed on others, and must guarantee the freedom of religion. Evil and extremism will continue as mankind continues. But it's possible to transform the society where extremism can no longer penetrate the disgruntled layers of its people; that extremism will continue to live on the fringes. Disgruntled people would eventually know that change is possible through the ballots and not the bullets. The bottom line is that the Middle East, the cradle of civilizations and the great three divine religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam should not be lift alone or labeled as the bad son. It should be included in the civilized world. It's the job of the Middle Eastern countries to ensure its place in the train of civility. Last but not least, both Israel and Palestine are integral parts of the new Middle East. The Middle Eastern countries should continue to be separate political entities but can cooperate and integrate policies, especially economic policies through institutions similar to that of the European Union.

TBN, Aljazeera, 700 Club and Almanar-Common Ground

The most common ground among the above news networks is one thing: Incitement. There job is to incite and not to inform and analyze. They of course report news, and they analyze the news but the main goal is to incite and play on the sensitive cords and the strongest feelings, which are religion and national emotions. Both Almanar and TBN represent some sort of a religion message. TBN, the spread of Christianity as they see it and try to convert as many people as possible and of course fund raising and collect money from the masses. TBN has been attacking Islam in every way possible riding the wave of individuals and organizations using Islam to commit acts of terror. Almanar's job, as the mouthpiece of the Iranian backed Lebanese militant party Hezbollah, is to spread hatred, incitement, and honestly making the great religion Islam looks bad in the eyes of the world. Aljazeera on the other hand tries to play both the religion and the nationalistic emetic. It preaches pan Arabism and Islam in the same time. It attacks most of the Arab regimes but it does not offer clear unbiased views of the news. It magnifies the chasm between the Arabs and the west but it does not try to bridge the gap. The thing is we do not ask these news networks to act as reformers but we ask them not to increase the hatred among their followers. TBN and the 700 Club of Pat Robertson job should not attack Islam in every occasion. They should instead to focus on the message of Christianity of peace and tolerance. Almanar should not attack the west, the Jewish but it should report the news and analyze. Aljazeera should take the example of CNN and become a professional news organization and not just a mouthpiece for hatred. The world is full of other examples but I chose those four organizations because of their prominence, if I can use this word, among their followers.

What if ?

What if ?
What if peace spreads in the Middle East. What if we teach our children to love thy neighbor, first, and foremost to love themselves. What if we work to live and enjoy life and not just to survive. What if we learn to love life. What if we thrive and work hard and smart and take vacations and travel. What if we negotiate our differences rather than having suicide bombers. What if we teach our kids to accept Israel as a state in the Middle East and to understand that the Jewish people have a state there that can live side by side with the state of Palestine and the rest of the Arab, Middle Eastern, Countries. What if we change our attitude, mentality from the mentality of every thing that comes from the west is evil, and the west is out there to get us to the mentality of prosperity and cooperation with everybody. What if we stop inciting in our media and just report the news as they are and then if we like to comment then we do that without stepping and ignoring the facts. What if we teach our kids the real Islam, the religion of tolerance and peace. What if we all stand against terrorism and those behind the terrorists. What if we tell all those disgruntled people to stop using this great religion, Islam, in acts and actions that far from it is true learning and beliefs. What if we have the chance to elect freely our rulers. What if we can create due process to our citizens. What if we stop terrorizing the people in our police stations. What if I can drive my car from the city I was raised Gaza all the way through Tel-Aviv and Haifa, Beirut, Damascus to Turkey and then to Europe. Alternatively, what if a family in Israel drives its car all along the Mediterranean to Casablanca and then through the ferry to Spain. What if?