Life as Normal

It my surprise people of the events that are unfolding in the Middle East. However the fact of the matter is that these events are nothing new. The middle east has been fighting and rebelling for a long time. Dating back to the Crusades and going even further that this area is currently, always has, and will continue to be a hotbed. Through the countless articles that I have read about the middle east it is evident that this area is one of the last bastions of traditional almost outdated traditions. For instance these London Olympics this past summer saw the first women compete for Saudi Arabia. In a nation where driving permits will not be issued to women it just incomprehensible that in the 21.st century that this is still going on. As I read "Authoritarianism in the Middle East" I noticed that again Saudi Arabia is not lacking funs, between their annual oil exports and foreign support from the U.S. it is simply amazing. So what does Women Suffrage in Saudi Arabia and a US Ambassador killed in the line of duty have to do with each other? Personally I think this shows the Middle easts reluctance to adapt to the changing world. Granted the middle east is not the only place where this takes place, but still. In Professor Hardings blog post, he talks about how the world has this vision of all islam hating the US and her Allies, which I do not see as true. But take for instance in Mali for instance, the Islamic presence in the North has the country worried. For instance, I watched a CNN article on Media and rights in Mali http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2012/08/24/pkg-mali-culture-legacy-threat.cnn&hpt=hp_tvvideo
It goes into detail how the Islamic powers in the North have banned foreign Music. Muslim women in the North are now forced to wear the Burka, instead of the women in the South who wear a veil on their head. It is a cluster you know what ..... because between the sometimes strange tendencies of islamic countries as well as the middle east in particular makes predicting whats going to happen in the Middle East totally unpredictable