Hoffer,  John Robb,  Middle East,  Tribes

Interesting thought of the day

This post from Global Guerrillas leads to much thought. To wit:

As people connect outward onto this platform, they see both threat or promise. In response, they look inward for sources of strength to support them going forward, and in most cases find it wanting. Their states (and corporations) can’t or will not provide them that strength.

The result is an almost pandemic drive towards ethnic/religious identity — and — the increasingly muscular granular forces of clan, sect, gang, and tribe.

That leads to his linked articles of The Melted Map (a thought experiment about how a properly separated Middle East, while The Coming Anarchy chips in with The Real Central Asia.

Like most things, I’m reminded of Eric Hoffer. To paraphrase, changing times make misfits of us all, and those unable to adapt to new times will dream of a glorious past or a glorious future, but will forever resent the present.

All the articles are well worth reading.

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