While parts of the insurgency in Iraq may be motivated by poverty, this is not true for most terrorists. GWB correctly assessed that the combination of relative wealth and lack of political freedom is the source of most terrorists.

Sweatshops alone do not prosperity make. The Asian countries in general have done a good job stewarding their nations. The problem in the Middle East and Africa is that their leaders would rather be the top dog in an impoverished country than lose power as their country prospers overall.
Asia was also greatly helped by the example of and investment by Japan and later the Tigers. The Middle East has no such mentor, and Israel is the only country that could fill that role. If the Shah had survived and Iran gotten past the threat of Khomeinism, it might have been able to.
Lots of things can still go wrong.

Re: Daran

The terrorists in Iraq are motivated by:

1. Getting the good ole days back (Baathists), and you can hardly call them poor.
2. Setting up an al Quaeda base (al Quaeda), and they're from middle to uppper class people.
3. Setting up a Shi'a theocracy like Iran, and they're mostly poor under Saddam's rule.

The only one with economic view are the Baathists, and they just want back what used to be theirs to abuse. #3 used to be poor, but blame that on Saddam.

The culture of East Asia has a Confucian base, with an emphasis on intellectual excellence and on entrepreneurship. Nothing similar exists in the Islamic world.

This story must be wrong through and through.

Non-Christians aren't capable of this.

Reason #187 Why To Hate Liberals:

The Left would rather maintain third world countries as anthropological zoos or nostalgic theme parks for privileged Westerners to go and gawk at the locals. Meanwhile the masses in developing countries would walk ten miles barefoot through broken glass to have the opportunity to work in a factory.

Confucian culture does not value entrepreneurship. Confucian scholars looked down upon merchants. The Mandarins were an academic, bureaucratic elite. What do they do have is a work ethic, and the example of the overseas Chinese who have become entrepreneurs because their minority status denies them political power in much of SE Asia.

Islam on the other hand, had an expansive trade network throughout the world. You could find Muslim merchants in Spain, Africa, and China. Ferdinand and Isabella bankrolled Columbus because they thought he might break the Muslim monopoly on trade with the Far East. In current day, the Lebanese are known for being merchants in many countries.

Funny how history turns out.

Jeff:

You kidding? Anybody can assemble stuff once we design it and the processes. It's creativity they lack.

Chris:

That's funny, there are plenty of Chinese entrepeneurs out on the west coast. San Marino, a particularly wealthy city near Pasadena, CA, used to be 98% white. It is now 80% Chinese.

I suspect there is a fair amount of creativity and entrepeneurship behind that number. It sure didn't happen out of thin air.

OJ:

I didn't realize you are a racist.

Jeff:

Yes, American Asians are creative, because Americanized.

Chris,

South China has had an entrepreneurial culture for millenia. Islam has specific rules which bar any trade beyond the most rudimentary, the lending at interest is forbidden for example. Unlike the Chinese, they also do not have a culture characterized by scientific inquiry. For a time, they were pretty good at borrowing stuff from the West or the East but that's about it. There were some explorers but they tended to be non-Arabs, usually Turks, Kurds or Persians.

The vast bulk of Lebanese merchants are Christians. There are Muslim traders to be sure but there is little Muslim manufacturing or creativity. Once oil is removed, the entire Arab League has less manufacturing GDP than Israel.

Only someone who never visited China would say the Chinese are not entrepeneureal. Has nothing to do with americanization either. I donot know if Confucianism lokks down at entrepeneurship.

"Yes, American Asians are creative, because Americanized."

Not only is that self evident nonsense, but utterly fails to explain how the vast majority of Indonesian entrepeneurs of all kinds are Chinese.

Entrepeneurship isn't creativity. Go to a million noodle shops and they'll all just serve you noodles. None of these countries invents anything. They assemble stiuff we invented.