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08/12/2010
Middle East Attitudes
There was an extensive poll of attitudes in the Middle East conducted by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, headed up by Shibley Telhami. 3,976 people in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates were interviewed during the period June 29-July 20, 2010. Following are a few of the results.
Positive…20 [2010]…45 [2009]
Negative…62 [2010]…23 [2009]
--How would you describe your attitudes toward the Obama Administration policy in the Middle East?
Hopeful…16 [2010]…51 [2009]
Discouraged…63 [2010]…15 [2009]
Palestine/Israel…61
Iraq…27
--Generally speaking, what is your attitude toward the United States?
Very/somewhat favorable…12 [2010]…15 [2008]
Very unfavorable…47 [2010]…64 [2008]
--On Iran, Do you believe that it is merely conducting research for peaceful purposes, or trying to develop nuclear weapons?
Peaceful purposes…35 [2010]…46 [2008]
Nuclear weapons…57 [2010]…39 [2008]
--There is international pressure on Iran to curtail its nuclear program. What is your opinion?
Iran has the right to its nuclear program…92 [if peaceful]…70 [if it seeks nukes]
--If Iran acquires nuclear weapons, which of the following is the likely outcome for the Middle East region?
More positive…57 [2010]…44 [2008]
More negative…21 [2010]…29 [2008]
--In a world where there is only one superpower, which of the following countries would you prefer to be that superpower?
France…35
China…16
Germany…13
Britain…9
Russia…8
United States…7
Pakistan…6
--Name two countries that you think pose the biggest threat to you.
Israel…88 [2010]…95 [2008]
United States…77 [2010]…88 [2008]
Algeria…10 [2010]…0 [2008]…I find this very interesting
Iran…10 [2010]…7 [2008]
When you use the Internet, do you spend most of your time on___language sites? [Among Internet users only] Arabic, French, English, other.
In the six countries surveyed, 73 percent spend most of their time on Arabic sites, just 8% English ones.
But in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, it’s 95/96 percent, respectively, Arabic. [88% in Lebanon.] To me, this is a great illustration of what a huge task the West has in monitoring the sites. And if you want to learn Arabic, I imagine your job security, whether it’s in working for an intelligence agency, the military, or a think tank (as well as a multi-national American company doing business in the region), would be about as solid as any chosen field you can think of these days.
Hot Spots will return after Labor Day. Yes, I said this last time, but now I mean it.