Academia and the mainstream media seem quite comfortable in their white robes and hoods

From Yemen: The Enemies Within.  It is from a month ago and is poorly edited.  On the other hand, it has much more information and facts than you will find in the New York Times.  I will choose artless facts over polished fluff any day.  

In reality, there are probably five separate articles in this one piece.

The negative impact of corruption on the economy and public health of Yemen.

Iranian support for Yemeni rebels.

Iranian sponsorship of wars in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Israel

Kat production and smuggling.

Yemen as a human trafficking route from Ethiopia.

On trust and corruption:

There are many reasons for Yemen’s multiple economic and political problems, of which the clearly dominant one is its epic level of corruption. Corruption worldwide is monitored and measured in the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. The Index measures corruption on a 1 (most corrupt) to 100 (not corrupt) scale. The nations with the lowest scores are currently Yemen (score of 17). Syria (13), South Sudan (13) and Somalia (12). The least corrupt nation is currently Denmark, with a CPI of 90, followed by Finland and New Zealand, each with 87. Nations with the most corruption tend to be poor and chaotic. The opposite applies to nations with low levels of corruption. Yemen has been identified as a chronic and long term victim of corruption.

Back in the 1960s and early 1970s, among developmental economists, there was a tendency to see economic development as purely a matter of access to democracy, markets, and capital.  Fulfill those voids, and prosperity would follow.  No.

From the 1980s to the present, the global clerisy have been convinced that economic development is a matter of access to capital and expertise.  Provide the loans and the experts and prosperity would follow.  No.

Yes, knowledge, markets, functioning consent of the governed, and access to capital are very important.  But they are insufficient.  You have to address the cultural and social impediments as well.  Such as familial insularity and low trust and corruption.  More easily said than done.  

I am not sure that it is even possible to reach agreement that governments should be the agents to formulate cultural attributes, much less figuring out how they might do that.

The War in Gaza Strip is illuminating of this cultural issue.  We still have people talking about joint talks, a two state solution, showing restraint in the face of brutal attacks, the need to protect Hamas supporting Gaza civilians from the consequences of Hamas violence, etc..  

The bald reality is that Hamas, when they receive financial and military support from Iran, are a lethal danger to Palestinians and Israelis.  That Hamas is not constrained by any level of brutality on their part against Israelis and are not meaningfully constrained by the danger they inflict on Palestinians.  That Hamas has a singular goal of regional genocide of all Jews.  They are clear and explicit - Victory for Hamas requires the extirpation of all Jews. 

They are perfectly clear about their goals and they are clearly demonstrating some small capacity to inhumanely pursue that goal of genocide.  They are not just clear about their goals but they are also incontrovertibly sincere in pursuit of those goals.

Which is why it is astonishing to me how many public figures, how many student groups, and how many university administrations are at least accepting of Hamas, if not even clearly supportive of their goal of genocide.  The very people purportedly outraged by Nazis and the KKK and White Supremacists are now effectively marching in Klan robes, actively supporting genocide.  Truly appalling and unacceptable but academia and the mainstream media seem quite comfortable in their white robes and hoods.

It comes back to culture.  We know the cultural attributes and behaviors which foster progress, peace and prosperity.  It is broadly Classical Liberalism.  But authoritarianism, sectarianism, racial hatred, and fanaticism have been cancers that have been allowed to metastasize in the body of academia and among the declining clerisy of the mainstream media.  Time for some purgative medicine and treatments.