(There is an interesting societal trend that every time cultural boundaries fall, the differences between the culture minimize. Any time a 'wall' of some sort is in place to protect those boundaries, the cultural seperation remains, such as the berlin wall, or the iron curtain, or the discouraging of wedding between religions or ethnic types. All of these things reinforce cultural boundaries, but when they fall, usually initiated by technology of some kind, things start to change. The people of communist east germany had the information drilled into thier head that the west germans were evil, and the berlin wall kept getting better and better guarded and built taller, to the point of financial strain on East Germany. But the wall could not be built high enough to block radio waves, and east germans started recieving and listening to radio broadcast from west germany, which shortly thereafter initiated cultural desires for the freedoms of the west german people in east germany. Eventually the wall was torn down when it became useless as east germans had many if not all of the same freedoms that west germans had, thanks to the free sharing of information and ideas bewteen diverse cultures (and the bankrupting of the soviet block). This trend occurs across all cultural boundaries, and when accurate real time translators are common place and as inexpensive as calculators, many more boundaries will fall. With the Earth will have close to a global culture, with that will be a lack of wars and disputes as every neighbor will have the same rights as other countries. There will still be conflicts of course, but they will be fewer and far between. The incredible advance of information brought out by the internet will facilitate this change, and here is a good example of it in action...- Mike)

Middle Eastern residents tuning to outside news sources
----------
Easy access to CNN, BBC, and the Internet is pushing the
governments of some countries in the Middle East to loosen
domestic controls on the press. Says one Egyptian, "There are
still things we don't know about the government, some secrets,
but Egypt is advancing step by step."

from - http://www.freedomforum.org/news/2001/01/2001-01-18-06.htm

Middle Eastern residents tuning
to outside news sources

By The Associated Press

01.18.01

CAIRO, Egypt - As a college student, Ahmed Sharawi joined
millions around the world who tuned in to live television
coverage of the Gulf War. Ten years later, he is a news addict
with plenty of sources to choose from.

''After the Egyptian people watched this war, we wanted our
news to be more like CNN,'' said Sharawi, now a 30-year-old
banker. ''There are still things we don't know about the
government, some secrets, but Egypt is advancing step by
step.''

With the advent of CNN and other satellite television stations,
plus the Internet, Arab governments can no longer automatically
shut out unfavorable news, and some of them are trying to
cushion the change by loosening their own restrictions.

The latest Palestinian-Israeli fighting is demonstrating the
power of the new media to cut out the government
middleman.

In the past, news about the conflict came to the Middle East via
state media with the official spin, suppressed or exaggerated
depending on whether a particular government supported
peace with Israel. This time, Arab viewers are getting the
picture uncensored, direct from the scene, and sometimes
taking to the streets in protest at what they see.

A boycott of American products in protest of U.S. support for
Israel was promoted mostly by e-mail, regardless of whether
Arab governments thought a boycott was a good idea.

''The access to information has moved the man on the street,''
said Muhammad al-Mousfir, a Qatari political science professor.
''The media could yet have the power to bring tremendous
change.''

''The average Arab today is totally different than 10 years ago,''
he said. ''He has more information, he has more details about
what's going on. Before he had only government sources.''

Some news, such as attempted coups or the health of leaders,
still does not make it into state-run media. But now the public
can turn elsewhere.

In 1999, while Syria's state newspapers were carrying Defense
Minister Mustafa Tlass' denial that he had insulted Yasser Arafat,
Syrians who own satellite dishes were seeing footage of him
calling the Palestinian leader the ''son of 60,000 whores.''

That year, exiled Iraqi dissidents reported a coup attempt and
the execution of a coup leader. Iraqi media ignored the story,
but coverage in London-based Arab newspapers circulated
throughout the region.

Even in Egypt, one of the most open Arab countries, news of
the president's visits abroad for medical treatment are
suppressed, as are some stories of government corruption or
violence. But they can't be kept off the Internet.

Before CNN, banker Sharawi had to content himself with
state-run television and heavily controlled newspapers. Today,
TV channels are beginning to broaden discussion with talk shows
and political commentary programs.

Television is a critical agent for change. Viewers now have the
hugely popular, independent-minded Al-Jazeera satellite
channel, based in the Persian Gulf. Another, called Future, is
Lebanese. Even Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas have a television
station.

Overly outspoken journalists in Egypt and Jordan still risk arrest.
Iraq and Saudi Arabia publish only officially approved news. But
authoritarian Syria, under its new, cyber-savvy president Bashar
Assad, has begun taking tiny steps toward easing the flow of
information.

The official ban on satellite dishes long has been widely
ignored. And in November, Assad allowed political parties to
publish newspapers and compete with the ruling party's media.

The first issue of one such newspaper, Communist Party-backed
Sawt al-Shaab, questioned the government's decision to let
private banks operate in Syria.

CNN, BBC and a host of European stations broadcast in the
Middle East, while Al-Jazeera, based in Qatar, airs outspoken
commentary and has angered several Arab governments.

Kuwait temporarily shut the network's offices there after
Al-Jazeera broadcast a caller's insult of Kuwait's leader. Egypt
threatened similar reprisals when one of the channel's
commentators accused Egypt of not doing enough to support
the Palestinians.

The station is funded by the Qatari government but is
editorially independent.

''We put differing viewpoints on the air and let viewers
decide,'' said Omar al-Issawi, an Al-Jazeera presenter. ''... I
think our freedom of expression gives them hope.''

This week Al-Jazeera delivered another striking example of the
Middle East's new journalism: It broadcast interviews with
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and his Palestinian
adversaries.