A Misery Index and Thermidor in Arabia…………
Thus screamed the headline on Alarabiya.net. Gloating actually.
My first reaction was shock (and admittedly dismay). I am always dismayed whenever an Arab people, or any Middle Eastern people, feels good about its fate under the current circumstances: it means they have given up. It means the oligarchs have won.
Then, upon further investigation, I found out it is related to a Bloomberg index related to unemployment and inflation. Nothing to do with how “people” feel.
So, it is not because the Commission for Propagation of Vice (religious police) has been disbanded or has mellowed, nor because Maureen Dowd was in Saudi Arabia chatting up the elites. Nor that the Royals decided to change their months from Muharram and thu-al-Q’ida into Thermidor and Germinal. No Thermidorian Reaction against other excesses, yet.
Cheers
mhg
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