The Muslim world has been afflicted with economic stagnation for many centuries.[25][26] In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama stated that apart from crude oil, the exports of the entire Greater Middle East with its 400 million population roughly equals that of Switzerland.[27] It has also been estimated that the exports of Finland, a European country of only five million, exceeded those of the entire 260 million-strong Arab world, excluding oil revenue.[citation needed] This economic stagnation is argued by historian David Fromkin in his work A Peace to End All Peace to have commenced with the demise of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924, with trade networks being disrupted and societies torn apart with the creation of new nation states; prior to this, the Middle East had a diverse and growing economy and more general prosperity. Another cause of embarrassment and resentment is that for several decades, Muslim immigrants have been forced to emigrate to western countries in large numbers because fellow Muslim countries that are well-off economically and socially do not accept them. Out of the 57 Muslim majority countries, only two nations (Turkey and Malaysia) offer a formal path to becoming a naturalized citizen regardless of your religious beliefs, marital status or ethnic origin. Even the oil-rich Gulf states do not grant citizenship to Muslim immigrants, regardless of how long they have resided in those countries.[28][29]
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 16:50:05 +0000
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