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If President Bush wants to get a better handle on the problems he's facing in Iraq and the West Bank, I suggest he study the speech made Oct. 16 by Malaysia's departing prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, to a conclave of Muslim leaders. Most of that speech was a brutally frank look into the causes of the Muslim world's decline. Though it was also laced with shameful anti-Jewish slurs, it was still revealing. Five times he referred to Muslims as humiliated. If I've learned one thing covering world affairs, it's this: The single most underappreciated force in international relations is humiliation.
Krugman was exorciated by his many stalkers for calling the anti-Semitic comments "inexcusable" because he dared suggest we should consider why he should say such provocative things on the eve of a meeting with Bush. Friedman says it was "shameful" but "was still revealing."