Updated 7 months ago
It’s not money, or size. It’s cultural: Tribalism, nepotism, officers treating enlisted like subhumans, emphasis on rote memorization vs creative problem solving, plus lack of cohesion, trust, initiative, information sharing, and discipline. Good for old-school asymmetric guerrilla hit-and-run attacks like Algeria. Bad for modern warfare. They’ve been sitting ducks in most conflicts in the past 100 years versus Iran, Chad, US, Israel and others.
To adapt, and this sounds politically incorrect and ethnocentric, Arab military culture would probably have to open up to more democracy. The old, closed mindset is killing them, and I’m not so sure radical Islam helps here. If oil keeps crashing they are in for a world of hurt.
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