Aid to the Arab world – Soldiers or scholars?

And so it came to pass that in 2012 – a year after the Arab awakening erupted – the United States made two financial commitments to the Arab world that each began with the numbers one and three, writes Thomas L Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times.

It gave Egypt's military $1.3 billion worth of tanks and fighter jets, and it gave Lebanese public school students a $13.5 million merit-based college scholarship programme that is currently putting 117 Lebanese kids through local US-style colleges that promote tolerance, gender and social equality, and critical thinking.

I've recently been to Egypt, and I've just been to Lebanon, and I can safely report this: the $13.5 million in full scholarships has already bought the US so much more friendship and stability than the $1.3 billion in tanks and fighter jets ever will. So how about we stop being stupid? How about we stop sending planes and tanks to a country where half the women and a quarter of the men can't read, and start sending scholarships instead?
Full report on The Seattle Times site