EASTERN VENTURES DOOMED TO FAILURE.

This week's mayhem in Egypt probably had little to do with football and much to do with the nature of the country.

For many years, the self-proclaimed civilized nations of the western world have sought to impose their ideologies on those of the east with little real success. The recent spread of world-wide communications has encouraged some in these less developed countries to see themselves as clones of, particularly, the USA, but has done nothing to encourage cultural change at a more ingrained level.

Western interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan will ultimately result in no change other than in the identities of those at the top table in Government. Many lives have been lost to no avail, just as has happened many times in the past.

The so-called 'Arab Spring' is no different. While the western world hailed the uprisings in various countries as being the start of a new dawn for the Arab world, what has actually changed ? Mubarak, Gaddafi and some others have been removed from power and Assad may well be out before long, but what else has happened ? There have been few, if any elections, and in Egypt and Libya there is increasing unrest that could easily result in the establishment of new dictatorships by new tyrants.

In truth, the real problem is that western ideology simply cannot be applied to these undeveloped eastern countries. These are nations whose people are largely governeed by different principles - they are muslim, not christian, their attitudes towards equality are very different and their education systems also. It has to be recognized that their social, economic and industrial development is nowhere near as advanced as is the case in the western world.

Where all of this will end up is anyone's guess. One thing that is clear is that many of the western nations are now so strapped for cash that they are scrabbling for the door in Afghanistan and are extremely unlikely to embark on any further costly ventures of any kind in these dangerous and unstable places; Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest will largely be left to their own devices for the foreseeable future. This could open the way for the Russians and Chinese to take much greater roles in the development of these parts, something which the western world will not like but will be powerless to oppose. Only time will tell.