RFE RL journalist and popular commentator Salome Asatiani believes that the surge in nationalism and machismo is largely an attempt by those Georgian men who feel left out of today s Georgia to reassure themselves.

That may sound like hyperbole, but raising the temperature and reducing the rainfall of a predominantly agricultural nation can be as devastating to its people as dropping bombs on it.

Consider the hyperbolic debate over the Keystone XL pipeline, which would funnel oil from Canada s Athabasca tar sands in northeastern Alberta to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

There was little of the rampant jingoism, get them at all costs bloodlust, constant speechifying, and flag waving that followed the 2001 attacks.

Shi a nationalism has followed Persian chauvinism as a rallying point, but neither has succeeded fully in bolstering Iran s political institutions and securing the allegiance of its young population, nearly two thirds of which is under the age of 30.

In that context, the Ministry of Education has unified the curriculum in primary and secondary education throughout the country. Religious schools have also become part of the public education system in order to unify ideas among all segments of Yemeni society and to avoid fanaticism and extremism.

While there is a tendency to overrate the impact of the oil windfall on current growth, analyses based on long term trends suggest that the economies of the ESCWA member countries have performed well below their potential since the early 1980s.