Why Arabs Lose Wars (1999) (meforum.org)

>the well-known lack of trust among Arabs for anyone outside their own family adversely affects offensive operations.

This can basically summarize the entire problem of the middle east

Especially when they fight each other.

I don't know if we have any Arab military veterans on HN, but if so and they felt comfortable commenting, I would be fascinated to hear their take on:

1) was this broadly accurate in 1999

2) is this broadly accurate in 2021

About "discouraging initiative" , there is a line of thought that today's officers that show initiative are tomorrow's leaders of coup detat.