Who Wants Democracy in the Middle East?
We all want democracy in the Middle East, right? Some of the leading Arab intellectuals are calling for “rapid progress toward democracy,” and they’re saying this progress is being hindered by Israel and the United States.
The Arab Human Development Report has been released, after six months of being blocked by the Bush administration. The report says Arab governments will be facing massive civil unrest unless democratic reforms begin soon.
The report puts most of the blame on the centralized structure of Arab governments. But in earlier drafts, the report also said Israeli control of Palestinian territories and U.S. occupation of Iraq were hindering the spread of democracy in Arab countries.
Sure, that’s reason enough to suppress this document for six months. We’d like to have democracy in the Middle East, but here are the priorities — First and Foremost: everyone have the utmost praise and respect for the United States and Israeli governments. Distant Second: democracy for the Arab countries — if they’re good. Diss us, and democracy gets it!
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posted by Tom Harper @ 1:16 AM
3 Comments:
OK Democrat: Of course it's Clinton's fault. Carter's too.
Honestly, I could give a rat's ass if there was "democracy" in the Middle East. Maybe I'm oversimplifying, and obviously I am assuming whatever regime is in power provides basic civil rights for its citizens, etc. etc. But who are we (the US) to say that "democracy" in and of itself is the right path to take?
There's this book by Amy Chua I've been reading called "World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability." It's a very interesting take on the spread of democracy on a global scale. And really, when the US speaks of "democracy," it only does it with the highest of capitalist intentions in mind. The fact that people get to vote and dip their fingers in purple ink is just icing on the cake and makes for good PR.
Mags: I guess democracy (even our exported version) is better than a dictatorship. But I'm sure our government's first priority is providing raw materials for Halliburton and Bechtel; democracy is a byproduct.
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