So I hear that the news of democratic rumblings along the Mediterranean, particularly in Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine, have our friends the Neo-Conservatives feeling all snug and vindicated in their cozy little armchairs. These are the very same armchairs, of course, in which they theorize destruction in the name of freedom upon unwitting bazaar merchants and nomadic tribesmen.
Well all this rubbish has me positively cantankerous and betokens a weekend of mad, drunken raving. I may even sing “Dixie” to a Moroccan.
For now though, my duties compel me to write a column, and by this time, the sensible amongst you will be asking where the real substance is. Forgive me. The masses demand irony, and by God who am I not to fulfill their need.
So apparently we’re supposed to believe that the brilliant disaster known as the War in Iraq is leading to democratic reform so soon in the Middle East. This feeling of heady exuberance in the White House results from the following evidence: a largely successful Iraqi elections, Lebanese demonstrations for Syrian military withdrawal and its pro-Syrian government’s fall, Palestinian elections and renewed negotiations and minor movements toward democratic elections in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It’s a veritable year of revolutions in the 19th century European variety.
What a load of bull.
For starters, the Iraqi elections really tell us nothing except that Iraqis want democracy. But really, this is no surprise. It’s not like they were missing Saddam Hussein and Baath tyranny. They were missing living. It is still far from clear that when the army withdraws from that sand pit order will be maintained by the corrupt Iraqi police and army forces and all hell will not break loose.
As for Lebanon, we must remember that this is a nation which was once Westernish and prosperous, and thus bitterly resentful of Syrian “peace,” which has meant hardship and economic decline. It seems more obvious to link the Lebanese uprising with Palestinian efforts toward democracy and peace with Israel. And this development has one cause: the long-overdue death of the bombing troll himself, Yassir Arafat.
Finally as for Saudi Arabia and Egypt, this is more worrisome to me than encouraging. As history demonstrates, dictatorships with iron fists do not allow revolutions. Witness the peaceful death of Joseph Stalin. Only after some reform has been made can revolution occur, as in the establishment of the Duma, the Russian parliamentary body, in the early twentieth century that lead to the fall of the tsar and more recently in the Soviet Union of glasnost and perestroika under Mikhail Gorbachev in the 80’s and early 90’s. The last thing we need are Islamic guillotines in Cairo and Riyadh, capitals largely friendly to the USA.
While there have been encouraging signs in the Middle East, it’s a bit of a stretch to point to Iraq as the source. I think that this is a convenient way, nay, a deliberately crafty way, to detract attention from ill tidings in world politics aggravated by our involvement in Iraq and our nauseatingly ceaseless flow of rhetoric concerning democracy.
It’s a well known fact that Iran’s justification for developing its nuclear program rests in large part on its fear of American aggression, recently exhibited in its full measure on Iraq. But wait, there’s more. It seems that in Iran and Syria we are seeing a unified front of resistance to American interests, with some reports suggesting that Syria is deploying more troops with help from the Iranian military to quench any potential Lebanese resistance. Common enemies make close friends it seems.
Enter Russia and the sly Vladimir Putin. Bush claimed he could see into his soul. Bush also bankrupted an oil company.
With Putin, Bush is dealing with a very different kind of man. After all, last year Russian agents assassinated an exiled Chechen leader, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, in a car bombing, have been rumored to have poisoned the Ukrainian presidential candidate, possibly caused the “accidental” death of the Georgian Prime Minister (officially it was natural gas), and has recently killed the nominal Chechen separatist leader.
Disregarding value judgements, Putin is no average Western leader, but it seems as if his alliance with Iran is getting closer as the Russian Federation has agreed go through with plans to sell Iran uranium fuel. Perhaps Bush should reconsider trying to take John Edward’s job.
