RSSWhen reporters state the obvious
Feb 10
I was watching the BBC feed of Egypt news here and saw this:
“The BBC’s Wyre Davies in Jerusalem says the worst-case scenario for Israel would be if Mr Mubarak resigns, new elections are held and the subsequent government is hostile to Israel.”
Um. How is that not so blindingly obvious that it doesn’t even deserve to be said? Even something like this would have been better journalism: “… the worse-case scenario for Israel would be … and the subsequent government refuses to accept the peace treaty, leaving Israel without their only powerful Muslim friend in the region.”
Anyways, congrats to the Egyptians for (hopefully) getting the change they want; it’s been inspiring to watch.
Feb 14, 2011 @ 13:16:11
I’m gratified to see these protests finally spreading to Iran, where one could argue they begain in 2009 after the unlikely re-election of Ahmadinejad and subsequent crackdown. There was no military presence to protect the protesters from the police crackdown, as they did in Egypt.
Obama’s support for the protesters only detracted from their credibility, as the leaders blamed the protests on foreign influences and social media. I think that’s why he was so cautious this time. Don’t be seen as pushing an agenda. Let the protests play out and gently support both sides.
That brings me to our problem. America’s interests are at odds with its values. Spreading American values usually means democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. But many now admit that they actually believe allowing Muslims to have democracy would naturally lead to an Islamic state. Isn’t that a bit racist?
Iraq and Afghanistan were supposedly invaded to spread democracy, but then America stood by and their let elections be rigged just to keep our close friends in power as dictators. Instead of maintaining stability, those actions discredited democracy and left both governments corrupt and powerless. Karzai barely controls his own capitol city, and can’t hope to survive without making backroom deals with the same people we consider terrorists. America quickly abandoned its values for a tenuous hold on security. They are terrified to allow Karzai to lose an election, in case radical Muslims come to power.
It’s all a result of the example Bush set. Democracies are usually peaceful and almost never go to war. Unless an insane dictator takes power, dismantles the checks and balances in the system, consolidates power, installs unelected cronies at all levels, makes sweeping changes in the name of a religious agenda, limits freedom of protest, maintains a level of martial law in the name of security and installs a state-run media that chants its praises and blindly attacks any political opponents.
It’s no wonder people have lost hope in democracy. The onlly democratic thing Bush ever did was leave office after his term limits were up.