Heard a report on the BBC this morning about an election coming up in the middle east...
In Iran.
They are electing a new president, and everybody is trying to run on a liberalization and reform platform. 70% of the population of Iran is under 30.
They were saying even the conservatives are having to chase the votes of those who are tired of "too many restrictions".
These are the people we'll be bombing soon if Bush and PNAC get their way.
It's maddening.
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And what's worse - the Bush administration is publicly admonishing Iran for not holding free and fair elections, yet President Bush seems to have no problem in praising equally undemocratic Egypt and Pakistan.
In Egypt, presidential candidates in the upcoming election have to be approved by a Parliament which is clearly under Mubarak's thumb; as for Pakistan, I'm sure you've heard by now the story of Mukhtaran Bibi.
And let's not forget the failed coup against Hugo Chavez that the White House supported in 2002.
I was having lunch with a friend of mine the other day who claimed that the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon was in part related to America's desire to spread democracy around the world.
If the US just looks like this big ogre that is willing to go quid pro quo with any country that sidles up to us in an indefinite war on terror, what kind of image does that send out to the rest of the world? What kind of credibility do we have as democrats (w/small d)?
Maddening indeed, Mike.
I realized I accidentally cut a paragraph from my previous post. The elections in Iran certainly aren't as substantive as they should be; Iran's government is set up such that religious leaders have a final say a person's candidacy. Nearly a hundred women who tried to run for president were turned down by the Guardian Council in Iran, and the police beat Iranian feminists protesting their decision.
I don't have any praise for the current government in Iran, but that's all the more reason why we should let them work out their own elections instead of hypocritically condemning Iran for being undemocratic.
Sorry, but one more qualification: with a President who has openly stated he would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned and several state legislatures passing parental consent law for minors obtaining abortions, the US doesn't have a particularly great record on women's rights right now either.
Sorry for cluttering up your comments space, but typing this has been the most stimulating activity I've done all week at work.
Sorry, one more qualification: it'd be great if we could find some way to make Iran more democratic that didn't involve military action.
But I think in the long-term Iran has to work out its own problems, and with our reputation I worry that any criticism from the Bush administration would only make things worse, both for Iran and for us.
thanks for the comments, really...
I know the elections in Iraq are far from perfect, but it does seem they are moving TOWARDS democracy, at least as much as Egypy, and more than Saudi Arabia...
and the pressure is there from the ground up...
so it's only a matter of time...
and if we can help, without killing tens of thousands of Iranians than I'm happy for us to do it...but bombs don't build democracies...
Mike,
I wholeheartedly agree.
On the subject of possible regime change, there's a great piece in this month's Atlantic about North Korea and the possible consequences of a pre-emptive invasion. The Atlantic gathered together a group of international relations and military thinkers to hash out what advice they would give to the president on North Korea. They brought together a really diverse group, from former Clinton foreign relations people to think tank policy wonks to generals (including one who seems right out of Dr. Strangelove).
It's very enlightening; for instance, it makes a strong case in favor of the deal that Clinton set up in 1994, that even though North Korea "cheated" on the Agreed Framework , the alternative might have been a nuclear war in Asia (which, it goes without saying, would have been bad). I really reccomend reading it.
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