Saturday, June 21, 2014

Democracy In The Middle East - Not Going To Happen

With the exception of Israel, Western style democracy in the Middle East is not going to happen.  What we see taking place in Syria and Iraq just makes the point.  The best we can hope for is a benevolent, corrupt Dictator, friendly to the United States, interested in stability in order to maintain his family and friend's bank accounts in Switzerland.  Even if these Dictators are hostile to Western countries, for local purposes to stay in power, as long as these characters don't make trouble in the region, or for us, we should be prepared to live with them.  At some point, we can't worry about how they treat their citizens.  It can't be our business. 

The problem is that Sunni's in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar and Shites in Iran are funding Terrorism around the world and the proxy wars against each other that do impact us.  If they were just killing each other, though horrible, it would be none of our business.  Unfortunately, they preach hatred of Western values and democracy and that is a threat to both Israel and the United States, so we can't totally ignore them even if we were energy independent.  As such, we have to make it clear that if they mess with us, there will be serious consequences including drone strikes to wipe them out. 

Most important, the notion that these Arab or Persian Middle Eastern countries can somehow become Western style democracies is ridiculous.   It is not their tradition.  Mohammad spread Islam by the sword; not some miraculous conversion.  Middle Eastern countries have been ruled by Dictators for centuries going all the way back to Pharaohs and Kings.  There has never been a Magna Carta in the Middle East, as happened in 1215 in Britain when the ruling families demanded more rights and a limit on King John's powers, setting in place the road to democracy in the Western world. 

The notion of a Western style Constitution in these Islamic countries in not going to happen.   If anything when ever they do put in place a Constitution, it is used to discriminate against their internal enemies.  As such, we need to stop trying to impose our values on these peoples.  In many ways, the Russians have it right.  They support any Dictator friendly to them and oppose any group that is a threat to stability.   In that sense, the Russians are more realistic concerning their foreign policy.   Socialist President Pinocchio Obama has no foreign policy.   Obama just goes from crisis to crisis hoping he can get through the next day.  While we should always stand with Israel, the only real democracy in the Middle East; otherwise, we need to rethink our entire approach to the Middle East.  Obviously, what we have been doing for decades is not working. 

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