[Peace-discuss] Speaking of "democracy"

[David Green]

Robert Kaplan is a repulsive creature, but he is more honest than most about the 
drawbacks of democratically-elected governments in relation to U.S. "interests." 
He is the voice of honest "realism" at the NYT, and honestly reflects their less 
forthcoming editorial board.

"Another thing to keep in mind: in terms of American interests and regional 
peace, there is plenty of peril in democracy. It was not democrats, but Arab 
autocrats, Anwar Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan, who made peace with 
Israel. An autocrat firmly in charge can make concessions more easily than can a 
weak, elected leader — just witness the fragility of Mahmoud Abbas’s West Bank 
government. And it was democracy that brought the extremists of Hamas to power 
in Gaza. In fact, do we really want a relatively enlightened leader like King 
Abdullah in Jordan undermined by widespread street demonstrations? We should be 
careful what we wish for in the Middle East."
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/opinion/23kaplan.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212&pagewanted=all


      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20110123/b43a5107/attachment.html>