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bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
America's Double Standard on Democracy in the Middle East
By NICHOLAS BLANFORD/BEIRUT
Viewpoint: What's good for Beirut is not good for Gaza, according to
Washington's playbook. And that discrepancy undermines the credibility
of U.S. claims to be promoting democracy in the region
Posted Friday, Dec. 22, 2006
In Lebanon as in Gaza, democratically elected governments are being
challenged by political opponents demanding fresh elections — and in
each place, the standoff threatens to spark a civil war. Yet, the
response of the U.S. and Britain to each crisis has been so different as
to provoke accusations of double-standards and questions about the
West's commitment to democracy in the Arab world.
In Lebanon, the beleaguered U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister
Fouad Siniora, which took power in July 2005, is resisting an opposition
drive led by the militant Hizballah, to hold new parliamentary
elections. Hizballah supporters and their allies have held a mass sit-in
in Beirut since Dec. 1, paralyzing the city center. The White House
accuses Hizballah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, of attempting a
"coup" against a democratically elected government. But in Gaza, the
roles are reversed: Last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
called for new elections after talks broke down with the rival Hamas
movement over forming a national unity government. Hamas, which took the
reins of government after winning elections in January, rejected Abbas's
call — and, in an ironic echo of the White House, accused the
Palestinian president of plotting a "coup" against a government elected
to office until 2010. Indeed, legal experts question whether Abbas has
the constitutional authority to call new elections.
Unlike in Lebanon, of course, the U.S. and Britain are backing the
opposition in Gaza, declaring that Abbas' move is a step toward peace
between the Palestinians and Israel. Despite Hamas's democratic victory
at the polls in January, the West has imposed a blockade on financial
aid to the Palestinian Authority because Hamas refuses to recognize
Israel. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a tour of the Middle East,
appealed to the international community to back the Palestinian
president, hailing Abbas as a leader of "moderation and tolerance."
This apparent double-standard in the West's stances on Lebanon and on
Gaza has not gone unnoticed by Arab commentators. "How could the U.S.
support the democratically elected government in Lebanon and do just the
opposite in Palestine?" asked Talal Salman, the publisher of Lebanon's
As-Safir newspaper.
The U.S., wrote Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Al-Quds al-
Arabi, opposes the toppling of the elected Siniora government in
Lebanon, but "is in favor of toppling Hamas's government which is also
an elected one and, more dangerously, is even starving over four million
Palestinians to punish them for electing it. What kind of hypocrisy is
that?"
Promoting democracy in the Arab world has ostensibly been a cornerstone
of Bush Administration policy. In the post 9/11 era, the argument goes,
U.S. interests are best served if the region's corrupt dictatorships and
stifling theocracies which foster extremism are replaced by moderate
Western-friendly secular democracies. If U.S. zeal for democratization
made many Arab allies uncomfortable, they needn't have worried: The
focus of the democratization drive has always been on Washington's
regional enemies — Iraq, Iran and Syria — rather than on autocratic
friends.
In early 2005, the U.S. adopted the mass anti-Syrian street rallies
roiling Beirut, proclaiming a "Cedar revolution" and using its
diplomatic weight to help end almost three decades of Syrian domination.
With Iraq sliding into unmanageable chaos, Lebanon looked like a rare
success story, with Damascus humbled and the resulting pro-Western
Siniora government being backed as a bulwark against the regional
ambitions of Iran and Syria though their Lebanese ally, Hizballah.
"I'm proud of Prime Minister Siniora," Bush said at a press conference
this week. But that is not an accolade you will find reciprocated by
Siniora's ministerial colleagues, some of whom have come to regard the
Bush Administration as a fair-weather friend.
"We're a little bit angry at our friends [in the U.S.]. They did nothing
for us in our first year [in office]," Ahmad Fatfat, the minister of
sport and a leading anti-Syrian politician, told TIME. Such bitterness
is rooted in Washington's foot-dragging over ending last summer's month-
long war between Hizballah and Israel that cost over 1,000 Lebanese
lives and billions of dollars in damage. Siniora's tearful pleas for
international assistance to stop the onslaught went unheeded, while
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the devastation as the
"birth pangs of a new Middle East." Despite the window of opportunity
granted by Washington, Israel was unable to smash Hizballah's guerrilla
army. Now the Shi'ite group is seeking revenge against Siniora's
government, accusing it of tacitly siding with Israel and the U.S. in
plotting Hizballah's destruction.
So, while the Bush Administration continues talk the talk of promoting
democracy in the Middle East, many in the Arab world have a jaundiced
view of Washington's intentions: Democracy, yes, but only when the
outcome serves the interests of the U.S.
source:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1572574,00.html
===
-muslim voice-
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