At 20:14 09/01/2009, [email protected] wrote: >You will probably have noticed that I did not talk about the >importance of the fact that Israel is a democracy, something that is >stressed for example by Schoenbaum. It is almost certainly an >element of the relationship, but it is hard to know just how much. >For example, the US had close ties with Pakistan for many years even >though India has always had a much more democratic polity since >South Asia became independent, and at times the US has opted to >support military rule instead of populist regimes, even >democratically elected ones (most notably in Latin America, over and >over again). > >One other thing I should have noted: The US policy has itself become >entangled in contradictions in the last few decades. We opposed >military rulers like Saddam Hussein, but then decided to use him to >contain the Iranian Revolution. We disliked radical Islam, but >supported Osama bin Laden and other Islamist forces to give the >Soviets trouble in Afghanistan. The neo-cons of course hated both >the secular, nationalist military regimes and the Islamic ones, and >hoped that by attacking Iraq 6 years ago a pro-Western regime could >be established in Baghdad, and the regimes in Syria and Iran would >both be destabilized. Instead the neo-con policies have paved the >way for a pro-Iranian Shi'ite regime in Iraq, fomented much more >Islamic fundamentalism inside and outside Iraq, and strengthened the >hands of both Syria and Iran. As any objective observer can see, >this venture was a colossal blunder, above and beyond the horrible >waste of human lives and money involved, and even though things hav >e quieted down a bit in the last few years it is unlikely to end >well, for Iraq and probably for the rest of the region.
Or we could just re-characterise the above paragraphs: US policy is purely pragmatic. It favors non-democratic regimes as more discrete individuals whom it can bribe more easily. The supposition that Israel is a democracy actually counts against it ... but luckily it gets the billions in arms anyway. john g --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Persons posting messages to not_honyaku assume all responsibility for their messages. The list owner does not review messages, and accepts no responsibility for the content of messages posted. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
