|
|
Post by chequeredflaggg on Oct 5, 2012 16:00:12 GMT 10
|
|
|
|
Post by pim on Oct 5, 2012 17:15:25 GMT 10
Colonel George Dubya led us into Iraq for all sorts of reasons, but one of them was to bomb Iraq into democracy. About as effective as Stalin's attempt to export the blessings of Soviet-style communism to Eastern Europe at the point of Red Army bayonets at the end of WW2. In Stalin's case it was a slow burn. The Iron Curtain lasted from the late 1940s until the beginning of the 1990s and we're still not sure yet how well free market democracy is taking in those old Warsaw Pact countries. It's a work in progress. Have to say it isnt looking good with early 21st century Russia looking like it's developing into a gangster state with features that Stalin would have related to. Same with China. It's a Stalinist bureaucracy grafted onto a capitalist free-for-all and which gives support to some very dodgy polities like Nth Korea which has degenerated from the Stalinist model to something resembling a medieval hereditary absolute monarchy. But neighbouring South Korea and Taiwan are standout examples of developing democracies. However I do recall that both Sth Korea and Taiwan were pretty oppressive dictatorships during the Cold War decades. Democracy is a pretty fragile sort of plant. The thing about democracy and the rule of law with independent courts and civil liberties is that they've always been declared to be "universal values". The George W Bush model of bombing a polity into democracy is a "top down" model which is proving to be pretty disastrous in Afghanistan and problematical in Iraq.Whatever is happening in what you scathingly refer to as the "Arab Spring fantasy" is "bottom up" if it's anything. It's messy and we don't know how it ends. And that's the truth of it. But I'm not prepared to conclude that while democracy is fine & dandy for cultures like ours it isn't something the Arabs are suited to. I beg to differ. I think if you put a Druze from the Chouf Mountains of Lebanon into an Australian city and allow him to start up his small business (I know a Druze - has a lunch place in a suburban shopping centre and does a very nice cup of coffee. He'll prepare you a very nice felafel but will do a very good toasted ham & cheese sanger on request), he'll be as law-abiding and will value democracy and the rule of law just as much as the most impeccably Anglo Australian. |
|
|
|
Post by garfield on Oct 5, 2012 18:41:52 GMT 10
Its a concept the left could never understand ... "he may be a sonofabitch but at least he's our sonofabitch"
|
|
|
|
Post by slartibartfast on Oct 5, 2012 23:17:07 GMT 10
What, Saddam? He was the right's hero.
Rummy, where are you now?
|
|
|
|
Post by matt on Oct 5, 2012 23:27:35 GMT 10
We should not be backing either the regime or the rebels.
Who are the rebels? Do they have a leader?
The rebels seem like a mishmash of terrorist groups.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2012 9:49:49 GMT 10
We should not be backing either the regime or the rebels. Who are the rebels? Do they have a leader? The rebels seem like a mishmash of terrorist groups. The most despotic terrorist group in the region is the Israeli Government. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2012 11:42:20 GMT 10
|
|
