The number of national leaders, and common people around the world, who think Mahathir speaks Truth, is far larger, than the total who think Sharon or Bush speak Truth. That's a reality which needs to be dealt with. Calling it "drivel" is not an effective response.
Nationalism is a reality, perhaps the core reality of international relations. With soldiers in 120 foreign nations, the U.S. confronts foreign nationalism, far more than any other nation. That nationalism, from Malaysia to Egypt to Columbia to Korea, can express itself in two basic ways: military or economic.
Mahathir champions the idea of little poor nations becoming strong, ending their humiliation at the hands of the Western Powers who have been pushing them around since Columbus, through economic development. That's what Malaysia has done, in the 22 years Mahathir has run the country.
The other choice, is the type of nationalism championed by Bin Laden: violent revenge, make unending war on anyone who humiliates Muslims.
Mahathir's version of nationalism, we can live with. Bin Laden's, we can't. It makes sense, to help channel foreign nationalism, down the road Malaysia is taking, as the only realistic alternative in the Muslim world, to Bin Laden's ideology.
Or, we can keep dreaming about dominoes falling, and the whole Middle East being ruled by pro-American liberal democracies, and Exxon and Walmart owning their economies, and other fantasies. |
