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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (37296)	8/12/2002 2:16:37 PM
From: Bilow	Respond to of 281500

Hi Hawkmoon; Re: "Democracy, WITHOUT a legal framework such as a constitution, would likely be destablizing. But a constitution is the political "rulebook" setting the rules by which participating parties operate. It has to be equally derived from all parties, and include some semblance of separation between church and state, mosque and ministry." While your idea might be a good one, I don't see how to force other people's nations to use such a constitution without, well, force. And in the absence of that force their constitution will revert to what they (as a whole) want it to be. Re: "Within those restrictions and guidelines, the Saudis can likely moderate the extremists ..." The undeniable fact is that the Saudis are mostly extremists. What do you think they're going to do, suddenly become rational? You might as well wait for the Israelis to quit believing they're God's Chosen People. Or do you think that the 5% non extremist minority in Saudi Arabia is going to control the other 95% of the population? Re: "The reality, which you, and many others, seem to ignore, is that there is a long-term trend toward reactionary Extremist Islam. It is fed by demographic trends, economic and social failure, political corruption. Accomodating it will only put off the day of reckoning to a period where the cost will likely be even higher." This is completely wrong. There is no such long term trend. Iran is a great example. As soon as these societies experience a government run by Islamic Fundamentalism, the youth goes into revolt. Even if the kids don't kick the government over they'll eventually be running the show. I don't think you appreciate how attractive our way of life is. We have the kids, at least in the regions where Islam has been given free reign to discover its own inconsistencies. This has not happened in Saudi Arabia, which is not an Islamic government. It's a Monarchy, and is as obsolete as a tube radio. This is exactly how the Communists regimes fell. The elders were believers, or at least were in awe of the threat of terror that the government held over their heads. But as time went on, youth was born in the system, and was not afraid of it. -- Carl