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

To: jcky who wrote (41303)	9/1/2002 11:32:29 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Analogies are not the same as identity, but with that in mind one might consider the parallels between what the United States faces today in regard to Middle Eastern terrorism and the crises that America confronted domestically in the 1960's and 70's. At that time, American society was shaken by violence undertaken by groups like the Ku Klux Klan (often in semi-autonomous klaverns), White Citizens' Councils, the Black Panthers and the Symbionese Liberation Army. Without civil-rights legislation and the concomitant changes in America's social views on race relations, the challenge that those organizations posed might have lasted much longer and become more menacing. That's not such a bad analogy. The rise of the Islamists is generally thought to be connected with the dismal failure of Arab governments to provide either good governance, a working economy, or a political sphere that permits free speech. But how, exactly, is America supposed to enact civil rights legislation for the Arab Middle East? The governments in place are certainly entirely unresponsive to popular needs. Notice that Brzezinski never answers the question he raises, but only goes onto dire warnings about letting our war on terrorism be 'hijacked' by local rulers such as Putin and Sharon. By failing to address the question, he raises the implication that we could do something from an external, purely foreign policy perspective that would magically melt away the grievances of an Osama bin Laden or a Sheikh Nasrallah. Is he really suggesting we withdraw from the Mideast? which would surely leave the terrorists triumphant that those governments we have been supporting weaker than ever. Not to mention leaving Saddam Hussein a free hand to rebuild himself as the regional superpower -- even as is, he still has the largest army in the region. It's much easier to suggest that you have the right answer that the clowns in power are missing, than to spell it out so it can be debated.

To: jcky who wrote (41303)	9/1/2002 11:35:03 AM
From: JohnM	Respond to of 281500

The most alarming aspect of Doran's piece is that we are playing right into bin Laden's script. That's one of the several things in that essay you can't help but be struck by. As for the piece by Zbigniew Brzezinski, that's as good as it gets. I recall having rather negative feelings about him during Carter's presidency but his recent stuff has been just exactly right. The use of the t word (terrorism) requires historical context, less it become simply a political tool, in the worst sense of that word.