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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (222072)	3/5/2005 4:14:49 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573130

Bush is putting process, democratic process to be specific, above the outcome. And I believe that is exactly what we should be doing. Let freedom and democracy prevail and I am sure that in the long run, America will benefit handsomely. Prop up dictators and tyrants and I can guarantee we're in for quite a few more 9/11s. MM, it all sounds good but you have to remember this whole process is still in its first inning. Forget democracy, Bush went into Iraq for oil and airbases. The Saudis are closing the two bases we have there and we need another location. If the new Iraqi gov't forbids US airbases, what do you think the neocon reaction in DC will be? While the oil issue is less of a problem, Bush is looking for a second major source that is not controlled by the Saudis. What happens if Iraq decides to join OPEC? Are We Serious About Arab Democracy? time.com Its a good article but do you get the fine line the author is walking? He mentions Lebanon......it sounds good but then he says that Hezbollah is the dominant party and they are very much in control. That means any Lebanese opposition party has to be very careful. Because guess who is closely tied to Hezbollah and funds them? Syria. Syria is making moves...sort of...maybe...to withdraw from Lebanon. But IMO what they really are doing is trying to buy time until the pressure is off. Right now, I bet Assad has little intention of withdrawing. With Palestine, pressure was put on the opposition candidate to Abbas to withdraw. That doesn't sound like a solid democracy to me. And Israel is going to freak when Hamas gets a number of parliamentry seats. Hamas is very popular with the Palestinians not because of their suicide bombers but because of the social services they provide. And then there is Egypt's Mubarak........much has been made of his opening up the election to opposition candidates. However, they can only come from recognized parties. Duh! The only true opposition party is banned. That speaks volumes. And don't forget the democratic election in Algeria in 1991........so typical of the ME. As soon as the existing leader thinks he's in danger of being voted out, he squashes the opposition and stops the democratic election. Over the past 50 years, that has been repeated over and over again in countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco etc. The article is a good one........the potential for change is there but its only the top of the first IMO. ted