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The Same Old Middle East, For Now
Aug. 15th, 2006 12:40 pm♠
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria along with Iran's President Ahmadinejad declare that the Hezbollah war demonstrates that President Bush's plan for a "New Middle East" has failed. That would be too bad, because the old Middle East sure sucks. Assad and Ahmadinejad seem happy about it, though. Three cheers for despotism!
I still find it an interesting proposition that we would be fairly indifferent to the Middle East keeping its despotic, medievalist cast, if they could find it in their interest to refrain from attacking us and Israel. It might be too bad for the common Muslim peoples living under such regimes, but, realistically speaking, it would be their problem.
It is striking that such governance is so dysfunctional that they apparently have to have these external satans against which to direct the peoples' frustrations. This is the ultimate weakness of these regimes. We are not going to just let them attack us, even though there are remarkably voices who favor that kind of response. Thus, these regimes carry the seeds of their own destruction.
xXx
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria along with Iran's President Ahmadinejad declare that the Hezbollah war demonstrates that President Bush's plan for a "New Middle East" has failed. That would be too bad, because the old Middle East sure sucks. Assad and Ahmadinejad seem happy about it, though. Three cheers for despotism!
I still find it an interesting proposition that we would be fairly indifferent to the Middle East keeping its despotic, medievalist cast, if they could find it in their interest to refrain from attacking us and Israel. It might be too bad for the common Muslim peoples living under such regimes, but, realistically speaking, it would be their problem.
It is striking that such governance is so dysfunctional that they apparently have to have these external satans against which to direct the peoples' frustrations. This is the ultimate weakness of these regimes. We are not going to just let them attack us, even though there are remarkably voices who favor that kind of response. Thus, these regimes carry the seeds of their own destruction.
