There used to be plenty of people in the West who believed capitalism and democracy was doomed and that the Soviet Union was going to win the Cold War by virtue of the merits of Communism. They pointed to Soviet achievements like industrialization, military strength, Olympics, and accomplishments in the arts as sure signs that Communism was superior. Those people were seriously mistaken, and we now know that Soviet success was a facade covering a decreipt, corrupt, incompetent system of government that finally collapsed under its own weight.
Does anyone in the West really understand what is going on inside Arab societies? Thomas Friedman has written about it a lot and he still only sees shadows of it as an outsider. There is a war going on within Arab societies (and some other Muslim societies) between moderates who want to modernize - perhaps in the image of Malaysia or Indonesia - and Islamists who want to move in the direction of Iran. The Islamists appear to have momentum in some states, but their track record of governance is horrendous. Ultimately those societies will reject any government that fails to meet the basic needs of its people. Saudi Arabia, on its own, held municipal elections in 2005. Whether that leads to more extensive reform- we will see. A lot depends on the success of democracy in Iraq- everyone knows it. That's why Syria and Iran have fought so hard to destabilize Iraq and topple the democratic government. The fear freedom. They fear the consequences for their own governments when their citizens see a prosperous and free Iraq. They fear that outcome more than anything. On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 9:42 AM, Michael G wrote: > >The deeper plan- democracy for the Middle East. > > And if you believe that I have some ocean front property in Idaho I'll sell > you real cheap. > > Saudi Arabia isn't a Democracy and I can assure you there won't be any > attempt to make it so by the U.S. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:284403 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
