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RickReader comment on item: Bush's Middle East Hopes [and His Failures] Submitted by Trans-parere (Canada), Jan 21, 2008 at 18:29 Israel shares a ruling population exception similar to the Arab States in that Israel is ruled by those of the Jewish faith and Arabs by Islam. The key difference as I see it is that Israel and her Jewish population have immigrated from many different world regions with many different world experiences that enrich it as a nation. The many national experiences brought by those returning to Israel gave her a diversity one can witness in it's system of governance and political party's. Comparatively, the Arab States are for the most part, singularly "Arab" authoritarian principalities. We dropped the ball where Iran and Lebanon are concerned, and I think we may have dropped the ball were the Kurds are concerned by not creating an independent and democratic Kurdish State when we had the chance in early days during the advance on Baghdad. As you say, "democracy is only as good as the people", and I don't think we in the west, the purveyors of democracy, have been selling the product at home and abroad with any great consistency. As it stands now I am concerned for the direction/consistency needed in Iraq and Afghanistan post GWB. We could drop the ball here with a liberalism equal to that which compelled America to fight as it did in Viet-Nam and to find an equally easy face saving way out. Failure here could force the worlds leading democracies to withdraw to an isolationist posture that could prove the making of a WW3 later down the road. No less than in any other time, we today need good, strong leaders who hold an inclusive world view. And we need a politically active, educated populace to ensure that's what we get. For the whole world, in the final analysis, it all comes down to ... We the people. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (87) on this item
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All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |