R
Raymond
Guest
"Is there not some chosen curse, Some hidden thunder in the stores of
heaven, Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man Who owes his
greatness to his country's ruin? "
Author: Joseph Addison
The Longterm Legacy of the Bush II Administration
Freedom's progress may have come to a halt, or even gone into reverse.
By epaminondas on February 10, 2008 8:50 AM | Permalink |
9/11/2001 ushered in a new president who refuted his 'no nation
building' campaign promises with the recognition that democracy which
guaranteed freedom of religion and expression MUST ipso facto trump
the religious autocracy, and absolutist theocratic fascism we face.
With the difficulties in Iraq and the mountains of adverse opinion
seminally invested in by media, and then our adversaries, and semi
friends worldwide, the 'realists' came back into influence and power
as the word neo-con suddenly became an expletive.
And now the results:
From the Economist on Freedom House's annual report:
OVER the past half century, it often seemed that the advance of
democracy and basic freedoms--the right to speak and write without
fear of persecution, to demand political change, and so on--was
ineluctable. First the Europeans let their colonies go. Then the
Soviet empire fell, and with it the communist monopoly on power in
eastern Europe. And apartheid ended in South Africa.
Recently, though, freedom's progress may have come to a halt, or even
gone into reverse. That, at least, is the conclusion of Freedom House,
an august American lobby group whose observations on the state of
liberty are a keenly watched indicator. Its report for 2007 speaks of
a "profoundly disturbing deterioration" in the global picture, with
reversals seen in 38 countries--nearly four times as many as are
showing any sign of improvement.
An especially disturbing sign, says the organization, is the number of
countries in all regions of the world where a previously hopeful trend
has gone into reverse. They include Bangladesh (where the armed forces
took over last year), Sri Lanka (whose civil war flared up) and the
Philippines. Other backsliders included Nigeria and Kenya, accounting
for more than one sub-Saharan African in four between them, plus the
Palestinian territories and Lebanon. In both Georgia and Kyrgyzstan,
former Soviet republics whose "colour revolutions" were warmly
encouraged by Freedom House, there was regression. Only two countries,
Thailand and Togo, made a clear leap forward last year, going from
"not free" to "partly free".
No country joined the top "free" group, and a total of 43 countries,
representing 36% of the world's population, now languish in the "not
free" group. None of the eight "worst of the worst"--Cuba, Libya,
North Korea, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan--was
credited with any sign of improvement.
Ironically many of the left today,, who attacked the Eisenhower, and
Nixon administrations for cozying up to Latin American fascist
dictators who mouthed pablum like musings about being "anti-
communist", are exactly those whose criticisms of the Bush
administrations efforts have totally short circuited the efforts they
wished for in the 1960's and 1970's, and rendered a return to cozying
up to absolutist tribal (like) autocracies who now mouth pablum like
musings about being "anti-terrorist".
When the history books are written in 50 years, people will be asking
why the Bush admin retreated from it's own best judgment about the
nature of reality in this war, and resorted to being Jim Baker as
Talleyrand.(even in conservative Muslim countries, where God-given
sharia can be more popular than any law made by man, people tell
opinion pollsters they want to elect their own governments- Economist)
In doing so they have discouraged our true friends among nations,
emboldened our enemies, and given heart to those who think as it ever
has been so it ever shall be.
Every time I see a picture of Mubarak, or Abdullah or a Faisal, I keep
seeing Fulgencio Batista
There are those who say that freedom can never trump the Quran. I am
among them. This should not change the unyielding pressure we bring to
bear on all those nations who show glee at events such as the 2007
NIE, or the Iraq Study Group's atrocious ideas. It's just that in this
case Bismarck has it backwards. Sometimes politics, and decisions
taken are the result of the battlefield's ineluctable result, not the
other way around.
In any case by losing sight of their ultimate goal, and taking counsel
of their criticisms, at moments of high difficulty this administration
abandoned it's primary strategic effort, and in doing so set back
their place in history.
No doubt they can attempt justify this with 'how much can we be
expected to do?' or 'look what happened in Gaza'. This begs the
question of whether the dance can be avoided.
Human progress points in only one direction, and it is not towards
absolutist religious oligarchy, and dictatorship. The Will and Ariel
Durant's of 2075 will wonder why this was not obvious to those of us
today, in decision making positions.
heaven, Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man Who owes his
greatness to his country's ruin? "
Author: Joseph Addison
The Longterm Legacy of the Bush II Administration
Freedom's progress may have come to a halt, or even gone into reverse.
By epaminondas on February 10, 2008 8:50 AM | Permalink |
9/11/2001 ushered in a new president who refuted his 'no nation
building' campaign promises with the recognition that democracy which
guaranteed freedom of religion and expression MUST ipso facto trump
the religious autocracy, and absolutist theocratic fascism we face.
With the difficulties in Iraq and the mountains of adverse opinion
seminally invested in by media, and then our adversaries, and semi
friends worldwide, the 'realists' came back into influence and power
as the word neo-con suddenly became an expletive.
And now the results:
From the Economist on Freedom House's annual report:
OVER the past half century, it often seemed that the advance of
democracy and basic freedoms--the right to speak and write without
fear of persecution, to demand political change, and so on--was
ineluctable. First the Europeans let their colonies go. Then the
Soviet empire fell, and with it the communist monopoly on power in
eastern Europe. And apartheid ended in South Africa.
Recently, though, freedom's progress may have come to a halt, or even
gone into reverse. That, at least, is the conclusion of Freedom House,
an august American lobby group whose observations on the state of
liberty are a keenly watched indicator. Its report for 2007 speaks of
a "profoundly disturbing deterioration" in the global picture, with
reversals seen in 38 countries--nearly four times as many as are
showing any sign of improvement.
An especially disturbing sign, says the organization, is the number of
countries in all regions of the world where a previously hopeful trend
has gone into reverse. They include Bangladesh (where the armed forces
took over last year), Sri Lanka (whose civil war flared up) and the
Philippines. Other backsliders included Nigeria and Kenya, accounting
for more than one sub-Saharan African in four between them, plus the
Palestinian territories and Lebanon. In both Georgia and Kyrgyzstan,
former Soviet republics whose "colour revolutions" were warmly
encouraged by Freedom House, there was regression. Only two countries,
Thailand and Togo, made a clear leap forward last year, going from
"not free" to "partly free".
No country joined the top "free" group, and a total of 43 countries,
representing 36% of the world's population, now languish in the "not
free" group. None of the eight "worst of the worst"--Cuba, Libya,
North Korea, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan--was
credited with any sign of improvement.
Ironically many of the left today,, who attacked the Eisenhower, and
Nixon administrations for cozying up to Latin American fascist
dictators who mouthed pablum like musings about being "anti-
communist", are exactly those whose criticisms of the Bush
administrations efforts have totally short circuited the efforts they
wished for in the 1960's and 1970's, and rendered a return to cozying
up to absolutist tribal (like) autocracies who now mouth pablum like
musings about being "anti-terrorist".
When the history books are written in 50 years, people will be asking
why the Bush admin retreated from it's own best judgment about the
nature of reality in this war, and resorted to being Jim Baker as
Talleyrand.(even in conservative Muslim countries, where God-given
sharia can be more popular than any law made by man, people tell
opinion pollsters they want to elect their own governments- Economist)
In doing so they have discouraged our true friends among nations,
emboldened our enemies, and given heart to those who think as it ever
has been so it ever shall be.
Every time I see a picture of Mubarak, or Abdullah or a Faisal, I keep
seeing Fulgencio Batista
There are those who say that freedom can never trump the Quran. I am
among them. This should not change the unyielding pressure we bring to
bear on all those nations who show glee at events such as the 2007
NIE, or the Iraq Study Group's atrocious ideas. It's just that in this
case Bismarck has it backwards. Sometimes politics, and decisions
taken are the result of the battlefield's ineluctable result, not the
other way around.
In any case by losing sight of their ultimate goal, and taking counsel
of their criticisms, at moments of high difficulty this administration
abandoned it's primary strategic effort, and in doing so set back
their place in history.
No doubt they can attempt justify this with 'how much can we be
expected to do?' or 'look what happened in Gaza'. This begs the
question of whether the dance can be avoided.
Human progress points in only one direction, and it is not towards
absolutist religious oligarchy, and dictatorship. The Will and Ariel
Durant's of 2075 will wonder why this was not obvious to those of us
today, in decision making positions.