On Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 10:54:16AM -0700, Mark Walker wrote:
>
> Thanks for the interesting essay. Suppose we accept your analysis of the
> etiology and your prescription for the ill, namely, a new age of
> enlightenment in the middle east. I am not sure how you propose to get from
> "here to there".
Neither am I.
However ...
> Any thoughts and getting from here to there?
We should start by taking a long, hard, look at who we go to bed with.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is a seductive-sounding maxim of
realpolitik -- but horribly flawed in the real world, as Tuesday showed
us. Bin Laden was trained by the CIA: indeed, the west in general has
a hideous record for supporting bloodstained monsters in the name of
expediency.
This has to stop. By supporting dictators, tyrants, and fanatics of
_any_ stripe we diminish the cause of freedom in the world -- and paint
ourselves in hypocrites' colours, and subvert our own values until it
seems almost reasonable to bring the tyranny back home.
We need to stop funding political movements abroad that you wouldn't
want to see running for Congress. Stop funding governments abroad that
you wouldn't be willing to go and live under for ten years.
Instead, look to your core values and give support to groups and people
who *share* them. Supporters of human rights and democracy abroad,
especially in the third world, are often critical of the US and EU
*precisely* because our governments talk the talk but don't walk the walk.
Democracy and freedom implies dissent; by their very nature democratic
movements are less likely to be uncritically grateful for your help
than a tyrant's controlled press.
If we start actually behaving abroad as if we *mean* what we say when
we talk about freedom and rights, we'll gradually make friends. It'll be
a slow process; there'll be a lot of suspicion and ill-will to get over.
But if you look at the German reaction to September 11th, you may find
it illuminating to ponder just what relatively enlightened policies have
achieved there over the past fifty-five years. (In case you haven't been
following it, the German government has declared itself fully behind
the Article 5 resultion passed by NATO; that's the first time since 1945
that a German government has declared itself willing and ready to send
troops abroad to fight in war. If that's not enough for you, you might
also want to take note of the national day of mourning they declared,
or the wreaths outside the US embassy. A _lot_ has changed since 1945.)
-- Charlie
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