re: #108 Lawrior

A domino theory for democracy? I amenable to that.

I have never believed in that theory. In general, I do not think that Arab culture places any significant value on democracy. At least not at this point in history. I remember reading some poll on the subject that took place in Syria, where people were asked if they would prefer to live in a democracy. Mostly they sort of shrugged their shoulders and said “whatever.” What they really wanted was just to be less poor, and they didn’t connect this with democracy. I thin there are many more deeply religious Arab Muslim countries where democracy is actually seen as an evil impediment to the theocracy that is required by Muslim law.

My sense is that Iranians, as a rule, probably place much more value on democracy than the Arabs. But I think that trying to start a wave of democracy flowing over the Arab world is like trying to start a fire using soaking wet wood. You can keep throwing matches on it, but all you’re doing is wasting matches.