re: #833 Obdicut

I think rather we should make continued support increasingly conditional. Doesn’t totally solve the problem, though, and is a little Western Parternalistic.

My problem with you, Cordell, is that I think you’re unconsciously buying into some racism or culturalism, and do not believe that the Muslim world can actually find a path to growth, liberalism, and peace on its own. I do not like it when people on the ‘right’ suggest that Islam is somehow more inherently bad than other religions, and I do not like it when people on the ‘left’ suggest those poor ignorant Arabs just can’t help themselves. I have great sympathy for the citizens who are kept ignorant and fed propaganda, but that’s not excuse enough— the educated elite are party to the deception as well. I think it is paternalistic to suggest that the Muslim world lacks some je ne sais quoi that is a requirement for revolution, because I feel that you’re identifying that with the Western world.

I’m saying that the conditions in the Arab states surrounding Israel have given me absolutely no reason to believe they will change their political structure any time soon. First and foremost, the regimes in power are not afraid to be brutal when necessary to maintain their grip on power. Second, they have the explicit monetary support of the United States Government. Third, in a modern state the police and military have such a massive technological advantage over any civilian uprising, that revolution has become much more challenging. IMHO, for any revolution in those states to succeed, it would require a military coup. Which, is even more unlikely as the military in both Egypt and Jordan is filled with hard-liners.

It’s not an indescribable something that’s preventing the formation of a liberal democracy, it’s all the factors listed above. And I don’t believe using our foreign aid cash as a carrot on a stick to force Egypt and Jordan’s hand with regard to Palestine is paternalism. That’s just smart foreign policy.