rssNot Torturing People Is Good Democracy-Promotion Material
Friday, January 30, 2009 at 9:34 am
- 2 Comments
Over at Democracy Arsenal, Michael Cohen reads a quote from a prospective adviser to President Obama about “achiev[ing] small, concrete outcomes that advance political freedoms in very tangible ways and do[ing] so, without talking about doing so” and observes:
There is simply no better way to undermine US credibility and weaken the country’s moral standing then fail to back up your words with actions: even when it may be occasionally appropriate to weigh American interests over American values. People around the world listen when US presidents speak and they can smell hypocrisy a mile away.
I’d add that it’s more than just a credibility issue. What the Bush administration failed to adequately take into account — and here I’m presuming good faith on its part when it comes to democracy promotion, just for the sake of argument — were the structural reasons why autocracies remain in place, and if the Obama administration doesn’t take those into account, it will likely fail, too.
Take a few examples: Over the last eight years, there was never an effort to, say, encourage the United States’ Persian Gulf-state clients to move away from a rentier-state model of governance reliant on oil revenue for their wealth, even though the political science literature on rentier states underscores oil wealth’s contribution to dysfunction, corruption and autocracy. Sticking with the Middle East for a moment, you can’t tell Egypt and Syria to liberalize on one hand and then rely on their security services for outsourcing your torture. A belated and then meager effort to actively mitigate and then resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, perhaps the single greatest source of multifaceted instability in the region and the cynical pretext for much Arab autocracy, doesn’t help either.
This isn’t to say that Michael’s wrong, because he’s not. It’s just to say that the issue is a lot deeper than rhetoric.
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2 Comments
Comment posted January 30, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
Mr. President Obama: We are going to guarantee you and your gurus of think tanks in America. That you are not going to be successful in your negotiations with the Islamic movement in The “Muslim world”.
We hope that we are wrong about what we know and understand their ideology and their ambitions. From peaceful one like PM of Turkey to Osama bin Laden want to defeat your country in the Middle East and Asia.
We are calling your politicians foe over one year now to adopt different policy and do some thing for the people in “Muslim World”. When you treat our people like you treated the Europeans’ people after World War II then you can help our people and defeat the revengeful Islamic dictatorship instead of negotiating with them.
America needs to understand the Islamic movement from PM of Turkey to Osama bin Laden first. Then you are going to believe what we are informing you about them.
PM of Turkey or Iran or other part of Muslim world and Israel needs genuine solutions not artificial one.
PM of Turkey is not different from Ayatollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden. He is sharing the same ideological ambitions but he is trying to achieve the same result deferentially than them. They are the people who want to defeat seculars and western democratic systems in the “Muslim World”. They are working to establish the Islamic dictatorship similar to the Communist dictatorships. The PM of Turkey wants to be the Islamic “Khalifa” so is Osama bin Laden.
Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran did achieve the title of “Imam” in Shia’ism which is equivalent to the Islamic “Khalifa” in Islamic Sunni branch.
We are suffering from the Islamic unjust dictatorship in Iran now. Ayatollah Khomeini now is the residence of Hell for his crime against the Muslim people in Iran and Iraq.
The Islamic movements are sharing the common goals. The only different is PM of Turkey wants to take different method for reaching the same gals; when the times are right he will fight the USA, Israel, EU and Russian. He is trying to fool the western countries until he reaches his goals of eliminating the Turkish General’s power first in home.
PM of Turkey never want to join the EU. His goals are to defeat the Military Generals in Turkey first; then you will see him how moderate he is.
We are saying for over one year now; what the Islamic movement wants and what the Islamic party in Turkey wants. His plan to go to EU is this. He want to show the military that the west does not like Turkey; and then he want to eliminate the military Generals powers in Turkey so he can control the military first. After that he wants to revive the Turkish holly wars of “Jihad” against the west, Israel and Russia. And declare himself Islamic “Khalifa” for life and then his son can take over after his death. They are the Islamic dictators no more no less. The Islamic movements are against technology, freedom of religions, and freedom of any thing. They do love the power to abuse the people.
The PM of Turkey and his latest acting against Israel in that meeting are just part of his goal. The Islamic movement does not have any good thing for Muslim people. They are even much worse than the Communist dictatorships. One is using religions to rule by force and the other is using labors to rule by force. But the outcomes are the same for the ruled people.
Sincerely,
Jaff Sassani
From the SKDC
jaff.skdc@googlemail.com
Comment posted January 30, 2009 @ 9:10 pm
Mr. President Obama: We are going to guarantee you and your gurus of think tanks in America. That you are not going to be successful in your negotiations with the Islamic movement in The “Muslim world”.
We hope that we are wrong about what we know and understand their ideology and their ambitions. From peaceful one like PM of Turkey to Osama bin Laden want to defeat your country in the Middle East and Asia.
We are calling your politicians foe over one year now to adopt different policy and do some thing for the people in “Muslim World”. When you treat our people like you treated the Europeans’ people after World War II then you can help our people and defeat the revengeful Islamic dictatorship instead of negotiating with them.
America needs to understand the Islamic movement from PM of Turkey to Osama bin Laden first. Then you are going to believe what we are informing you about them.
PM of Turkey or Iran or other part of Muslim world and Israel needs genuine solutions not artificial one.
PM of Turkey is not different from Ayatollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden. He is sharing the same ideological ambitions but he is trying to achieve the same result deferentially than them. They are the people who want to defeat seculars and western democratic systems in the “Muslim World”. They are working to establish the Islamic dictatorship similar to the Communist dictatorships. The PM of Turkey wants to be the Islamic “Khalifa” so is Osama bin Laden.
Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran did achieve the title of “Imam” in Shia’ism which is equivalent to the Islamic “Khalifa” in Islamic Sunni branch.
We are suffering from the Islamic unjust dictatorship in Iran now. Ayatollah Khomeini now is the residence of Hell for his crime against the Muslim people in Iran and Iraq.
The Islamic movements are sharing the common goals. The only different is PM of Turkey wants to take different method for reaching the same gals; when the times are right he will fight the USA, Israel, EU and Russian. He is trying to fool the western countries until he reaches his goals of eliminating the Turkish General’s power first in home.
PM of Turkey never want to join the EU. His goals are to defeat the Military Generals in Turkey first; then you will see him how moderate he is.
We are saying for over one year now; what the Islamic movement wants and what the Islamic party in Turkey wants. His plan to go to EU is this. He want to show the military that the west does not like Turkey; and then he want to eliminate the military Generals powers in Turkey so he can control the military first. After that he wants to revive the Turkish holly wars of “Jihad” against the west, Israel and Russia. And declare himself Islamic “Khalifa” for life and then his son can take over after his death. They are the Islamic dictators no more no less. The Islamic movements are against technology, freedom of religions, and freedom of any thing. They do love the power to abuse the people.
The PM of Turkey and his latest acting against Israel in that meeting are just part of his goal. The Islamic movement does not have any good thing for Muslim people. They are even much worse than the Communist dictatorships. One is using religions to rule by force and the other is using labors to rule by force. But the outcomes are the same for the ruled people.
Sincerely,
Jaff Sassani
From the SKDC
jaff.skdc@googlemail.com
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