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February 3, 2011

Joe Klein and the Rotten Fruit of Arab Democracy

Sometimes words fail. Joe Klein, writing in the new issue of Time, wonders:

How on earth do we get saddled with such creepy clients as Karzai and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, over and over again?

Yes, why do they keep doing this to us?!

His piece is a pox-on-both-houses rant about U.S. foreign policy: The “realists” often end up coddling dictators, and the idealists don’t understand how the world works. Of the latter, he writes:

the tangible fruits of the Freedom Agenda turned out to be mostly rotten: elections in the Palestinian territories, which no one but Hamas (and Bush) wanted, produced a Hamas plurality; a push for democracy in Afghanistan produced a foolish constitution, centralizing power in a notoriously decentralized country, and corrupt elections. And the jury is still out on Iraq, where the most vital “democratic” force may turn out to be the populist, Iran-leaning cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

If this is supposed to represent some special category of policy wisdom, it fails miserably–it’s a fairly standard complaint among pundits that democracy that produces the wrong results (for us)is bad democracy. Klein has a better idea:

A smarter foreign policy would quietly promote a careful transition from autocracy to something more benign. The best way to do this is to latch onto institutions, not individual leaders, in the developing countries we seek as allies.

That institution? The military.

Military aid comes with strings that bind–the continuing need for spare parts, for example. But strong armies create security, a necessary precursor for democracy.

Klein is decent enough to add that “armies have provided a steady global diet of horrific dictators.” I guess that risk still beats letting people control their own lives.

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  1. Anyone see the irony in someone like Klein utilizing the word “creepy” to make his point?

    His is a distinctly unnerving hubris, innit?

    Of course, by “distinctly”, I by no means mean “unique” within the confines of a copiously conceited corpress.

    But I’m confident you knew that.

  3. We keep an eye on the left, middle and right. Insofar as pundits are concerned, one cannot put too much credence in “stuff” that is written by those with absolutely no real practical background in what they are writing about. For instance, a writer with the experience of a Soldier does a much better job of writing about Soldierly things (and has more credibility too). The same goes for other types of experience, e.g., Diplomat, etc. On the other hand, a writer with no practical experience (except in writing) generally finds himself blowing in the wind (except from his own frame of reference when he looks in the mirror…which may be quite often). And where is it written in concrete (or even Egyptian mud) that the world revolves around religion, e.g., the worlds of Jews, Muslims and Christians? Religion is pretty much the reason for most of the slaughter since before the time of Christ anyway.

    OKJack┞¢Group┞¢
    Disabled Middle and Working Class Veterans┞¢
    We Paid the Dues that Aren’t Required!┞¢

  4. A rabbi living in Israel told me this
    A turtle goes to the Jordan’s bank ,and prepares to swim across.A scorpion jumps on his back and says- take me over or i will sting you.Half way across the scorpion stings the turtle, and both begin to drown.Why asks the turtle…. why?
    The scorpion shrugs and says…This is the middle east.
    My question still is…Name me an Arab leader who we should “trust”?.Who we could trust?Trust to fight back the terrorist elements that thrive in that hot dry world?Trust to have an acceptable concept of human rights ?Trust to not return to warfare with Israel?Trust to be honest brokers in the supply line of oil that is our national blood.Become more important -since the young Mr Obama has shut down US exploration and the use of her own massive natural resources in a cold turkey turn toward windmills and electric cars(sic).

  5. The middle east may say the same of US presidents over the years too in your scorpion and turtle fable Michael E.

    We’ve seen where the USA can muscle in and support someone like Saddam Hussein, then turn on him when they take a notion to, then its war and blockade killing about 4 million people over the past 21 years.

    We are the ones that need to turn away from all hydrocarbon energy sources as soon as possible. That includes windmills(sic) and electric cars. No milling going on just generating electricity.

  6. That’s right, sometimes, OKJack. A person who watches things closely, reads widely, and pays attention can write very well indeed about subjects with which he is not intimately familiar. Those writers who have no practical experience (except in writing) are legion today; overwhelmingly, they are hacks who write columns for newspapers or who labor (often for huge sums; same goes for the columnists) for “think” tanks and big, bad national magazines. You’re right about war correspondence: my favorite writer (on the subject of war) is Paul Fussell, a WWII combat veteran. But there are many historians who write well about war, but who have never experienced it. The same goes for the diplomatic trade, labor history, etc. (Fussell writes very well indeed, and has commented succinctly on many things outside of what might be considered his purview. He’s simply a man of letters who has been paying attention. His war experiences profoundly changed his outlook and temperament. For his readers’ benefit, but perhaps not his. World War Two damaged tens of millions of people, including him.)
    I think the writers you’re talking about are the apparatchiks and miserable hacks that FAIR spends considerable time and effort to reveal. Someone like, say, Jonah Goldberg, or even David Broder. Let’s not forget the God-awful Kathleen Parker (mentioned elsewhere in this blog), or Charles Krauthammer (also brought up elsewhere here).
    P.S.: Why don’t you give us a web address for your organization? I’d like to check it out . . . .

  7. Nightgaunt
    With the massive discoveries of sweet oil in our north west(10x more than all the middle east and enough to supply 100% of all our needs for 2000years)why is this the time to get off of hydrocarbons?We will always be looking for new and profitable energy.For now the goal is to get off of middle east oil and tap our own.DRILL BABY DRILL

  8. Jesus Christ! Who knew? Enough oil for 2000 years! Goddammit, Nightgaunt, get with the program! Two thousand mutha-fxxkin’ years of oil, oil, oil, oil! For, presumably, every man, woman, and child in the USA! Why did I not know this? Hart! Naureckas! You guys have been asleep at the switch! Do you know what this means? Forget about the Green Bay Packers (owned by the folks of Green Bay–Goddamned socialists anyway! And those friggin’ Bolsheviks won! They beat the Steelers! Although . . . the Steelers are borne out of the Bessemer converter . . . a mighty union town too . . . damn, this is complicated . . .). What’s the story on this massive oil find!? I did a quick inventory, and though math is not my strong point, I figured this to be about eight hundred billion barrels of oil. Wow! That’s a lot of oil, sirs. That’s a big story. Not even Al Jezeera is gonna pass on this one, even though it’s going to make the bad old USA look real good. Even the Egyptians might think twice about their desire for democracy once they hear about this. We’ll see.

  9. Tim research just today the finds of 2 trillion cubic feet or 165 million barrels off our California coast.Or the 2 tillion barrels under the rocky mountain basen(2 weeks ago).Or the massive massive amounts found in the Bakken formation just reported to congress last week.More oil in just the Bakken than all of the middles east many times over.And we have only begun there!Point is you can argue all day the fanciful numbers experts are flinging about.It is painfully obvious that what we have here is not a shortage of energy/oil.We have a shortage of commitment at the highest levels to remove us from the middle eastern tit by using our own resources.So as gas climbs by 35 cents in the last ten days and our president dreams of bullet trains and electric cars that nobody wants or can afford…we sit on an ocean of gas and oil.I would think libs would want this development.We can stop paying these kingdoms of sand trillions(ya know- taking advantage of them)and maybe they can find peace and freedom again once that dirty money spigot is turned off.We can only hope.

  11. Thanks for that link, Helen. Man oh man, did I ever get excited, or what? And my numbers were conservative, too! I suppose if we’re going to engage in fantasy and dreaming, I’ll report, right here, with zero facts to back it up (just like the Wall) that over 400 quintillion barrels of oil have been found under Mount Rushmore. Scientists say that we just need to hook up a garden hose to a spigot that was already there, and we can start pumping. Pump, baby, pump! Drill here, drill now, pay nothing!

  12. Tim As I said it does not matter that you want to believe 2 year old articles at the beginning of exploration as opposed to what was reported to Congress by the top experts 3 weeks ago.Can you argue that we should exploit(I know you love that word)our own resources before we exploit other countries a world away?The estimation is a barrel of oil should drop to 16 dollars if the bakken alone is tapped.If even a 2% of profit was taken by the government and thrown into new developmental science of alternative power think of the massive funding. That is meeting in the middle no?Or should we just stop all development of our own massive resources and go back to horse and buggy? Oops cant do that. Horses create methane….Methane is a no no.And WE are the party of no.
    Patriotic ,proud, self reliant ,rugged individual capitalist, NRA Tea party member WALL out!

  14. Just wanted to note that the new article says, “The Bakken and the Eagle Ford are each expected to ultimately produce 4 billion barrels of oil.”

    In 2009 the total of oil the US imports minus the oil it exports in one year equaled approximately 3, 528,455 barrels. [9.667 million per day]

    http://www.eia.doe.gov/ask/crudeoil_faqs.asp#foreign_oil

    Clearly the Bakken oil, by itself, would have little impact on current prices.

  15. In common parlance, popular rule is only half of what democracy is all about. The other half is about protecting the fundamental rights of minorities. Even if a wide majority elects a Taliban-like regime that would deny women and education, stone people for who they want to marry, imprison dissidents for the crime of free expression, kill gays, Jews, blacks (insert minority here) that would technically be democracy in action, and yet it would offend our most elementary idea about what democratic societies are all about. Does anyone think Hamas would allow non-violent demonstrations protesting their policies? Democracy is an important value, but it is and always will be trumped by justice. The same applies internationally. If we have reason to believe a popularly elected regime would attack us, are we supposed to applaud? If the only way to stop a government from starting a awar that could kill millions is to somehow subvert an election, does anyone truly think that popular will of one country should be respected over the rights of the millions who would become casualties of war? Israel has every right to be wary about majority rule, when Egyptians have been fed a steady diet of propaganda for fifty plus years demonizing Jews. Iranian democracy has simply led to the substitution of one form of repression for another. Is the world better off? Is Iran? I am happy a corrupt dictator is gone, but it’s too early to uncork the champagne.

  16. helen these numbers are so far out of wack with the recent reports to congress.It took but a moment to see where your numbers come from.Currant wells……. Obama has Okd only a few.At this rate it shall decrease.You dont take a cup full of the ocean and say that is about it.

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