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Home Front: WoT
'Obama will not focus on ME democracy'
2009-02-09
The Obama administration is unlikely to continue the press for democracy and freedom in the Middle East that was a mainstay of the Bush administration's policy in the region, a former senior US administration official said on Sunday.

"There is a danger that under the general guise of not wanting to be like the previous administration, there is going to be significantly less emphasis on a freedom agenda and the promotion of democracy," Elliott Abrams, who served as president George W. Bush's deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy, said in a conversation at Jerusalem's Shalem Center.

He noted that there was a religious basis behind Bush's fervent support for his "Sharansky-esque democratization policy and freedom agenda." Bush greatly admired cabinet minister Natan Sharansky's book, The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, and his advocacy of spreading democracy to promote peace in the Middle East.

Abrams, who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, said it would be hard for the new US administration to "turn back the clock" on promoting democracy in the Arab world and beyond.

The Bush administration failed in its years-long effort to use economic pressures to force Iran to change its nuclear policies, because of last year's record oil prices, Abrams said.

"The policy was to do so much damage to the Iranian economy, which would force the regime to a compromise. It might well have worked if not for the oil bonanza," he said.

Posted by:Fred

#6  Sounds like the same plan he has for here...
Posted by: tu3031   2009-02-09 11:03  

#5  One change, 'moose.

The key is not democracy, it is FREEDOM! Note that Obama doesn't support freedom here either. See "Fairness doctrine and Kerry's yak about how the plebs can't be trusted with their own money.

Zero and his cohort are tyrants in waiting and would gladly follow Ugo Chavez' model.
Posted by: AlanC   2009-02-09 10:27  

#4  Word to Obama: since the founding of America, the *only* presidents who were great were those that sought to increase democracy. Those who were "neutral" to democracy, and especially the very few who were "anti-democratic", are remembered as the worst and least successful of presidents.

There is a reason for this correlation, it is not random.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2009-02-09 08:51  

#3  during war time?

Didn't you get the memo, Verlaine? It's not war time. Never was. Always just a scheme by Bush, Cheney and Halliburton to steal from the government. Now we'll have the 'stimulus' and TARP bills to let the politicians steal from us, so fake wars aren't needed.

/sarc off
Posted by: Glenmore   2009-02-09 08:24  

#2  First, Bush's democracy push was modulated - and that's no criticism - significantly, from the outset, to not be reckless and naive.

Second, fergodssakes would someone else have a "doh!" moment and recognize that promoting more open political systems (our "values") and improving our strategic position (our "interests") are fairly often the same thing, esp. in the ME, and not in conflict? Democracy is a value, and a weapon. No contradiction for adults with a brain.

Third, Shcharansky's the real thing. Has walked the walk (the story of his 1987 Berlin bridge crossing, his defiant zig-zag as a last act of aggressive disrespect, rivals the "Nuts" of McAuliffe at Bastogne), literally.

Fourth, the empty suit (who by the way, and fittingly, has no presence in a room - personal experience) will barely have a policy at all in the region, other than trying not to eff-up what he was handed (not that succeeding in that would not be laudable - doing no harm in foreign policy, esp. the ME, is no small feat for anyone).

Fifth, how did affirmative action nobodies and my old (even more tired) Beltway Clinton re-tread buddies get the keys to the car, during war time?

Posted by: Verlaine   2009-02-09 03:34  

#1  and this is a surprise? he didn't support democracy in Illinois

still doesn't
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Thromong2805   2009-02-09 02:57  

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