America's Double Standard on Democracy in the Middle East

[Scurrilous]

Viewpoint: What's good for Beirut is not good for Gaza, according to Washington's playbook. And that discrepancy undermines the credibility of U.S. claims to be promoting democracy in the region

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1572574,00.html

<snip>

"In Lebanon as in Gaza, democratically elected governments are being challenged by political opponents demanding fresh elections — and in each place, the standoff threatens to spark a civil war. Yet, the response of the U.S. and Britain to each crisis has been so different as to provoke accusations of double-standards and questions about the West's commitment to democracy in the Arab world.

In Lebanon, the beleaguered U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, which took power in July 2005, is resisting an opposition drive led by the militant Hizballah, to hold new parliamentary elections. Hizballah supporters and their allies have held a mass sit-in in Beirut since Dec. 1, paralyzing the city center. The White House accuses Hizballah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, of attempting a "coup" against a democratically elected government. But in Gaza, the roles are reversed: Last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for new elections after talks broke down with the rival Hamas movement over forming a national unity government. Hamas, which took the reins of government after winning elections in January, rejected Abbas's call — and, in an ironic echo of the White House, accused the Palestinian president of plotting a "coup" against a government elected to office until 2010. Indeed, legal experts question whether Abbas has the constitutional authority to call new elections.

Unlike in Lebanon, of course, the U.S. and Britain are backing the opposition in Gaza, declaring that Abbas' move is a step toward peace between the Palestinians and Israel. Despite Hamas's democratic victory at the polls in January, the West has imposed a blockade on financial aid to the Palestinian Authority because Hamas refuses to recognize Israel. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a tour of the Middle East, appealed to the international community to back the Palestinian president, hailing Abbas as a leader of "moderation and tolerance."

This apparent double-standard in the West's stances on Lebanon and on Gaza has not gone unnoticed by Arab commentators. "How could the U.S. support the democratically elected government in Lebanon and do just the opposite in Palestine?" asked Talal Salman, the publisher of Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper."

[rodeodance]

1. Democracy, yes, but only when the outcome serves the interests of the U.S.

"I'm proud of Prime Minister Siniora," Bush said at a press conference this week. But that is not an accolade you will find reciprocated by Siniora's ministerial colleagues, some of whom have come to regard the Bush Administration as a fair-weather friend.

"We're a little bit angry at our friends . They did nothing for us in our first year ," Ahmad Fatfat, the minister of sport and a leading anti-Syrian politician, told TIME. Such bitterness is rooted in Washington's foot-dragging over ending last summer's month-long war between Hizballah and Israel that cost over 1,000 Lebanese lives and billions of dollars in damage. Siniora's tearful pleas for international assistance to stop the onslaught went unheeded, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the devastation as the "birth pangs of a new Middle East." Despite the window of opportunity granted by Washington, Israel was unable to smash Hizballah's guerrilla army. Now the Shi'ite group is seeking revenge against Siniora's government, accusing it of tacitly siding with Israel and the U.S. in plotting Hizballah's destruction.

So, while the Bush Administration continues talk the talk of promoting democracy in the Middle East, many in the Arab world have a jaundiced view of Washington's intentions: Democracy, yes, but only when the outcome serves the interests of the U.S.

[IndianaGreen]

2. America betrayed democratic Lebanon during Israel's bombing of Beirut

Let's face it, we have been lied to since kindergarten! What American freedom and democracy really mean is the freedom of capital to move unencumbered across trans-national borders and the power and influence of the holders capital over society's political and economic institutions.

[pelsar]

3. democracy is more than elections....

elections are just the most visable form of it....freedom of speach, the rule of the law, a single central govt, civil rights etc are also a big part of it.

Hamas for instance, may have been elected, but their platform is one of religious intolerance that include roaming moral squads...hardly a democratic platform.

[IndianaGreen]

4. The more reason why Israel should LEAVE all the occupied lands

and relocate Sharon's Wall to the pre-June 1967 demarcation line. In time, the Palestinians on Arab Jerusalem and the West Bank will part ways from the Palestinians in Gaza, just as East Pakistan parted ways from West Pakistan.

Better get out now while there is a US to protect you. The day is very near when the US will be driven out of the Middle East by the forces that Bush has unleashed.

Stalingrad on the Tigris is almost here!