What the Mideast needs

[frogcycle]

We hear incessantly about how Afghanistan and Iraq are “tribal” societies, ruled by “warlords” This is generally presented in a negative light, somehow suggesting that they are backward people. Because many societies in Europe and elsewhere have formed strong central governments, people from those areas tend to view any other form of civilization as inferior.

In actual fact, the Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the "League of Peace and Power"; the "Five Nations"; the "Six Nations"; or the "People of the Long house")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois

served as a model to our Founding Fathers in developing their concept of our form of government.

These “primitive” people had laws based on a Constitution drafted sometime from in the 1400 to 1600, but possibly as early as 1142. The Cherokee Nation covered much of the Southeast, centered in western North Carolina, but extending as far as Illinois. There were regional governments, with annual meetings held in various locations to discuss and decide issues of law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee

We westerners need to just get over ourselves and let the people of the Mideast sort out how they want to organize themselves. Sure, it would be good to encourage them to find ways to sort out their differences without constant war and aggression against each other – using the Iroquois as a model rather than some of the supposedly more warlike tribes of the West. But the bottom line is, it is none of our damned business.

The big difference between the modern world and that up to about 1850 or so is the rise of technology – most notably war machines – that allow a group like the Taliban to subjugate large numbers of people. The Iroquois chose their leaders and, we have to assume, if someone had aspirations to be a brutal dictator, found a way to marginalize him rather than just roll over and be subjugated. Would they have been able so to do if he had a small band of cohorts and automatic weapons to use against their rocks and arrows? Perhaps not. Perhaps North America after the introduction of horses and guns would have evolved into the sort of brutal society Afghanistan was (is) under the Taliban. Perhaps a western tribe would have conquered the Hopi, Iroquois, Cherokee, et al, and established some autocratic Taliban-like rule. Somehow I doubt it.

Anyway, my point is that trying to impose “western democracy” by dictating that there must be a central government and there must be “elections” has been an abject failure, as many thinking people predicted. Gaza elected Hamas when bush demanded “free elections” as a supposed panacea. Iraq’s elections were a joke. Afghanistan has a supposed central government that runs some 5% of the country.

These societies go back thousands of years. The arrogance of the West was demonstrated during Colonialism, during the Crusades, and now during bushism.

The best thing we could do for all the people of the Mideast is back off.

Years ago I took a course in motorcycle maintenance that included some riding tips. One of those tips has stuck with me:

There is a condition variously know as “front-wheel flutter” or “wobble” – probably other names – wherein the front wheel starts oscillating left/right – similar to the way a wheel of a grocery cart sometimes goes berserk. It is a scary situation – you are riding along at 50-60 miles an hour and the damned bike seems like it is just going bananas, and the harder you grip the handlebars and try to wrestle it to hold a straight line, the more it vibrates. The phenomenon keeps up and is accentuated by your attempts to stop it – much like dribbling a basketball keeps it bouncing. It can grow to the point where the wheel goes so far to one side that you lose control completely and crash.

The solution? Turn loose! Take your hands off the handlebars. The oscillation stops immediately.

We need to take our hands off the handlebars and let the tribes sort it out.

It won't stop immediately, of course, and some outside mediation to encourage a spirit of "can't we all just get along" would be appropriate. The UN or some group should sponsor convocations of tribal leaders, encourage discussion. The hatred and violence is going to take time to abate, but outside influence, outside pressure, is exacerbating it.

Sadly, the West wants their oil, just as Europe wanted North America. So we are repeating the crimes of our forefathers, running roughshod over indigenous people once again.

Let's face it.
We suck