IF THEY WERE EUROPEANS WE'D DO IT, WOULDN'T WE? :

How to Rig a Democracy (SUSAN SACHS, June 30, 2002, NY Times)

PRESIDENT BUSH'S blueprint for an acceptable Palestinian government--a vision he outlined last week as he demanded the replacement of Yasir Arafat as the Palestinians' leader--would be the envy of Arabs everywhere. It was a vision of an open democratic society with clean elections, a parliament that is more than a rubber stamp and "a vibrant economy where honest enterprise is encouraged by honest government."

Such a utopia does not exist in the Arab world, where pro-democracy advocates risk arrest and the kings, sheiks and presidents vacate power only in the event of death or coup. Given the state of the neighborhood, many Palestinians are understandably skeptical, to say the least, about the possibility of creating the full-blown democracy that Mr. Bush demanded as the price of American support for a Palestinian state.

But the president's blunt ultimatum to the Palestinians raised a tantalizing question.

What if the United States were as serious about saving the Arabs from corrupt autocrats and radical Islam as it once was about saving the world from communism? What if the tools of the cold war--selective propaganda, open support for dissidents, covert support for opposition political movements and sanctions--were put to use to promote Arab democracy and moderation?

Ms Sachs's question is an excellent one. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 1, 2002 3:34 PM