Middle East Policy

On the misleading term "exporting democracy," which is used frequently by the American media and some think tanks, I have found an interesting related material written by Professor R.J. Rummel on his blog . I have previously commented on this term from a Middle Eastern perspective in an earlier post pointing out how much this term is misleading and, in reality, makes no sense. It is actually used to transmit a hidden implication targeting the U.S. administration's achievements and policies in this regard. I will quote here the Rummel's post as an American view on this subject: Not Imposed—Freedom’s a Right By Professor R.J. Rummel President Bush’s Inauguration speech has generated a lot of commentary, some excellent, some helpful, but on the average it is the predictable stuff from the liberal and left wing press squeezed into and sometimes overlapping with “news” on what those so-called “militants” are doing with their car bombings and murders of Iraqi civilians. By...

Here are the recent U.S. initiatives and attitudes concerning democracy promotion, especially in the Middle East. (Source: International Information Programs , U.S. Department of State.) New Challenges Call for New Diplomatic Strategies, Rice Says Transformational diplomacy promotes democracy through partnerships By Rebecca Ford Mitchell Washington File Staff Writer Washington – A more integrated world with global threats -- terrorism, weapons proliferation, diseases, and trafficking in persons and drugs -- requires new diplomatic strategies, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Speaking at Georgetown University in Washington January 18, Rice said the United States is now engaged in transformational diplomacy, which means working with foreign citizens to help them “build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system.” “Let me be clear,” she added. “Transformational diplomac...

The President Bush's "Forward Strategy of Freedom" is working across the world. The progress has been acknowledged by the Freedom House through its annual survey of 2005 . And according to the Freedom House, the 2005 was "one of the most successful for freedom" since the survey was begun in 1972. The Middle East, as the Freedom House has indicated, has the notable progress in the last year's survey. I can assure that the Middle East has the best freedom situation ever after the Bush's initiative. Nonetheless, it is just the beginning and there is a lot must be done in the next years. The Washington Post has published a report on the realities of promoting democracy worldwide. Apart from its conclusion of the mixed progress, (!) it has made a huge and intolerable mistake when it titled the report "The Realities of Exporting Democracy." Exporting! I need to make something clear here. Democracy is not a commodity for sale or export. If so, we wo...

The totalitarianism could not produce but brutality and terror. The dictators who murder and destroy their own peoples, are, by their nature, support and export terror to terrorize the free world and support the other dictators whom in need of their support to maintain the regional tyranny. In the totalitarian states, the domestic and foreign policy are connected and integrated by the same objective and the same decision-making, they maintain one nature. Many times, I pointed out that totalitarianism, by its nature, constitutes one integrated and interdependent system. The terror is one aspect of this system, and it is integrated into this system by the alliance of convenience and operation. Read this op-ed on the Washington Post : A Web Witness to Iranian Brutality By Anne Applebaum The Washington Post Friday, January 20, 2006; Page A17 Enter the Web site: http://www.abfiran.org/ . Click on "Omid: A Memorial," and then "Search." Enter a name -- or a religion, a na...

Forty days ago, the Representative and journalist Gebran Tueni was assassinated for freedom and for the free Lebanon in the string of killing and terror Lebanon undergoes. It was painful and hurting with no cure. We lost a hero, striver and guide; we lost the brave-and-free-until-death word. He had known by official memos from Lebanese and international sources that his name is on the killing list, but the fearless man wanted to liberate Lebanon and paid his life for liberating Lebanon besides the other Lebanese freedom's martyrs. They killed Gebran but they can not ever kill freedom and the free Lebanon, which Gebran paid his life for. Gebran died for Lebanon to live and for freedom to prevail. I have just watched the Gebran's memorial Mass at the Orthodox church of St. George in Beirut on the TV. The metropolitan (bishop), who has known Gebran for a long time, talked of Gebran's freedom, love, courage and transparency, the always-free Gebran who always loved Lebanon and ...

Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, wrote an extremely important article "The Promise of Democratic Peace: Why Promoting Freedom Is the Only Realistic Path to Security." Besides her statecraft acknowledged by the world, she illustrates her scholarship as a professor of political science and specialist in international relations. This article is must read, it illuminates key facts and norms of the international system in their historical context, explains the way the U.S. is dealing with the world affairs and problems --especially in the Middle East-- and the concepts it rests on and informs about the notions and foundations of the U.S. national security as perceived by the administration. I have previously written something alike in many earlier posts, but this article is the best to explain and clarify the perspective I adopt. It is the professor and practitioner's article. This article would be a historic document. Remember that I said that. Some related posts: - ...

There was an article on the LA Times about President Bush's "Forward Strategy of Freedom" or the new American strategy of promoting democracy worldwide. I will post it in addition to my comments: Skepticism at Home Threatens Bush's Vision · Americans like the idea of spreading democracy; they just don't believe it will work, polls show. By Tyler Marshall, Times Staff Writer Nearly a year after President Bush declared that America had to push the boundaries of democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere to assure the survival of its own freedom, his initiative has met with stiff resistance abroad. Dictators can not embrace freedom or democracy, they can just fight them and their supporters. But the real Achilles' heel of Bush's grand vision may lie in a lack of support at home. A task that Bush has called "the concentrated work of generations" requires enough backing both in Congress and in the general population to carry the idea beyond Bush'...

This is the news section of the current issue of the Arab Reform Bulletin Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace : Iraq: Parties and Platforms in Parliamentary Elections More than 7,700 candidates ran as independents or as members of political parties in 19 coalitions in December 15 elections for the first full-term Iraqi parliament since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. The 275-member assembly will serve four years and form a new government. Results are expected in late December. Major political alliances resemble dominant groupings in January 2004 elections, but new groups have also entered the scene. The elections will be contested by a major Sunni alliance known as the Iraqi Concord Front, composed of three Sunni parties that boycotted the January elections: the Iraqi People's Gathering, the Iraqi National Dialogue, and the Iraqi Islamic Party. The list calls for withdrawing U.S. troops, amending the constitution, and releasing all “detain...

Iraq is undergoing a wave of deadly terrorist attacks caused hundreds of civilian casualties. I predicted that in my article posted here on December 17, 2005. I said, " At this point, (the success of the latest elections in Iraq with high and inclusive turnout) the final stake of the totalitarian and terrorist project on the exclusiveness and partiality of the Iraqi political system as a cover for the instability and violence in Iraq has failed. This will be a turning point in their destructive effort towards the chaotic and random violence against civilians". It was easy to me to predict that given I have lived all my life in a totalitarian state. Hence, the totalitarian means, ways and tactics are well known to me and predictable too. We must not forget that jihadist terror is a one aspect of the totalitarianism and it may be included in the comprehensive totalitarian system and alliance of convenience. I would like to advise the Americans, specially those so-called antiw...

Bolstering the growth of democracy in other countries is a top strategic mission for the nation's intelligence agencies, according to the National Intelligence Strategy of the United States of America released on October 26. The document states that the intelligence community must support diplomatic and military efforts when intervention is necessary and forge relationships with new and incipient democracies that can help them strengthen the rule of law and ward off threats to representative government. It must also provide U.S. policymakers with an analytic framework for identifying both the threats to and opportunities for promoting democracy, as well as warning of state failure. John D. Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence, said of this document, "This strategy is a statement of our fundamental values, highest priorities and orientation toward the future, but it is an action document as well. For U.S. national intelligence, the time for change is now.” The strateg...