"The bitter fruits of democracy"
Author Daniel Pipes
Administrator of the US Institute of Peace, Daniel Pipes is founder of the Middle East Forum and author of Militant Islam Reaches America. He collaborates with Benador Associates. If you want to consult a detailed biography see the research made by Voltaire Network (text in French).
Sources National Post (Canada), The Australian (Australia)
Reference «Democracy’s bitter fruit», by Daniel Pipes, National Post, January 27, 2006
«Region not ripe for democracy», The Australian, January 30, 2006.
Summary Now that Hamas has apparently won the elections, the West is hoist with its own petard. Hamas is not only a terrorist group that wants to destroy Israel and attacks civilians, but it has also won a fair election. In view of this situation, the foreign ministries hesitate either to force the organization to be moderate or to reject it, to meet with its representatives or to avoid them, to continue financing the Palestinian Authority or to have it starve. We have created this situation.
At the same time, western countries have launched a war on terror and have wanted to build democracy. But it was not possible to do these two things in this region of unrest. Hence, the first fair Palestinian elections took Hamas to power. In Egypt, voted favoured the Muslim Brothers; in Iraq, we found the pro-Iranian Shia; in Lebanon, Hezbollah won the elections after the Syrian had gone and in Saudi Arabia the most radical elements are obtaining favourable results. In a nutshell, democracy in those countries has taken to power the worst enemies of the West.
After the Second World War, democratization in Germany or Japan took democratic parties to power. The difference with Middle East countries today is not the result of Islam or cultural factors but of the fact that the ideological enemies of the Middle East have not been defeated yet. Democratization took place in Germany after its population endured the totalitarian test. In the Middle East, totalitarian temptation still stands firmly.
Therefore, the democratization process in the Middle East has to be stopped and planned for decades to come. It is also necessary to defeat radical Islam by reassessing stability in the first stage. Coming back to the dilemma about Hamas, the western capitals have to make Palestinians understand that, as the Germans voted for Hitler in 1933, they made a decision which is unacceptable from the civilized point of view. The Palestinian Authority led by Hamas has to be isolated and rejected every time is convenient for Palestinians to realize their mistake.
Source: http://www.voltairenet.org/article135316.html#article135316
Administrator of the US Institute of Peace, Daniel Pipes is founder of the Middle East Forum and author of Militant Islam Reaches America. He collaborates with Benador Associates. If you want to consult a detailed biography see the research made by Voltaire Network (text in French).Sources National Post (Canada), The Australian (Australia)
Reference «Democracy’s bitter fruit», by Daniel Pipes, National Post, January 27, 2006
«Region not ripe for democracy», The Australian, January 30, 2006.
Summary Now that Hamas has apparently won the elections, the West is hoist with its own petard. Hamas is not only a terrorist group that wants to destroy Israel and attacks civilians, but it has also won a fair election. In view of this situation, the foreign ministries hesitate either to force the organization to be moderate or to reject it, to meet with its representatives or to avoid them, to continue financing the Palestinian Authority or to have it starve. We have created this situation.
At the same time, western countries have launched a war on terror and have wanted to build democracy. But it was not possible to do these two things in this region of unrest. Hence, the first fair Palestinian elections took Hamas to power. In Egypt, voted favoured the Muslim Brothers; in Iraq, we found the pro-Iranian Shia; in Lebanon, Hezbollah won the elections after the Syrian had gone and in Saudi Arabia the most radical elements are obtaining favourable results. In a nutshell, democracy in those countries has taken to power the worst enemies of the West.
After the Second World War, democratization in Germany or Japan took democratic parties to power. The difference with Middle East countries today is not the result of Islam or cultural factors but of the fact that the ideological enemies of the Middle East have not been defeated yet. Democratization took place in Germany after its population endured the totalitarian test. In the Middle East, totalitarian temptation still stands firmly.
Therefore, the democratization process in the Middle East has to be stopped and planned for decades to come. It is also necessary to defeat radical Islam by reassessing stability in the first stage. Coming back to the dilemma about Hamas, the western capitals have to make Palestinians understand that, as the Germans voted for Hitler in 1933, they made a decision which is unacceptable from the civilized point of view. The Palestinian Authority led by Hamas has to be isolated and rejected every time is convenient for Palestinians to realize their mistake.
Source: http://www.voltairenet.org/article135316.html#article135316
posted by Rozio Gibran | 8:37 AM
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