Fra Mikkel's BLOG:
Youssef M. Ibrahim, tidligere korrespondent for Wall Street Journal og
New York Times, nu erhvervsmand i Dubai, har en interessant artikel
Washington Post: Will the Middle East Bloom?
Listen to the conversations in the cafes on the edge of the creek that
runs through this Persian Gulf city, and it is hard to believe that the
George W. Bush being praised by Arab diners is the same George W. Bush
who has been widely excoriated in these parts ever since he took office.
Yet the balmy breeze blowing along the creek carries murmurs of approval
for the devoutly Christian U.S. president, whose persistent calls for
democracy in the Middle East are looking less like preaching and more
like timely encouragement.
Nowadays, intellectuals, businessmen and working-class people alike can
be caught lauding Bush's hard-edged posture on democracy and cheering his
handling of Arab rulers who are U.S. allies. Many also admire Bush's
unvarnished threats against Syria should it fail to pull its soldiers and
spies out of Lebanon before the elections there next month -- a warning
the United Nations reinforced last week with immediate effects. For Bush,
it is not quite a lovefest but a celebration nonetheless.
"His talk about democracy is good," an Egyptian-born woman was telling
companions at the Fatafeet (or "Crumbs") restaurant the other night,
exuberant enough for her voice to carry to neighboring tables. "He keeps
hitting this nail. That's good, by God, isn't it?" At another table, a
Lebanese man was waxing enthusiastic over Bush's blunt and irreverent
manner toward Arab autocrats. "It is good to light a fire under their
feet," he said.
From Casablanca to Kuwait City, the writings of newspaper columnists and
the chatter of pundits on Arabic language satellite television suggest a
change in climate for advocates of human rights, constitutional reforms,
business transparency, women's rights and limits on power. And while
developments differ vastly from country to country, their common feature
is a lifting -- albeit a tentative one -- of the fear that has for
decades constricted the Arab mind.
Regardless of Bush's intentions -- which many Arabs and Muslims still
view with suspicion -- the U.S. president and his neoconservative crowd
are helping to spawn a spirit of reform and a new vigor to confront
dynastic dictatorships and other assorted ills. It's enough for someone
like me, who has felt that Bush's attitude toward the Mideast has been
all wrong, to wonder whether his idea of setting the Muslim house in
order is right.
Det hele er ikke nogen dans på roser, men gad nok vide hvad reaktionen
havde været, havde nogen forudsagt dette for 2 år siden.
Oh, I know. De djævelske neokonvservative gjorde, og blev retterligt
latterliggjort af alle de kloge og belæste eksperter som amoralske og
militærliderlige imperiebyggere, uden flair for diplomatiers nuancer samt
langsomme og raffinierede kunst, for slet ikke at tale om den retfærdige
harme Mellemøstens stolte befolkninger ville føle over sådan utidig
udefrakommende indblanding.
Men, disse krigsophidsende højrezionazister kan da vel ikke have haft ret
i noget...vel?
--
"Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely
helps them to deceive themselves." Eric Hoffer
Med venlig hilsen
GB
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