Fence Riding
We the willing,led by the unknowing,
are doing the impossible
for the ungrateful
--Vietnam war saying
(attributed to Konstantin Josef Jireček)
When the souls of the oppressed
Fight in the troubled air that rages
Who can stand?
--William Blake
_____________________
The results are in for the elections in the first Arab Spring country -- Tunisia. And the winner is . . . moderate Islamists, and the U.S. State Department and press is all aglow.
What is a "moderate" Islamist, anyway? They must form a coalition with the rest of the representative parties, which we assume means the Immoderate Islamists (= fanatics), unless there is such a creature as a "Progressive Islamist". (The latter category seems unlikely as one would be moving into "heretic" country at that point.)
In our own Sunshine State, the Democrats ran a weak candidate last year for Senator, Kendrick Meek -- self proclaimed "Moderate Progressive," which really means, "bootlicker" . . . a time-honored stance in politics, for sure. Only, it is a TOTAL contradiction in terms -- one either is, or is not. Words used well do not obfuscate meaning, but clarify. Voting well is difficult when candidates cannot even categorize their platform. Islamist = Islamist; Progressive = Progressive.
Having Moderate Islamists win means secularism has been trounced; the Arab Spring, so much hype. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Labels: arab spring, tunisia
posted by rangeragainstwar at 8:51 PM
1 Comments:
"Secularism" was trounced waaaaayyyy back starting in 1948, when the Israelis thrashed the secular dictatorships in Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. And again in '82, when Operation Cast Lead proved that the secular PLO couldn't fight worth a lick. And again in '91, when the secular Baath got handed their ass by the "Coalition" led by the U.S. And again in '01, when the Islamist AQ proved it had the moxie to hurt the Yankees. And again in 2003, then the same Baath got smoked out of power by the usual suspects. And again in Lebanon in '06, when the Islamist Hezzies proved that they COULD stand up and fight, unlike the PLO or the secular dictators. And again in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood helped smackdown Mubarak...and Libya...and so on and so on.
Islamism is going to continue to be a winner in the Middle East so long as the current political and economic conditions continue - to not deal with an Arab government because it's Islamic is to pretend that there's a way to erase all the history above. We've helped make this happen - now we have to deal with the results. In a lot fo ways, we're lucky they're only mildly Islamic - the last time us Westerners got interested in fiddling around in the ME we produced Saladin.
No promise we won't this time, either...
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