"This all started with George Bush the Elder and his 'liberation' of Kuwait. Remember? Let’s be fair: Kuwait is maybe a tiny bit freer than it was before, but it’s still not anything anyone would recognize as a democracy. The Saudis promised that they, too, would transform themselves into a modern democracy, in gratitude for our help in checking Saddam Hussein. The foreign policy elites were all over that one. Some said it was a disaster because we didn’t oust Hussein, and some said it was a disaster because we finally did and the country fell apart. At any rate, it’s been a disaster. More recently, the 'Arab Spring' was supposed to spread democracy across the entire region like a fine Oriental carpet. Didn’t happen. Today the chaos and bloodshed have spread to Syria, and thence, via Turkey, they head to Europe.
Perhaps what’s so remarkable about this terrible recent history is how many countries we have managed to screw up without affecting our own very much. That’s what allows us to give ourselves credit for good intentions, without the need for any beneficial result. Or perhaps what’s so remarkable is that we’re still paying the slightest attention to foreign policy elites."
Link here.
No comments:
Post a Comment