Beware of rogue nations that seek to export their brand of nationalism through military force, unilateral regime change, economic blackmail and intimidation. Such nations are a threat to world peace and a cancer upon the global society. They violate the very principles of democracy and sovereignty that lie at the foundation of a stable international community. [UN Speech concerning Col. Khadafy of Libya.] This caution is just as valid today. As to naming these present day rogue nations, it is sufficient to state that: “If the shoe fits, wear it.”
Today the United States formally announced that it was restoring full governmental relations and lifting embargoes and sanctions against the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas. In reality, only the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank will see these changes immediately because the Gaza Strip is now controlled by the Hamas faction of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas, in a legally questionable move, called for the dissolution of the Palestinian government and expelled the duly elected Hamas representatives to set up a new government controlled completely by the Fatah faction. The US has thus anointed its “leader” of the Palestinian people.
It is a reasonable question to ask whether or not the Palestinian people might be better off under the new government. The Palestinian Authority failed for years to break the deadlock with Israel concerning a durable peace or progress toward a two-state solution. However, the question misses a crucial point of democracy. If it were possible to state with certainty that the Palestinian people would be “better off” under the current government [it would depend upon whose viewpoint is considered] , it still would not excuse or cover up the manner in which the government came to power. The current coup d’état or regime change suggests that the President of the United States is better qualified to choose leadership for the Palestinians that the Palestinians themselves.
Hamas has shown little expertise for controlling its internal factions, serving the needs of the Palestinian people or making progress toward a lasting Peace with its neighbors. That party came to power because of frustration with the internal corruption and impotence of the Fatah led Palestinian Authority. Hamas has handled that opportunity with ineptitude and has failed to achieve substantial progress in making the lives of average Palestinians more secure or healthy. The militant wing of Hamas has often refused to follow the lead of the diplomatic wing with tragic and counterproductive results. But one does not need to laud Hamas to justify criticism of the current change in government. Democracy does not guarantee that the people will choose the “best” government [the US electoral system has proven that truth], but rather that the people will have the government that they themselves choose in a free and fair election. Paternalism is not democracy.
This is not new territory for US policy. It does not take a long memory to recall the Fatah leadership of Yassir Arafat to understand that installation of a US backed puppet faction creates an unstable alliance. At some point those puppets are deposed and burned in effigy by the people they rule, or they cut their own strings and turn against their former master puppeteer. Consider Khadafy, Noriega, Osama Bin Laden, Ferdinand Marcos and their ilk as example and object lessons. But George W, Bush was never a good student of anything, and history would definitely be one of his weaker subjects.
The basic point concerns the basic values of the American people? Do we embrace the belief that the ends justify the means and that might makes right? If so, then the US can act without caution or remorse when duplicitously proclaiming itself a “champion of freedom and democracy.” The truth of what we tell others is irrelevant. All that is relevant is that the US acts with force to impose the President's view of what is best for those most directly affected or what is in the US' own self interest [not necessarily in that order]. The US can praise the Palestinian people for conducting a free and fair election, and then act to depose the people’s chosen government [that the US President does not like] “for the Palestinian’s own welfare.” It makes the business of government less messy than in a true democracy. After all, if Abbas does not do what the Bush administration tells him to do, they can just as easily remove him without bothering to consult the Palestinian people.
The world and international relations would be so much simpler if it would just accept the President of a rogue nation as World Dictator [or is the "Decider"] , or else!
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