Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The shriek of Araby
Mark Steyn describes the misnamed "Arab Spring" pretty well, as the death of the Western powers' shaping of the Arab world after WWI. And notes that not since before the Turks completed their imperialist project have the Arabs been in a position to create anything like their own self-determined societies, not only aside from but against the West. And what they produce, indigenous Islamic societies, we will not like.
The likely new boss of Tunisia makes the destruction of Israel a priority of the new Arab world. One thing the "new Egypt" seems to agree on is that Israel is the devil, and that the Copts need to be further humiliated, or worse. Post-Gaddaffi Libya will turn into Switzerland? Not likely. And then, of course, we have the edifying spectacle of Hamasdom, aka the Palestinians.
John Adams said that the American Constitution set up a government that was uniquely suited to a very particular people, the dominant group of late 18th century America, and that it would not work for anyone else. If you institute any kind of "popular" regime, it will naturally reflect the people. Why does anyone think that the governmental structure of the US Republic would work universally? Even we have found it a challenge. Why anyone thinks that Western liberal democracies or republics are "natural" to the rest of the world is beyond me. Arab Muslims, even with decades of Western influence, will create structures that match their own cultures, which are very often tribal and Islamic.
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