Freedom v. Justice

I watched a portion of the inaugural speech while reading James Fallows' latest in The Atlantic Monthly (I know I have too much time on my hands). It is true that his audience for the event was the home crowd, but if was W hoping to reach the people of the Middle East or Iraq it is unlikely that he succeeded. Then again he probably wasn't since Iraq was not mentioned. Anyway here is what Fallows has to say about communicating the right message to Arab Muslims:

For instance, in much of today's Muslim world "justice" is a
more compelling ideal than individual "liberty." "This really is a war of
narratives in a battlefield of interpretation," Marc Sageman says. "We need to promote a positive vision to substitute for the vision of violence. And that vision has to be justice. It is no accident that these groups are always calling themselves 'The Party of Justice' and so on. In the time of the Suez Canal the United States stood for 'justice' against the Brits and French, and we were the toast of the Middle East. We need to be pushing a vision of a fair and just world, with us in harmony with the rest of the world, as opposed to at war with the rest of the world."

Just as an FYI in his speech W used the word freedom at least 25 times, the word liberty 15 times and justice just 3 times (yes, I counted).

Hump Day Highlights

Ok I'm a day late but I actually had to get some work done yesterday. The Christian Science Monitor visits tsunami hit areas and reports on a potential peace dividend for the Sri Lanka and the inflationary spiral in Aceh caused by the influx of aid and workers. Speaking of Aceh it would be nice if someone would step in and try to broker a peace deal there as well. Also on tsunami front there is a concern among aid groups in keeping the world's attention on the stricken areas.

Global poverty is still the topic of conversation this week thanks to a UN report led by economist Jeffrey Sachs. According to CSM the report advocates using aid as a form of shock therapy to revive dormant economies. Everyone seems to agree that the report has noble goals, but the Washington Post thinks that the report is setting itself up for failure. I have my own concerns. If I am not mistaken Mr. Sachs was a strong advocate of another form of "shock therapy" for the former USSR (Steve a little help here) and all that plan led to was crony capitalism. Speaking of the Ruskies Putin is going through some rough times.

Iraq is prepping for elections and a driving force for them is Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani - CSM has a great piece on him. CSM also explores the significant role ex-pats are playing in the election. Two surprising and encouraging notes from the Mid-East. The top Saudi cleric denounced Islamic militants and Pakistan "outlawed" honor killings. Of course the cynic in me can't help but note that bold cleric is on the Saudi payroll and I'm not sure how Musharaf is going to enforce that outside of Islamabad, assuming he can enforce it there.

Closer to home Marcela Sanchez notes the precarious state of democracy in Nicaragua, Andres Oppenheimer says that Chavez's "oil-fueled ego trip" could be his undoing and Oliver North (yes Ollie North!) has a (surprisingly) good piece on the terror war in Colombia.

Finally!

The link for Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy is up and running.

Sy Hersh's Latest

This piece comes courtesy of Raul. Love him or hate him Hersh will never bore you. I haven't had chance to read yet, but will comment tomorrow. I'll be at the Heat game tonight, but my heart will be at UM. Go Canes!!

Rice on Chavez

I didn't plan on posting today, but I just had to note that it took all of two days for the Sun-Sentinel's Sunday op-ed on Venezuela to fall apart. Here is what the Herald reports this morning:

(Rice) singled out Venezuela, a country she said was once a U.S. ally and had become what she called a ''negative force in the region,'' citing Chávez's meddling in neighbors' affairs, cracking down on domestic dissent and muzzling the media -- all criticisms denied by Chávez. ''I think it's extremely unfortunate that the Chávez government has not been constructive,'' she said. "And we do have to be vigilant and to demonstrate that we know the difficulties that that government is causing for its neighbors, its close association with Fidel Castro in Cuba.''

She said the United States would work with other countries in the region and the Organization of American States to ensure that ''leaders who do not govern democratically, even if they are democratically elected'' are held accountable.

Senators Chafee and Dodd criticized Rice for her comments, but that should come as no surprise. Dodd has yet to meet a left wing latin despot that he doesn't like. In 1984 he attached his name to the (in)famous "Dear Commandante" letter to Daniel Ortega. The letter praised Castro's Mini-Me version 1.0 for for " taking steps to open up the political process in your country." It went on to declare that "We have been, and remain, opposed to U.S. support for military action directed against ... Nicaragua." It closed with the signatories (there were ten) offering to circumvent official US policy by expressing their "willingness to discuss these or other matters of concern with you or officials of your government at any time." I hate to bring up what some consider to be ancient history, but Dodd has yet to learn his lesson.

Senator Chafee's response to Rice's comments was a tad naive. He said that she was "disrespectful" of the "Venezuelan people" because Chavez had won the recent referendum. Assuming that the referendum was in fact free of ballot stuffing there is a difference between a liberal democracy and majoritarianism. There is no stopping Chavez or his proposals since he has stacked every branch of government in his favor. This despite a political divide which is kind of like our blue state/red state face-off, but on steriods. A state that does not respect the rights of the minority is not a democracy.

The Bad and The Ugly

Leave it to our local papers to have the two worst pieces that I read all day. The Sun-Sentinel is hopeful about US relations with Venezuela. How they managed to write the whole op-ed without mentioning the escalating tensions between Caracas and Bogota, our best ally in South America, is beyond comprehension. Former Ambassador Ambler Moss' vitriolic rant on Bush foreign policy has so many holes and inconsistencies that I don't know where to start. He compares W's actions to Andrew Jackson's "Trail of Tears" and James Polk launching the Mexican-American War. Not even Chirac or Schroeder would accuse Bush of genocide and if Moss is so guilt ridden over the conquest of the west maybe he should join the movement to give it back to Mexico. He notes that our allies were not scared of us when our relative power was even greater just after WWII. Fear of Josef Stalin will make anyone your friend. Heck the Ukrainians welcomed the Wehrmacht just to get away from Uncle Joe. Moss does not appear to have much hope for the Bushies which is why his recommendations are for other countries (like anyone outside of Miami reads Herald op-eds). Fight terrorism he says (how original), nudge the US to work through international organizations (ditto) and finally contain the US where "appropriate and when the United States threatens world security." So what happens if US action is required to protect its citizens but is deemed by other states to "threaten world security"? Reading this made me thankful that Mr. Moss is no longer representing his country in the foreign service.

The Good - Our Sunday Best

Sunday's papers were stocked with good stuff. Tsunami relief has been overwhelming. I've been wondering why we haven't done this for the people of Iraq and at the LA Times Terry Rogers wonders why we haven't done it for Africa. Also in the LAT globalization gets a boost from Economist stalwarts Micklethwait and Wooldridge. They contend that Tsunami aid is nice, but trade is better. Over at the Washington Post Jim Hoagland recommends that the second Bush Admin look to the east (registration required) where "strategic change is on the gallop..." Thomas Friedman of the NY Times is looking to the east and says we should not get our hopes up over changing our image by helping Tsunami victims. He explains why here (registration required). Andres Oppenheimer, the only thing the front section of the Miami Herald has going for it, tries to downplay two reports (one from the US and the other from an expert at the EU) that the influence of Latin America is waning. I guess Salvador Dali was wrong. Meanwhile in France Chirac allies are trying to find a way to keep him out of jail once he is no longer in office. It appears that Chirac's people are concerned that he may be prosecuted for some shenanigans committed before he became president. The plan (in French) is to extend his immunity by automatically making him a senator once he is out of office. It didn't work for Pinochet, but you never know.

Broken Link

The link for Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy is not working. Not my fault the site just appears to be down. I'll post when it is back up.