The Romans were pretty sure all the 'barbarians' would just love to give up their culture and beliefs and embrace 'democracy' as well...

Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est La Même Chose...

is that elections held under occcupation are not valid.

one man's conspiracy is another man's business plan
Blog updated as needed

I saw the photo, my reaction was like that of John Beluschi when Flounder's photo was flashed up on the screen in the movie "Animal House."

Why do they want theocracy Pat?  Simple, first it is orderly, regulated, predictable.  The call to prayer blares and bellows from the mineret at known and predictable times.  The local mullah is predictable.  The entire atmosphere of a theocracy is charged with hypocrisy, it is unavoidable.

A visit to Angry Arab, or Abu Aardvark will reveal that there is a battle going on within Islam like a reformation, and the best thing the US can do is get the hell out of the way and let it happen.

We may have geo-political interests, we may have economic interests, but in the religious sphere, the US will be very wise to butt out.

would have learned from Bush's refusal to deal with their last major leader that they need to pick leadership that's more in step with us.

Who'da thunk that a foreign population wouldn't get with the Bush program for Democracy®?

We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy.... --ML King, "Beyond Vietnam"

I have to say that I have little enthusiasm for Islamist parties, but the only thing to do now is to roll up the sleeves and begin working on negotiations, aiming for a lasting peace and a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.  The people have spoken and now the two parts better deliver, provided that they accept each others right to exist. It is no use pondering over what could have been.

Still, I have my doubts over whether a Hamas lead Palestinian Authority and an Israeli government lead by hawks will be able to pull it trough, at least in the short run.  

Bitsofnews.com Giving you the latest bits.

since I never bought into the idea that the Cheney regime sought to encourage secular democracy in the MidEast, none of this is surprising to me.

These groups in the Middle East are little different from our own lunatic evangelical fascist leaders here in the US; nutbirds like Dobson and Brownback and Coburn and Falwell and Robertson who crave the same power as the jihadis and Islamists do, only under a different name.

All of them want to repress, punish, or annihilate any and all who don't submit to their arbitrary, self-appointed authority and kowtow to their dogma. And just as is the case in many of the Muslim countries, so too it is true here that the government itself expresses support for the religious zealots and empowersthem with huge amunts of (taxpayer) money and allows them to skirt laws, (against discrimination, for instance), that restrict their behavior.

For me, I don't think any of this is really about God, either the Muslim version or the zealot Christian one. I think people vote theocratic when they are afraid and when their is lots of chaos and uncertainty. They vote theocratic when their faith is shaken, not when they are secure in it's strength. Those who advertise their faith the loudest are the one's whose faith is least secure. Those who's faith is strong and sure simply live according to their faith and allow the deity, (or cosmic forces or whatever), to render judgment on others.

Denial is our most dangerous adversary.

Or maybe, just maybe, the voters in Palestine are voting in what they perceive in their own best interests. Maybe Fatah has become so discredited by corruption that they don't trust them. Maybe the social message and works of the Islamic parties are convincing.

After watching corporate media spin that the Fatah Party retained control last night based on exit polls and the actual results of Hamas winning today after the actual counting of the votes; I had a huge deja vue of the 2000 and 2004 US elections. I've modified the observation to show the exact same insight can be applied to the USA:

The reason we don't "get it" is that we have missed the point that many people in the USA really do believe in God and are really more concerned with salvation than they are with secular democracy.

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See my diary --

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY