إن حرية وديمقراطية واشنطن الخطابية

أغنى من سياساتها الواقعية

التحرير

دايلي ستار - 11/6/2007

ان على بوش أن يدرك أن جزء من المشاكل التي تواجهه في العراق سببها سياسته المتعجرفة حول الحرية في  العالم

Washington's democracy and freedom

 rhetoric is richer than its policies

Monday, June 11, 2007

Editorial  

US President George W. Bush's remarks June 5 in Prague on promoting democracy and freedom around the world were, as always on this subject, stirring and powerful. He takes naturally to this issue like a wild horse to a Texas prairie, not to mention the reality of the single most powerful country in world history lining up behind one of the most powerful ideas in the annals of humankind: the universality of freedom and democracy. So why is Bush's speech in Prague being greeted with as much skepticism as sincere applause?

One reason is that unlike the few times since 2001 that he has made similar speeches on the liberty's inevitable global triumph, we now have some actual American policies on the ground against which to measure the presidential rhetoric. The conclusion that many lovers of liberty around the world have reached is that the gap between policy and rhetoric remains large, which hurts both the credibility of the US and the efficacy of local democracy activists around the world. The answer is not to stop talking about democracy, but to bring policy more into line with the rhetoric. The wise thing to do now is to learn from the mistakes of recent years, to acknowledge the criticisms the US has elicited, and to adjust policies so that democracy and liberty promotion shift from the realm of the potential to the realm of the kinetic in American foreign policy.

A point to keep in mind is that persistence is not the same as consistency. For the US to repeatedly speak about freedom and democracy is only useful if it consistently works for that goal across the board. One of the great deterrents to widespread support for the US around the world has been the inconsistent and selective manner in which Washington wages political and sometimes even military war for the sake of freeing oppressed or occupied people in distant lands. Kabul and Nablus make an awkward but timely contrast in this respect.

Another point is that freedom and democracy are the birthright of all ordinary people, not the prerogatives of regimes and elites. The instability dangers of pushing for democracy and freedom will be lessened if they are shared by Americans and those people targeted to receive their liberty. This means that relevant strategies must be devised together, not unilaterally announced from Washington .

It remains unclear if President Bush is still looking for ways to camouflage his troubles in Iraq , or is articulating a genuine, long-term American policy. He would do well to recognize that part of his troubles in Iraq are a result of his erratic freedom policies around the world. This is a good time to acknowledge those linkages and get things right this time around, because the world does indeed want liberty and freedom for all, truly indivisible in reality as in rhetoric.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&article_id=82883&categ_id=17

-----------------

نشرنا لهذه المقالات لا يعني أنها تعبر عن وجهة نظر المركز كلياً أو جزئياً

ـ

ـ

من حق الزائر الكريم أن ينقل وأن ينشر كل ما يعجبه من موقعنا . معزواً إلينا ، أو غير معزو .ـ