Democracy, Marriage, English Aristocrats, and Faking 'It' in Arabia. Are We All Honduras?
“The crisis of democracy: Is democracy always the best choice? There are examples to the contrary... In Israel the democratic process has brought to power extremist right wing Zionists who are against compromise…In Germany democracy brought Hitler to power…In Iran democracy is distorted…Hamas….etc (he forgot Richard Nixon and George W Bush)....
"Democracy is not always the solution...especially in the wrong place , at the wrong time....God has made us all of different nations with different values for a purpose..
“Democracy must be adapted to the cultural values of each society. It is not one size fits all situation…It must be a flexible concept…..” Asharq Alawsat
This kind of argument fits nicely with the status quo of no democracy in most of the Middle East. It also fits in even better with the Potemkin democracies that most Middle Eastern states adopt during periods when democracy is fashionable. But that is only when there is some world pressure, of which there is none nowadays: except in Iran and Honduras. The Honduras of Latin America, not the 20+ Hondurases of the Arab World. Actually we are much worse than that Central American country: it had some fair elections until last week- when history semed to go back to the bad old days.
When you don’t want to give the people real democracy, the real choice, fake it.
Fake it: sort of like the proverbial aristocratic English mother supposedly telling a daughter on her wedding day “Dearie, just close your eyes and think of England!”
Of course, as the writer knows, many of them don’t even bother to fake it- and when they do, most know they are faking it.
Cheers
mhg
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