October 11, 2004

More stuff slipping in low under the "Realist" radar....

From the Washington Post:

Drowned out by the bombings in Iraq, and the debate over whether the staging of elections there is an achievable goal or a mirage, the Bush administration's democracy initiative for the rest of the Middle East creeps quietly forward. In neo-realist Washington, it is usually dismissed -- when it is remembered at all -- in much the same way that, say, national elections in Afghanistan were once laughed off. The unpopularity of the Bush administration and the predictable resistance from the dictatorships of Egypt and Saudi Arabia are cited as proof that the region's hoped-for "transformation" is going nowhere.

And yet, the process started at the Sea Island summit of Group of Eight countries in June is gaining some traction -- sometimes to the surprise of the administration's own skeptics....[link]

There is no group so unreal as the "Realists," those rational beings who scoff at the power of ideas, much as Stalin scoffed at the Pope's lack of armored divisions. The article concludes:
...Such empowering grass-roots rhetoric has never before been heard in the Arab Middle East. If the United States fails in Iraq, it may well be snuffed out. But for now, for those who are listening, it offers reason for hope...
Even though the Old Media have paid little attention to the elections in Afghanistan, the word will seep out, by capillary action. It's the sort of thing Americans are attuned to hear, because it speaks to our deepest dreams. A half-century of relentless leftist propaganda have made little difference to most of us.

And the "Realists" and appeasers will be crushed in November....

Posted by John Weidner at October 11, 2004 3:46 PM
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