Arab Report Sees Little Reform, Faults U.S. Action

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=642589

Apr 5, 2005 — By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - In a long-awaited report, Arab intellectuals and reformers say they have seen no significant advances toward democracy in the Arab world past year.

The third Arab Human Development Report (AHDR), released on Tuesday under U.N. auspices, said most reforms were "embryonic and fragmentary" and did not amount to a serious effort to end repression in the region, which has some of the world's most authoritarian governments.

The United States, which says it aims to promote democracy in the region, contributed to an international context that hampered progress through its policy toward Israel, its actions in Iraq and security measures affecting Arabs, the report said.

Both the U.S. and Egyptian governments criticized parts of an early draft of the report, leading to a dispute that held up its release for at least three months.

The report, which covers the year from Oct. 2003, was written before elections in Iraq and street protests in Lebanon that the Bush administration has cited as evidence of change.

<</SNIP>>

[cronincal]

1. good article.

eom

[cliss]

2. Only one explanation:

They don't have democracy on their minds. Whenever you see the word Democracy coming out of Bush's mouth, just take that word out and replace it with "Puppet government".

[Moderator]

3. kick to combine

[ECH1969]

4. UN report blames Israel, US for lack of Arab reform

The creation of Israel and the US support for its policies in the West Bank are partially to blame for the lack of reform in the Arab world, according to a UN-sponsored report released Tuesday.

The Arab Human Development Report 2004 (AHDR) cited the creation of the Jewish state as one of the roots of authoritarianism in the Middle East, along with the discovery of oil and the support for dictators by the superpowers during the Cold War.

The report, which was written by Arab intellectuals and scholars including MK Azmi Bishara and Palestinian human rights lawyer Daoud Kuttab, said that the US undermined the international system by repeatedly using or threatening to use its UN Security Council veto, which enabled Israel to continue building new settlements and the security barrier in the West Bank. "This has pushed many people in the region to lose hope of obtaining justice from global governance and could exacerbate a tendency towards extremism," the report said.

In the most controversial part titled Towards Freedom in the Arab World, the report stated that the Israeli occupation of the territories and the US occupation of Iraq both created excuses for Arab governments to postpone democratization and they strengthened extremist groups which advocate violence.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1112668202417&apage=2

[jayfish]

5. I Don't Know If This Author...

interpreted the report correctly, but if he did it's pretty harsh. Even for Israel. The report would seem to call into question Israel's right to even exist.

Jay

[ECH1969]

6. I don't know here is what Aljazeera said

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/21A4FA12-E898-4D13-8A68-1358F986A318.htm

[Colorado Blue]

7. Here's a direct quote from the link above:

"The report also blamed the creation of Israel and the US support for its policies for the lack of reform in the Arab world."

No doubt, had Israel never existed, the Arab world would shine with happy, prosperous democratic nations.

[Power Trowell]

8. Report is already outdated - doesn't reflect recent developements

in Lebanon.

[Colorado Blue]

9. It saddens me, when progress IS being made, to see these

reactionary "reports".

I believe there are forces which truly do NOT want reform and they certainly do not want peace.

In any case after centuries of domination by the Ottoman Empire, followed by the Europeans, followed by the shocking changes of the 20th century - which have left us all gasping and trying to come to terms with our humanity - is it any surprise the M.E. isn't perfect?

But pinning this blame on the creation of Israel & the U.S. while ignoring religious fundamentalism, opportunistic politicians, war, terrorism, poor distribution of wealth, the oil companies and their shenanigans, the Soviet Union, Britain, and a general reluctance to empower women, is completely counterproductive.

It blinds one both to the possibilities open to the region and its people, and to the responsibility its leaders must, as men, take upon their own shoulders.

I'm sad.

[leesa]

21. What progress are you talking about??

[qwghlmian]

10. And I am sure Arabs are not to blame

at all for the lack of Arab reform....

[leesa]

23. Considering that they have basically been occupied, invaded

stolen from, murdered and basically shit upon by the West for over a century, I would say you need to cut them some slack.

[UpInArms]

11. Bush team 'causing chaos in Arab world'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/06/wbush06.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/04/06/ixworld.html

A group of Arab intellectuals endorsed by the Bush administration turned their wrath on America yesterday, accusing it of undermining reform in the Arab world by backing Israel, weakening the United Nations and creating chaos in Iraq.

President George W Bush has made the promotion of democracy in the Middle East a key priority, saying that reform was the best means of undermining violent Islamist groups.

He eagerly seized on the work of the same Arab scholars who drew up a report in 2002 that bemoaned the "democratic deficit" in a region ruled by all-powerful kings, princes, sheikhs and presidents for life.

But their latest "Arab Human Development Report", issued under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will make much less comfortable reading in Washington.

...more...

[FloridaPat]

12. Kind of hard to keep all that oil and sell all those defense arms when

people are happy and running their own lives. This may be in the point of USA foreign policy - the more confusion there is, the more we come in and help. And if there is no confusion, create it with fake terrorists.

[LynnTheDem]

13. So WHY didn't bush demand his Iraq War Resolution based on

"spreading democracy", instead of the non-existant bullshit "WMD"?

Rhetorical Q; we all know why. Because he would have been laughed out of office by the repubs, let alone the Dems. Because it would have been pretty damn difficult to explain his need to KICK THE UN WEAPONS INSPECTORS OUT OF IRAQ when they needed 60-90 days to finish their work. DAMN DIFFICULT to claim "LAST RESORT" for "spreading democracy".

And even the moran rightwingnuts would understand that sending American men, women & teens to kill & die for some other nation's "democray-spreading" is pure and total bullshit.

And mostly, of course, because "spreading democracy" was NEVER bush's goal, but was the ONLY EXCUSE LEFT he could try using to justify the hundreds of thousands of casualties & $ hundreds of billions in added debt he's caused by his incredibly ignorant incompetent inept bumbling.

[oblivious]

15. And it's so depressing to see so many world media saying "Bush was right!"

As if his goal was really speading democracy (his worst nightmare, more like it). As if the destruction of a country and mass murder and maiming of its people can be considered a reasonable strategy for promoting democracy. The world's gone fucking mad. Brainwashed toadies everywhere you look.

[LynnTheDem]

16. Very few have said that & most the world knows it's just more bushit

You've seen how many actually say that? A dozen people? Twenty? Fifty? Versus how many billions of people in the world who know it's absolute bullshit?

I've seen 9 actual real live op-eds say it. NO experts have said it that I've seen. And I've got links to far more who say it's all bullshit than I do of those who say "bush was right".

He was not, is not, right. bush LIED when he said there'd been only a handful of attacks in Iraq on their "election" day; there were 300 attacks, which was the single highest number of any day to date.

He is LYING when he says the "insurgency" is drying up; the insurgency has WORSENED and SPREAD and attacks have INCREASED; 50-60 attacks a day, DOUBLE last year's daily average of 25 attacks a day.

The world outside of bushica KNOW these facts. Even in bushica, the DIA's report tells the REALITY. But how many US State Media bothered to mention the DIA's recent report?

http://www.zeenews.com/links/articles.asp?aid=207678&sid=WOR

Pretty much none.

[oblivious]

17. It's not how many people say it, it's how many headlines say it.

They got the propaganda mill going full tilt, not just in the US. I've read the same type of column in my local paper here in Hong Kong. Let's face it, most of us read 100 headlines for every complete article we read, so it's the headline that has the power and influence.Here's just a few examples.

For Bush, No Boasts, but a Taste of Vindication
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/international/middlee...

Is Bush Right?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14590-20...

Was Bush right after all?
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.j...

What Bush got right
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=da...

Um, `Could Bush be right?'
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
© 2005, Chicago Tribune.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editoria...

Maybe Bush was right
http://www.macleans.ca/switchboard/columnists/article.j...

Was George Bush Right About Freedom and Democracy?
http://slate.msn.com/id/2114260 /

Was Bush right after all?
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_...

Some Bush Detractors Coming To Realize He Is Right
http://www.opinioneditorials.com/guestcontributors/jbell_20050314.html

Was Bush Right after all?
Media Monitors Network - Mar 15, 2005
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/13622/

By George, maybe Bush was right
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/login.cfm?continue=/pb-dyn/article.cfm?404%3Bhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ephillyburbs%2Ecom%3A80%2Fpb%2Ddyn%2Fnews%2F219%2D03102005%2D461041%2Ehtml

Was Bush right about the war?
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/editorial/11185308.htm

Iraq war critics moved to ask: Was Bush right?
David Westphal, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Chief
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5314575.html

Give Credit Where It Is Due
http://www.forbes.com/columnists/free_forbes/2005/0418/037.html

Bush: Democracy gaining in Middle East
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1109995583504

'The Truth'
Today, sped along by President's Bush's bold move two years ago to break the despotic gridlock of the Middle East by overthrowing Saddam Hussein, that same push for freedom has arrived at the region's palace gates.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/cRosett/?id=110006519

[LynnTheDem]

18. How many headlines said "THERE IS NO DOUBT!" and "MUSHROOM CLOUD!"

They weren't right, either. ;)

[leesa]

22. You said "world" reports and then post US media headlines, except for a

couple right wing rags from "the world"

Then you say, well the headlines...nice try.

[leesa]

20. World media is NOT saying that. US media is.

[oblivious]

24. So what exactly do you call Maclean's, CBC, IOL, AP intl, Independent?

These are not world media? My local paper in Hong Kong, for example, uses AP and AFP international news stories and opinion columns, and I have read this type of article here. I have heard the same propaganda more than once on the government radio station, and I hardly even listen to it.

Read other English language newspapers in Asia and you will find the same thing. You're dreaming if you think US government propaganda stops at US borders.

Nice try yourself.

[Gloria]

14. He's even messing with Abdullah in Jordan...see article in

LBN

[Roland99]

19. Chickenhawks in a china shop?