*Among those scurrying to pre-empt chaos and downfall: the relatively stable regime of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. The 86-year-old monarch’s government recently announced an unprecedented economic package that will provide, among other benefits, nearly $11 billion in interest-free loans for Saudis to buy or build homes. The move addresses an 18-year waiting list for Saudis to qualify for a loan.
But we’ll know when King Abdullah is really serious: the day his government permits women to drive.
*American news media are wont to refer to the protests and armed rebellions going on in a number of Middle East countries as demands for “democracy.” Surely, that applies in some cases, but isn’t it much more accurate to refer to raucous demonstrations as “anti-dictator” rallies and riots? “Democracy” is a semantic reach, one that implies, among other things, a civil society, a literate, informed electorate, viable political parties and vehicles for institutionalized, meaningful choices and reasoned debate. Something we obviously haven’t perfected yet in this country.
Note, for example, what the turnout was in Tuesday’s mayoral and city council races. More exercised their right to be indifferent than to be involved. And how many of those votes were more for neighbors and names than plans and proposals? We don’t need to be lecturing anybody about “democracy.”
*Some United Nations’ vetoes matter more than others. Arguably, the one the U.S. just cast in the Security Council has made the U.S. case for being an honest Middle East broker that much harder–if not impossible–for now. It’s what happens when you’re the lone vote against a resolution that passed 14-1. It called for the condemnation of “illegal” Israeli settlements and demanded an immediate halt to all settlement construction. Among those angered: a lot more than Palestinians and Arab countries.
There are overlapping bottom lines. Israel is an ally. Its sovereignty was forged from the Holocaust. It’s the only “democracy” in that part of the world. It’s also the recipient of more American foreign aid than any other country. It also has inordinate lobbying influence on American politics.
But it’s not the 51st state.
*When your Secretary of Defense buttresses his theme by quoting Gen. Douglas MacArthur, you know he’s got everybody’s attention. When he chooses the post-Korea MacArthur, you know it’s not another day at the rhetorical office. Sure enough, Defense Secretary Robert Gates paraphrased the more geo-politically advanced MacArthur when he recently told cadets at West Point that “In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as Gen. MacArthur so delicately put it.”
But timing, of course, is everything.
Recall that the Persian Gulf War, which included a viable coalition, was a 100-hour offensive. The secretary of defense was Dick Cheney, but the president was the seasoned George H. W. Bush, and the uber influential chairman of the joint chiefs was Gen. Colin Powell. Although he was criticized for halting the war shy of Baghdad–and the removal of Saddam Hussein–President Bush had his reasons. “We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq,” explained Bush Sr.
Too bad that reasoning didn’t prevail for Iraq, The Sequel. Surely MacArthur would have agreed that the jihad-inspiring occupation of a Muslim country–or two–was an awful idea.