White Man's Burden Nuance

It's "democracy" and "human rights" because...Shrub says it is.

Few things underscore the hypocrisy of Shrub's and wingnuttia's contention that "we're in the G.W.O.T, maaaaaaan!" than their decidedly less-than-urgent concern for anything even approaching democratic reform in such "allies" like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, or Egypt. Of course, one small problem with promoting democracy is that you might wind up with...democracy...and, whether we like to admit it or not, genuine democracy in the Middle East and/or Central Asia might not be nearly as amenable to U.S. interests as is the present state of affairs (minus, of course, the nightmare in Iraq, which, combined with the idiotic saber rattling and barking about Iran, has helped push the price of oil to $88 dollars a barrel, but that's a whole other story)...but I digress.

America, meet your nuance:

Last month, Hisham Kassem, an Egyptian human rights advocate, met with President Bush in Washington when he was flown there for an award granted by the National Endowment for Democracy. Mr. Kassem, the only winner from Egypt, said that Mr. Bush had spoken effusively about promoting democracy to the other recipients, but he did not address the topic when it came to Egypt.

"In comparison with my colleagues from other countries, this was the least of his interests," Mr. Kassem said.

The truth is that almost any administration could not care any less about human, civil or democratic rights in Egypt, but this administration is particularly cynical, especially when you consider things like their lofty to the point of silly rhetoric, not to mention the now mostly forgotten purple-inked fingers from the halcyon days of Rethuglian majorities in Congress, smugly raised in celebration of non-existent Iraqi "democracy."

And the uglier truth is that the whole sorry show in both Iraq and Afghanistan bear even less relationship to a global "war" on terror than the freak sideshow does to the bigtop. The fact is that if you WANT a global war on terror, the very countries Shrub WON'T invade--Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt--would HAVE to be invaded, and at a cost that would make the eternal misery expidition in Iraq look like the mother of all picnics.

And don't think we wouldn't feel it here. Wingnut nonsense about global wars that can be fought essentially for free are already as empty as semi-trailers hauling sailboat fuel, but a REAL war on terror would end the global system of trade and the energy economy as we know it. We might be looking on the days of $88 dollar a barrel oil as a time of easy-energy in comparison.

Remember--wingnuttia is TRYING to bring on the apocalypse, although I wonder if your old-fashioned Rethug business-types really want a world that's, well, not all that good for business, or pretty much anything else.