Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Backlash
The WaPo is coming down in favor of more aggressive diplomacy that is directed in pushing the thugish leaders of the middle east into reforming their countries with more liberalism. It in fact even chastises the Bush administration for scaling back their goals of liberalism in the middle east due to a backlash of criticism that their efforts have faced.
The editorial concludes:
It's nice to see such balanced editorials coming out of a major newspaper. Again, let me trumpet the superiority of the WaPo to the NYT's. Hopefully one day soon the NYT'll finally reap the backlash that its been sowing and be dethroned from its dubious title as the 'paper of record'.
The editorial concludes:
Administration officials nevertheless have reacted to the backlash by scaling back some of their ambitions. For example, rather than seek agreement on a "democracy charter" for the Middle East by the G-8 summit in June, the group of rich countries is likely to settle for embracing the agendas that emerge from the Arab summit and other regional meetings. A programmatic proposal being circulated among the G-8 governments is small-bore and familiar, emphasizing training and technical support for existing Arab groups and institutions, rather than promotion of fundamental change. Such a modest start might be worthwhile if it serves as the basis for a broad alliance among the United States, Europe and Arab reformers. Yet the Bush administration will not encourage transformation of the Middle East until it breaks with old-style rulers and old ways of thinking. Until it is prepared to use its considerable leverage with allies such as Mr. Mubarak to promote political freedom, as opposed to stability, its democracy initiative will lack credibility.
It's nice to see such balanced editorials coming out of a major newspaper. Again, let me trumpet the superiority of the WaPo to the NYT's. Hopefully one day soon the NYT'll finally reap the backlash that its been sowing and be dethroned from its dubious title as the 'paper of record'.
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