Back up
For more than a month now, I have been suffering a writer's block..... not that I am a writer, it's just an excuse :-) Another excuse might be that my sister was visiting me for christmas and we went visiting various places around CS (This I can definetely prove by the almost 2000 miles on my odometer in the past month). Anyway, I am now back up and hope to write some more.
Back up seems also to be the way Americans should be feeling right now. After a disastrous 2004 in which the Iraq situation worsened and Bush got re-elected, 2005 seems to have started on a ok note (though the thought of Alberto Gonzales as the law-maker-in-cheif in the country is a bit unsettling). Today's election in Iraq seems to have proceeded smoothly (well as smoothly as can be expected in Iraq). One can only hope that this leads to a stable government there. Though I seriously doubt it will be a democratic one. People naturally have an aversion to anything thats rammed down their throats, even though it may be good for them. Try feeding a medicine to a kid if you have any doubts about that. And I am sure the Iraqis resent the "democracy" thats being rammed down their throats. For it would be naive to think that Washington won't try to install a man sympathetic to them in Baghdad. But in any case, the winner of this election will have marginally more legitimacy than his predecessors.
The situation in Iraq strongly reminds me post WW1 Germany, where the democratically elected Republic was resented by Germans themselves because they saw it as the government which signed the Versailles Treaty. The weakness of the Government helped the rise of Adolf Hitler. One can only speculate what the result of this election in Iraq will be. Will it ultimately lead to the emergence of another Saddam or will it lead to a stable and democratic Iraq. Only time will tell.
Back up seems also to be the way Americans should be feeling right now. After a disastrous 2004 in which the Iraq situation worsened and Bush got re-elected, 2005 seems to have started on a ok note (though the thought of Alberto Gonzales as the law-maker-in-cheif in the country is a bit unsettling). Today's election in Iraq seems to have proceeded smoothly (well as smoothly as can be expected in Iraq). One can only hope that this leads to a stable government there. Though I seriously doubt it will be a democratic one. People naturally have an aversion to anything thats rammed down their throats, even though it may be good for them. Try feeding a medicine to a kid if you have any doubts about that. And I am sure the Iraqis resent the "democracy" thats being rammed down their throats. For it would be naive to think that Washington won't try to install a man sympathetic to them in Baghdad. But in any case, the winner of this election will have marginally more legitimacy than his predecessors.
The situation in Iraq strongly reminds me post WW1 Germany, where the democratically elected Republic was resented by Germans themselves because they saw it as the government which signed the Versailles Treaty. The weakness of the Government helped the rise of Adolf Hitler. One can only speculate what the result of this election in Iraq will be. Will it ultimately lead to the emergence of another Saddam or will it lead to a stable and democratic Iraq. Only time will tell.
posted by Avinash | 6:00 PM
