Well, bugger me. Condi Rice announcement in Egypt today:
“For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region, here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither,'’ she said. “Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspiration of all people.'’
Further:
“Liberty is the universal longing of every soul, and democracy is the ideal path for every nation,'’
One can almost hear the frantic tap-tap-tapping as Christopher Hitchens’ fingers fly across his keyboard, simultaneously writing at least four three-thousand word articles entitled “see, i told you so”.
It’s not clear what would happen if Egypt were to elect a theocratic government, still less so if the same should ever happen in Saudi Arabia. But we do have one indication of Bush’s reaction to a democratic government, in an oil-rich state, that exhibited policies not conforming to american interests. I’m thinking Venezuela, where a democratically elected Hugo Chavez was subjected to a US-backed coup attempt, foiled only by massive public protest.
So, we’ll see.
