Is Washington giving Saudi Arabia and Bahrain a free pass when it comes to democratic reform? According to this article by Demétrio Magnoli for Brazil’s Estadao, the Obama Administration will have to move beyond pressuring countries like Syria and move on to its Persian Gulf allies if it wants to be seen as putting its values before its interests.
For Estadao, Demétrio Magnoli writes in part:
The direction of the Arab revolution is profoundly influenced by the actions of the West. France didn’t support its former client Tunisian dictator Ben Ali, and the U.S., after some hesitation, blew up the bridge that connected it to the Egyptian Mubarak. The U.N. resolution on Libya is more than a providential humanitarian initiative: the massacre of the insurgents in Benghazi would have offered an unparalleled narrative of martyrdom for Islamic radicalism and jihadist terror. Nevertheless, every Western gesture hints at a lacerating conflict between values and interests.
In Iraq in 2003, George Bush coated himself in the cellophane of defending freedom and military occupation, which was defined by his peculiar interpretation of American geopolitical interests. In Libya, Obama sacrificed concrete U.S. interests by cooperating with Qaddafi in the “war on terror” on the altar of the values preached by the West. There is a strategic logic to gambling on the Arab revolution. The failure of the Bush Doctrine revealed that fundamentalism and jihadism thrive in an atmosphere of oppressive tyranny. Because of this, in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the U.S. and its allies have chosen a side. But this bold choice will have to move beyond Syria to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, otherwise it could crumble into incoherence.
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