The West's despicable double standards

Despicable Hypocrisy by the West

By Christopher Barder

Having supported Arab dictators for many years and enjoyed trade with Iran too, Western leaders are flummoxed when they find themselves thinking in terms of 'democratic revolutions' in the Arab world and the overthrow of the harsh regimes which have held the Arab street in check.

Of course, Muslim democracy means nothing similar to Western democracy and when it has reared its head it has had to be suppressed -- as Ataturk saw about Turkey and the Algerian army made plain. Almost all governments in the Arab world were the product of coups and/or violence.

Suddenly distaste for the authoritarian rule in Muslim states has overtaken previous pragmatic politics and replaced those responses by a different pragmatism: a desire to appear supportive of street anarchy. This may mean the ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood. It may mean rape and looting on a large scale but the West wants to appear in favour of the 'man on the street' even though he means chaos and lawlessness. 

Hamas is a good example of what happens when coercion, terror and violence inform 'elections' in the Arab world. There is constant pressure, even from one of the recent heads of Mossad, Efraim Halevy, for talks with Hamas. Secret Services keep this service secret. But the fact is the West will run with the hare and hunt with the hounds in an ill informed helter-skelter desire to ingratiate itself and promote itself.

It is ill-informed because it is unwilling to face realities, one of which is that it categorises others in its own political categories. The Arab crowds only look like liberal democratic demonstrators against dictators if what they really stand for is taken out of the equation. 

The Shah's betrayal and now Mubarak's, portray the USA as turning its back on its allies. The damage being done may not be offset by Obama's attempts at cosying up to all Muslim regimes, including initially to Iran and currently soft pedalling in everything. As American power appears to wane and signals are sent to the Taliban that if they hang on long enough Western forces will leave, the flaccid and weak Western resolve exhibited in the Middle East will reverberate to its detriment. Ghaddafi was once a bgeyman. Then he appeared a reformed character to the West. Now he is to be vilified for the violence he exhibited throughout his rule, either overtly or potentially. 

The West however has handled everything with fickleness and vacillation. Or not quite everything. The one pro Western, stable and democratic state in the region it continues to abuse verbally and strategically, consistently. It has this in common with the Arabs and Iranians: it hates Israel's existence and therefore combats Israel's desire to defend itself. And the West is supposed to stand for justice and the rule of law!  It is a fair weather friend and therefore no friend at all. What it is best at, all too often, is an ugly mixture of self righteousness, appeasement and ill-judged prejudices.