aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Friday, January 27, 2006

The Hamas win

I’m not nearly so cataclysmic as some are at the Hamas win - I’m not optimistic either - but of all there is to quote from I pick Timothy Noah in the Slate Political Gabfest podcast last night:

Fareed Zakaria wrote a very good book that I wish President Bush had read addressing this very question and he argued that the first thing you need in order to bring a state into the 21st century is not democracy, it’s civil law. Once you have a civilized society then you can have a democratic society. If you have an uncivilized society then it could vote for terrorism and that’s basically what happened here.

The contrary view - that acting as a democratic ruler will leaven the elected terrorist and this is all just a process they must go through - was voiced by Robert Kagan, senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on All Things Considered tonight, “I remain to be convinced of what the short-term risks actually are… I’m inclined to see it as a positive development.”

I could argue point by point, but I’ll let that to others and instead point to Russia as an example. A disaster I expect will worsen still, see this from The Future of Freedom.