Random Foreign Policy Notes

Follow along for Cliff Notes on recent events outside of the United States:


The Success of Hamas in the recent Palestinian Parliamentary Election

So what? Lots of people are hand wringing about this occurrence. But what people may not realize, is that not that long a ago, Fatah was in the same place. Fatah is now the old, corrupt, complacent party that recently got their ass handed to them in this election. But in the 70's and 80's Fatah was the PLO, the Palestinian Liberation Organization. They advocated the destruction of Israel, they blew up stuff, they kidnapped people. When Palestinian elections were held in the 90's, they took part, and changed their name. They gradually started to realize that they had to work with Israel. They stopped advocated violence and started doing boring government stuff.
Hamas then took up the mantle of outside agitator. But as Fatah became boring and started selling out, Hamas also did other things. They started schools. They helped out with health care. They organized people.
So in the recent elections the Palestinians did what people do around the world when they are annoyed at the ruling party. And there was a peaceful transition of power. (Do you realize how HUGE that is? Not a coup, not a revolution, but an election with a new parliament!!)
And so Hamas now has the majority of control of the parliament. So will they be able to run a government without working with Fatah, Israel or the US? Good luck. They will have to make compromises.

So it's a good thing. If we want to promote democracy around the world, we shouldn't be upset when people actually vote.


Muhammad Cartoons
What people seem not to realize, is that drawing or depicting Muhammad is a sin in Islam. So even if the the cartoons were nice, they were still a sin.

Of course violently protesting to prove that Islam is not a violent religion is not a great argument either.

Dubai Ports Deal
So either we believe in globalization or not. Either we allow any company from anywhere to buy anything, or we don't. I happen to agree with the President on this one. By saying that it's okay for a British company to own our ports but not a company from Dubai is incredibly racist. And the argument that 9/11 hijackers came from there is very weak. (There are bad people from everywhere) Most people don't even know where Dubai is, let alone what their politics are. This reminds me of the flap when a Japanese company bought Rockefeller Center because of the ethnocentrism - with the added bonus of fear. No scary Middle Eastern people would have been actually there, they just would've made money off of our trade, just like American companies do when people in other countries buy American stuff.

Slobodan Milosevic
Dangit - I am pissed that he died. I wanted him punished. Now he can just be a martyr to some people who never did quite believe that he was capable of the atrocities of the early 90's in the Balkans. I don't think anyone is happy about it. His supporters think he was poisoned, and everyone else think he killed himself.