01/04/2009 07:35:45 PM EST

2008... the year democracy failed around the world

posted by holy noize

Every president since Truman has said, "if every sovereign nation had a democratic government, wars would cease to exist. one democracy wouldn't declare war on another." by the end of 2008, we saw 2 bloody wars: the Russia-Georgian conflict in south Ossesia, and the current Israeli-Palestinian war in Gaza.

I know many of you would argue that "Putin is the dictator of Russia," or "well Gaza isn't a really a democratic nation", the fact is that in August two countries with executive leaders who were elected by the majority of the population nearly led to Georgia being turned into a puppet govenment for Russia. Now the Israeli defence force has invaded the Gaza Strip and will most likely put in place a pro Israeli leader.

But if you look back throughout history, this hasn't been the first time this has happened. in 1845, the United States soundly defeated Mexican President Santa Anna's armies and took over the California, Arizona and New Mexico. in 1953, operaton ajax, led by the CIA, overthrew the democratic government of Iran and installed a Pro-West dictatorship. Lets hope that Democracy holds up in 2009.

Email Print
Google Technorati del.icio.us digg reddit Facebook
< papa Bush;" Jeb in the Whitehouse, sure.. " | armenian Genocide on TYT ? >

Poll

What will be the next major conflict this year?
Colombia vs. Venezuala 33%
Iran vs. Israel 16%
N. Korea vs. S. Korea 16%
Some country in Africa 33%
Russia vs. anybody 50%
there will be no more wars this year 0%
other 33%

Votes: 6
Results | Other Polls
 Display:
2008... the year democracy failed around the world | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
title (none / 0)
Just because democratic nations have fought each other before and this year doesn't mean democracy "failed" the purpose of democracy isn't to stop wars, although in a perfect world it would do that. I am optomistic however that there would be much less fighting in a democratic world.

by nmaks on 01/04/2009 08:33:44 PM EST

Another retireable word (none / 0)
Every president since Truman has said, "if every sovereign nation had a democratic government, wars would cease to exist. one democracy wouldn't declare war on another."

Presidents are impressionable like that. If Truman had said, "Monkey urine is an excellent source of potassium," we'd have that printed on the back of the dollar bill by now. (Sure, we're laughing now, but wait until the George W. Bush "workin' hard to put food on your family" commemorative proof nickels come out.)

When aggression is carried out and mislabeled "the spread democracy," that word acts as a sweetener to help the violence go down easier. It takes a strong gut to challenge that misuse. Just like the word "terrorism," the word "democracy" will need to be retired, strictly defined and then re-adopted if its usefulness is to be preserved.

Anytime -- every time! -- you hear someone throw away a loaded word like "democracy," hold them to account. Take nothing for granted. Democracies are no more naturally predisposed against avarice, aggression, fundamentalism, "terrorism" or war than any other forms of government are.

by OneHitKill on 01/05/2009 12:58:40 PM EST

Typographical intrigue (none / 0)
When aggression is carried out and mislabeled "the spread democracy,"

NO

When aggression is carried out and mislabeled "the spread of democracy,"

YES

by OneHitKill on 01/05/2009 01:00:26 PM EST

[ Parent ]
2008... the year democracy failed around the world | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
 Display: