Putting Democracy First May Test Key Relationships

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-assess21jan21.story
NEWS ANALYSIS
Putting Democracy First May Test Key Relationships
By Doyle McManus
Times Staff Writer

January 21, 2005

WASHINGTON — For more than a century, presidents have wrestled with the recurring conflict between America's democratic ideals and its real-world interests — interests that sometimes led the U.S. into alliances with unpalatable dictators.

In his inaugural address Thursday, President Bush boldly declared that debate over.<snip>

But making that change may not be easy. Will he press hard on China, a major trading partner; or Saudi Arabia, the source of 20% of the nation's imported oil; or Pakistan, a key ally in the hunt for terrorist leader Osama bin Laden?<snip>

The test of Bush's sweeping new doctrine, though, won't come in Afghanistan, but in more powerful countries like China and Russia, where the United States wants to maintain cordial relationships with repressive governments for practical political and economic reasons.
<snip>
Even more delicate is the question of how to handle undemocratic regimes in countries such as Pakistan and Uzbekistan that the United States is relying on for military and intelligence help in its war against Islamic terrorist organizations.
<snip>
Rice was not asked about Uzbekistan at her confirmation hearings this week, but the Central Asian country was not on the list of six "outposts of tyranny" that she said deserved special attention: Cuba, Myanmar, North Korea, Iran, Belarus and Zimbabwe.<snip>