Do we really WANT Pakistan to be a democracy?

[BushOut06]

Gotta love Bush and his "democracy everywhere" campaign. :sarcasm:

So what happens if Musharaf allows a truly democratic election, and the extremists take over? Then what, Bush? The thing about democracies is that you don't always like what you get.

[L. Coyote]

1. Free determination is only for those who think like US, right? Others are terrorists, by definition

[NNN0LHI]

3. Took the words right out of my mouth

Okay I admit I couldn't have said it that well.

Don

[BushOut06]

6. Straw man

Nowhere did I say that anyone who doesn't think like us is a terrorist, nice try. In fact, I never even used the word terrorist in my OP. But you would have to be friggin blind not to notice the spread of extremism in Pakistan - fueled in large part by our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, but still a rising force. I don't know about you, but I'm not in any big rush to see the Taliban armed with nuclear weapons.

[TwilightGardener]

2. That's the rub--the people of Pakistan, and the rest of the world, are

in a tough spot. A somewhat stable dictatorship vs. a democracy that goes wild with extremism. I don't know how Bhutto fits into this, either. No one knows what's going to happen.

[H2O Man]

9. Right.

And the US is being represented by an administration that lacks any capacity to exercise any positive influence.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Hows that Saddam dictatorship we propped up for decades working out for you now?

Not so good?

Don

[Hatalles]

5. You don't seem to have a realistic picture of Pakistan.

My mother is in Pakistan right now, she was born and raised there. I have friends born/raised in Pakistan and have been there 3 times. If there was an election today, Bhutto would win in a heartbeat. Considering the corruption charges attributed to her, whether that's good for Pakistan remains to be seen.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. do you remember what bush did when hamas won a democratic election?

he tried to cancel the result.

democracy everywhere? hardly.

[Strelnikov_]

8. Yes, we do. The 'Extremists' are a very small minority

This was a play by Mushie to hang on to power, pure and simple.

Read today's Juan Cole today for background.

http://www.juancole.com/


Remember, the Bolsheviks were a similar minority. Being well organized, the chaos following the February Revolution became the breeding ground for their eventual rise to power.

[BushOut06]

10. Sorry then - it's what I get from paying too much attention to the M$M

From reading the papers and watching the news, one would think that the extremists were gaining in popularity, and were on the verge of taking power. I was under the impression that Musharef was trying to hold them off.

[Strelnikov_]

11. A democratic Pakistan could be manipulated by the extremists

Look to our own country for a tragic example.

IMHO though, the hamfisted way Mushie is going about this is probably driving more into the camps of the extremists, and the inherent instability only helps these extremists.

[Igel]

12. First we want it to be fairly liberal.

Democracy without a liberal society leads to tyranny of the majority and ultimately to tyranny by the minority when things go sour and the majority flees.

An illiberal demos will always lead to problems.

[Big Blue Marble]

13. This interview posted on DU yesterday from TPM gives much insight

into why we need not fear democratic elections in Pakistan as well as how
badly the * Administration has f**ked up.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2202453