Part 2: The Middle East
The Middle East goes through periods of tranquility and periods of rage. The Middle East is bearing witness to governments toppled by uprisings of the general population and the Western World hopes for a new age of liberty in the troubled region. Such Optimism lacks perspective. Periods of tranquility are not truly peaceful but rather the military suppresses discontent through military dictatorships funded by oil sales to the Western World.
Liberty based societies supporting dictatorships is a contradiction to the ideals of personal liberty. The reason Western populations support such suppressions is that volatility in world economies shakes the confidence of capitalist consumers. The oil in the Middle East is the main reason that the Western World does not support democracy since the transition to a republic is an unpredictable process. In military power the Western World finds reliability and the ability to calm a region, at least it looks serene on the surface.
A regime that forces silence will always be subject to revolt periodically by citizens straining for liberty but without the full support of democratic nations abroad, democratic movements stand almost no chance for success. Instead opposing political parties utilize the revolts towards personal power acquisition and try to topple a regime and take control in a similar fashion. In Egypt, the military was in control the entire time and it redirected public anger towards Mubarak and away from itself. The removal of Mubarak by the citizens allows the military to slowly re-assert its power on the nation. Nothing changed for the citizens of Egypt and the Western World continues to support the military in favor of perceived stability over personal liberty.
The United States decided to experiment with direct military stability by invading Iraq for reasons that are less than opaque. The result was complete civil war for a short duration than replaced by an oppressive military occupation. The Iraqi government is far from being a true democracy and the citizens of the nation have not gained a morsel of additional personal liberty. Once the United States removes its military completely political agents from Iran and Saudi Arabia will battle for control over Iraq's oil and the Western World will be satisfied if this means no visible volatility.
Citizens of Western nations care little for others' personal liberty regardless of the rhetoric there're elected representatives spew. In fact, few citizens of republics truly understand the concept of a society cultured in the belief that personal liberty should be held above all other ideals including that of religion. For example, the majority of United States population has never read the Constitution, Common Sense, Articles of Confederacy, The Federalist Papers, or the other works that defined the United States as the first society dedicated to liberty regardless of its flaws. These works recorded the struggle of defining not only personal liberty but also the role of government to protect and enforce liberty.
Systems of government will never be perfect but the pursuit of perfection by a liberty based society will create a superior system of political economy than any other governing process in the world. So until the Western World defines what liberty means for itself, the citizens of the democratic nations will continue to support oppressive regimes across the globe in the name of stability. The "Arab Spring" died before it began and even if governments fall they will be replace by power hungry political parties that will lie and oppress again with the blessing of our Western governments.
UPDATE - 9 months ago
I Encourage everyone to read the article from the link below. I subscribe to the site myself but this is one of thier free articles and it captures perfectly what my post was about. The difference is the George Friedman is a much better writter than myself. Let me know if the link does not work.
"Re-Examining the Arab Spring is republished with permission of STRATFOR."
Read more: Re-Examining the Arab Spring | STRATFOR
Re-Examining the Arab Spring is republished with permission of STRATFOR.