So Who's Delusional Again?

Someone better check Fred Kaplan's oil because he is starting to smoke and give off a funny smell. Bush's deluded speech to the world's oppressed.

"In the eyes of America," Bush said in Prague, "the democratic dissidents of today are the democratic leaders of tomorrow. So we are taking new steps to strengthen our support for them."

He listed the steps he's taking: "We recently created a Human Rights Defenders Fund, which provides grants for the legal defense and medical expenses of activists arrested or beaten by repressive government." He didn't say so, but a State Department Web site notes that the fund contains $1 million. (That's million, not billion.)

So, get it? We need to put our money where our mouths are. Fred Kaplan says so.

Another step: "I strongly support the Prague Document that your conference plans to issue, which states that 'the protection of human rights is critical to international peace and security.' " That requires no sweat or risk.

Finally: "I have asked Secretary Rice to send a directive to every U.S. ambassador in an unfree nation: Seek out and meet with activists for democracy and human rights." The question here is whether such activists will want to meet with the U.S. ambassador. Last year, when Rice asked Congress for $75 million to help democratic movements in Iran, the Iranian activists said that they didn't want the money—that any association with American money would hurt their credibility and make them look like spies.

Alright Kaplan, pick a freakin' point and stick with it already. Is the problem that we don't offer money to help dissidents OR is the problem that we do offer money to dissidents? Or do you just like to bitch in any given situation?

I realize that the question of promoting democracy can present a host of difficulties (many of which I looked at here.) But Kaplan's complaining here does not represent a nuanced view of the matter. It is pure pointless carping.

For example, later on the sage informs us:

Bush said much about the blossoming of democracies in Central and Eastern Europe as the Soviet Union declined and finally imploded. But those countries succeeded precisely because they had some experience with these sorts of institutions.

What is he smoking? The Baltic countries cease to exist in 1939 when the Red Army rolls in. Folks who were 21 in 1939 are 74 years old when 1992 comes along. Anyone younger than that has had no democratic experience of any kind. When you take into account the invasions (first by the Red Army, then by the Nazis, and then the Red Army again), the mass deportations, the "russification" of the countries, and add to that five decades of Soviet health care, exactly how many experienced democrats did Latvia have in the early 1990's? Six? Seven?

And hell, if some long ago experience is all the criteria you need then Iraq and Iran would both count, right? They each had their little period of democracy. Maybe that doesn't count because the people there have darker hair or something.

Finally, can anyone look at Bush's policies—as opposed to his words—and infer that he is (as he described himself today) a "dissident president"? He said, "We will never excuse your oppressors … " But he sends massive aid, including military aid, to Pakistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia; he congratulates Kazakhstan for its political progress; and he holds a state dinner for the leader of Albania.

There are reasons for this support. The calculations behind these reasons may be correct in the scheme of things. But to say, "We will never excuse your oppressors" and "we will always stand for your freedom"—when it's clearly the case that we don't and we can't—is to appear hypocritical. It makes the calculations of Realpolitik—which all big powers must play at times, even if reluctantly—appear more sordid than they need to. Worse still, it tarnishes those instances when we do act out of good conscience; it stirs doubts about ideals that we hold and express sincerely.

Yes, we should all follow the Kaplan plan, which evidently is to look people who suffer under brutal regimes and want something better for themselves and their families right in the eye and say, "Go f*ck yourselves."

And make sure you say that with sincerity.

How noble.