Freedom Marchers!
Two days ago, the Syrian puppet government of Lebanon fell under pressure from a galvanizing protest by Lebanese citizens screaming for independence and democratic reforms. The protesters were emboldened by the promise President Bush made in his State of the Union address to stand with those who rise up against totalitarian governments. They also rallied behind America’s pressure on Syria to not only allow the protest to run its course but also to answer for the assassination of the immensely popular former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri.
Now Lebanon seems poised for a transition to democracy. But its former government was only the latest of a series of Islamic and totalitarian regimes that have fallen – like dominoes – from the force of peaceful revolutions. Bush might be too politically correct to gloat publicly, but his neo-con supporters (think American Jihadists) seem eager to do so on his behalf. They credit Bush’s religious determination to foment democratic revolutions all over the world for the changes that have taken place in Afghanistan, the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine, Iraq and Palestine. And, reports are that revolutionary embers are now flickering in the totalitarian states of Jordan and Egypt.
Where next: Tiananmen Square (China)…Cuba?
Perhaps it’s only his fortuitous moment in history, but there can be no denying Bush’s pivotal influence on these remarkable political transformations. His soul mate – President Putin of Russia – has described these events as setting a dangerous trend towards “permanent revolution”. But this would not be the first time that Putin’s wisdom has been rendered irrelevant by the progressive forces of history.
March on brothers and sisters!
News and Politics
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