The rough nearostinitiative suffers from oxygen delay
With a little smaller as coarse, the current American government was seldom satisfied on its high flight: "Greater Middle East Initiative" Strolled the project at the beginning of the year. Coarse title, gross ambition, very rough historical breath, enthusiasm of Grand Strategists Start of the year still freshly fresh and unbroken in the high air of the Davos summit meeting. Just half a year later, the airy project suffers from oxygen delay.
The rough historical breath related the idea to "Greater Middle East Initiative" from the Cold War, from the success story of the Helsinki Agreement of 1975: after segregation of some political experts in the bar of Bush, the human and freedom rights catalog in the Helsinki agreement acted as an important historical catalyst, which had contributed significantly to the resolution of the Eastern Bloc. With a similar impetus, the resistin states in the Middle East should now be helped to become more modern, free and democratic order:
There is the segregation that Helsinki Europa has brought together and played a significant role for the collapse of the Soviet Union. Likewise, this idea (the initiative, Anm. D. V.) Remove and destroy the attractiveness of Islamic extremism.
An employee of the American Foreign Office
Soon one soon realized that the model was not so easy to transfer. In Helsinki Agreement, security guarantees played at least as central role as the human rights catalog; That the limits between the States of the Warsaw Pact and NATO were set with guarantees, is one thing. Any other whether one wants to define the like in the Middle East, namely the boundaries between Israel and Palastina. A precarer point where the Helsinki analogy went out the air.
Not only the historical equation was deficient. Despite the accompanying appelles, according to which the US initiative did not want to know as a dictation – "The idea is not that we are suggesting that they mean: ‘So the West introduces how your life should be’", How a government member is quoted – the Arab states, all the most prevalence of Egypt and Saudi Arabia race exactly. You do not want such interference.
"Gifts of the sky"
But not only the rules of the two coarse Arab Landers had little interest that the democratic aspirations – and thus oppositional power – are initiated in the region, also in the circles that should be addressed by the initiative, are blocked against the formulation the American. A corresponding picture was at least the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat in early April.
According to the comment of this newspaper, there is a strong Arab democratic movement. In every European capital, a group of Arab thinkers, intellectual, journalists, human rights activists and scientists who deselected the exile were found instead of bending the tyranny in their homeland. There was a lot of independent Arabous publications that – as Al-Hayat itself – are published in London or Paris. Satellite TV and Internet are "Gifts of the sky" For the opposition groups.
In view of such a strong democratic movement, an objective observer was expected that the current calls of the American government to make the Arab regime printing so that governments are reformed, on coarse resumption….In fact, the US reform tarpaulin was attacked in an unusual, overwhelming significantly.
The criticism focused on three things: the credits of Washington – in particular doubts about the "real goals" Especially the Bush government – the lack of repression with Arabic circles before you "Magic formula", which the Arab world is to save on the table, and most recently one threw the Americans that they, instead of providing help to connect the palastic problem, were attention to the need for reforms.
On American side, with the growing difficulties in the post-war syray, the victorious euphoria over the possibilities of transformation of the Greater Middle East, Bush is in the election campaign, the Village Ministry, which traditionally rather on Arabists hort than the high-grown strategists in the Pentagon, has at the moment upper water: the Greater Middle East-Initiative was repackaged in time for the G8 meeting; Even the title of the reform plan has lost to self-efficient cutting and won at diplomatic width.
Partnership instead of solo
The paper, which was presented to the world substitute at the end of the meeting, now "Partnership for Progress And A Common Future With the Region Of The Broader Middle East And North Africa". It is emphasized by the Iraq experiences intellectual insight that the Arab region is entitled to residence and do not transfer western ideas. Some was modified, Z.B. A PAS included, according to the solution of the Israeli-palastic conflict "Important element of progress in the region" may be. The settlement of the conflict in accordance with UN Resolutions 242 and 338 should be supported.
That’s all known and already laid down in many other documents; New is only the modest and more defensive sound, in which the need for the reform of the Arab world was carried forward. The problems are the old ones; Alone that the upper estate of Egyptens and Saudi Arabia are not followed by the Invitation to the summit, already referred to the well-known difficulties facing the reforms in reality: how Mubarak is shaking hands when taken with the program under the program Political opponents Krafte wants to strong in the country? Like the reformist force in Saudi Arabia, if at the same time at the friendship of the Konigshaus and the stability of the regime, which is currently strongly attacked by other side, is located?
Is the modified Greater Middle East-Initiative So only another non-binding document sharing the fate of many other diplomatic explanations and is stored in the files? She lodged in the lethargy of the Arab regimes, which would like to explain the well-being word of reforms to explain the Go Take in the mouth, but corresponding movements in reality the air stripes?
May not, because the Americans with their initiative, follow, for example, the comments of the Saudi Arab News, a discussion in the Arab toll have totally. The word "reform" If not only carried out by the fuels as a lip problem, it is now also in almost every article dealing with the circumstances in the region .
And, so hope the representatives of the human rights activists, the new text became significantly strong their position in the Arab countries:
He will provide the defenders of human rights with some support. He will cause the regimes to be caution against the persecution of fuss of human rights. He will not stop her completely to pursue her, but she will be more cautious about her luge marches.
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Egyptian sociologist and activist for democratic reforms
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