[Marxism] Bush and the despots he admires

["Nasir Khan" <nasir.khan@xxxxxxx>]

Republished: http://nasir-khan.blogspot.com  and http://sudhan.wordpress.com
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Bush and the despots he admires

Published on Saturday, December 1, 2007 by CommonDreams.org


by Christopher Brauchli
A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone.
- Samuel Johnson

Mr. Bush is not disappointed in them. Quite the contrary. He's envious. 
Although sharing their goals, he is far less successful than they. They have 
shown how democracy works in an ideal world. Mr. Bush, of course, has the 
misfortune to be the President of the United States that is not an ideal 
democracy notwithstanding his efforts to make it so.

On November 21 Mr. Bush gave ABC news an interview during the course of which 
Perez Musharraf's name came up. Describing Mr. Musharraf, Mr. Bush said that he 
"truly is somebody who believes in democracy." According to reports, the 
reporter interviewing Mr. Bush asked if there was any line Mr. Musharraf should 
not cross to which Mr. Bush said: "He hasn't crossed the line. As a matter of 
fact, I don't think that he will cross any lines." Mr. Bush went on to say that 
it was a good sign that on the same day he was being interviewed Mr. Musharraf 
had released thousands of people from jail. (The reporter could have asked Mr. 
Bush if it was so good for Mr. Musharraf. to release people from jail why Mr. 
Bush didn't follow his lead and let some folks out of Guantanamo who have no 
business being there. He might have gone so far as to point out to Mr. Bush 
that releasing people from jail who should not be in jail was not half as good 
for democracy as the act of putting them in jail was bad for democracy.

Here are some of the things Mr. Musharrraf has done to demonstrate his belief 
in democracy. On November 3 he declared a state of emergency. He suspended the 
constitution, shut down 58 independent news stations and replaced all the 
justices on the Supreme Court. Their replacement was necessary because they 
were about to rule that his election as president in October was invalid. By 
removing them and replacing them with justices who would do his bidding he was 
able to perpetuate democracy in Pakistan. (The shut television stations were 
told they could reopen if they adhered to a government code of conduct that was 
imposed because, said Mr. Musharraf: "We want to bring some responsibility to 
them." Among other things, a journalist can go to prison for 3 years if 
coverage "ridicules" the president or other government officials.) In response 
to criticism from Condoleezza Rice about the imposition of martial law before 
elections scheduled in January Mr. Musharraf said that martial law was the best 
way to insure free and fair elections.

The other of Mr. Bush's good friends, whom Mr. Bush resembles more than we 
realized when we elected him, is Russia's Vladimir Putin. At the conclusion of 
Mr. Putin's visit to the Bush compound in July, Mr. Bush, praised Mr. Putin. He 
said: "Here's the thing, when you're dealing with a world leader, you wonder 
whether or not he's telling the truth. I've never had to worry about that with 
Vladimir Putin." Returning the complement Mr. Putin said that common democratic 
values are important for both countries. He said that Russia and the United 
States face the same problems that have "to do with the relationship with the 
media; it has to do with human rights" said he. We know how that's playing out 
in Bush's America. Here's how it's played out in Russia.

Putin's term as president is drawing to a close. Parliamentary elections are to 
take place in Russia in December. Mr. Bush was disappointed in his hopes that 
Republicans would have a majority in Congress following the 2006 elections. Mr. 
Putin is not taking any chances that his party, United Russia, will suffer the 
fate of the Republicans. At a recent campaign rally he stirred up his 
supporters saying: "Regrettably, there are those inside the country who feed 
off foreign embassies like jackals and count on support of foreign funds and 
governments, and not their own people." Not content with railing against his 
opponents, on November 24 a rally was held against Mr. Putin, and the riot 
police beat and then arrested those who attended, including Garry Kasparov, the 
former chess champion and leader of Other Russia, one of the opposition 
parties. Mr. Kasparov was charged with organizing an unsanctioned protest and 
resisting arrest and sentenced to 5 days in jail. In the southern Republic of 
Ingushetia three Moscow television journalists and a human rights activist were 
reported attacked by armed, masked men as they went to cover an opposition 
rally.

If this column leads the reader to believe that Mr. Bush likes all despots, it 
has erred. Mr. Bush has no use for Hugo Chávez of Venezuela who has likened Mr. 
Bush to the devil. But for that comparison, Mr. Bush would probably find it in 
his heart to say good things about him as well.
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