Coyote Gulch

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Rocky Mountain Blogger Roundup
Jed at FreedomSight is hosting the next round.
6:12:42 PM

2004 Presidential Election
Josh Marshall points to a must read article written by Wesley Clark. Clark writes, "This dream of engineering events in the Middle East to follow those of the Soviet Union has led to an almost unprecedented geostrategic blunder. One crucial reason things went wrong, I believe, is that the neoconservatives misunderstood how and why the Soviet Union fell and what the West did to contribute to that fall. They radically overestimated the role of military assertiveness while underestimating the value of other, subtler measures. They then applied those theories to the Middle East, a region with very different political and cultural conditions. The truth is this: It took four decades of patient engagement to bring down the Iron Curtain, and 10 years of deft diplomacy to turn chaotic, post-Soviet states into stable, pro-Western democracies. To achieve the same in the Middle East will require similar engagement, patience, and luck...We can't know precisely how the desire for freedom among the peoples of the Middle East will grow and evolve into movements that result in stable democratic governments. Different countries may take different paths. Progress may come from a beneficent king, from enlightened mullahs, from a secular military, from a women's movement, from workers returning from years spent as immigrants in Western Europe, from privileged sons of oil barons raised on MTV, or from an increasingly educated urban intelligentsia, such as the nascent one in Iran. But if the events of the last year tell us anything, it is that democracy in the Middle East is unlikely to come at the point of our gun. And Ronald Reagan would have known better than to try."
7:05:36 AM

Denver November 2004 Election
Here's an in-depth look at the issues of Roman Catholics voting for abortion rights candidates, from the Rocky Mountain News [May 22, 2004, "'What's a Catholic to do?'"]. From the article, "As Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter, a Democrat who doesn't support abortion rights said: 'I do think the Democratic Party makes it very difficult for pro-life Democrats.' Carl Raschke, a professor of religious studies at the University of Denver, said the threat of withholding Communion - the most holy part of the Mass - from Catholics is an unprecedented use of religion as a tool to swing votes. He also said it could have a 'slight impact' on the election because of the small percentage of people who haven't made a choice between Kerry, Bush or Ralph Nader yet. Pressure from the Catholic Church, he said, could send those voters to Bush."
Attorney General, Ken Salazar, is trying to show Colorado voters that he is savvy on foreign policy, especially with respect to Israel. Here's an article about Israel's Shinui party and their centrist approach to a possible Israel/Palestine solution. From the article, "The plan calls for the resumption of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority without insisting on an end to violence first. Writing in Ma'ariv, party leader Tommy Lapid says that Israel must 'return to the road map and renew negotiations with Abu Ala, while waiving the condition that the Palestinian Authority first put an end to terror.' He writes that waiting for the violence to cease in advance of negotiations is 'not practical.' That reality has been proven by recent events. Ever since President Bush announced the roadmap in 2003, Israel has resisted complying with its terms until the Palestinian Authority takes on the terrorists. The Palestinians have refused, saying that they do not have the capacity to take on Hamas and that they are not inclined to enter into a civil war when there is no guarantee that they will get anything from Israel in return. And many simply do not want to fight the terrorists because they support them, pure and simple. As a result, the stalemate has deepened." Thanks to Josh Marshall for the link.
6:51:48 AM

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