Riots, corruption and noise in Central Asia are almost a daily occurrence. Much noise and 100 dead bodies later, Kyrgyzstan is calmer and split. The President has fled south and the opposition mob rules in the capital. The Bakiev experiment, begun by the Tulip revolution with promises of democracy, fairness, a chicken in every pot and a Hummer in every garage has failed.
If there were ever a moral to a tragic story like Kyrgyzstan's, or Thailand's for that matter, is that democracy cannot come by will alone or at the wave of a magic wand.
Before any sort of democratic government can be installed, the ruling class must acknowledge it serves the people, not the other way round. Old habits die hard. In most of Asia and Africa, they might not die for another century or so.
I place my bet on the generations that grew up entirely in the information era (mid-90's onwards). As they become the dominant demographic, there's hope for better governance. In the meantime, let's give the tin-pot pretend democrat manipulators the opprobrium-filled sendoff they so deserve.
2 comments:
The problem is how do we contain these 12th. century despots from spreading their infections to the rest of the world. Left to their own devices, the Muslim world will wage war against one another forever. As Pervez Musharaff pointed out when he was president of Pakistan; something like 80% of the conflicts in the world involved Muslims. If we can find a way to keep them contained they will eventually kill themselves off.
I disagree. Firstly, I really don't see much Islamism in the current turmoil. Decades of Communism helped wipe the political arena almost clean of religious interference. Most stans have not followed Chechnya who brought religion back into politics as soon as it had the chance. With obvious consequences.
While Muslim states have leaders (too many), the broader Ummah (to which many Muslims prefer to owe allegiance) is headless.
The Islamic world doesn't need containment. It needs proper leadership. Either an enlightened cleric (there are those) or a charismatic politician. In the latter case it would inevitably be a dictator, as 4 or 8 years are not sufficient to steer the Muslim world safely away from its violent manifestations.
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