Hamas wins
One of the problems with Democratic elections is that sometimes the people you'd like to see win, don't. (Or so I'm told, anyway. It actually hasn't happened to me much lately.)
Still, there's Winston Churchill's whole thing about democracy being the worst form of government except for all the others, blah blah blah.... I think there's a great deal of truth to all that, and I don't think the outcome of this election is necessarily a bad thing. My big fear is whether or not there will be other elections in the future. But if Hamas is willing to abide by future election results after taking power, then so be it.
Meanwhile, it's hard to predict exactly how things are going to shake out in the near term. At least, however, we now know exactly what we're dealing with. Hamas unabashedly calls for the destruction of Israel. Doesn't seem like a good jumping-off point for more talks, but I guess we'll see how it goes. I presume that Israel, absent a sane negotiating partner, will persevere with its unilateral strategy to redefine its borders.
Oh, and one more thing. Please spare me any crap about how the majority of Palestinians are reasonable, peace-loving people. We've just seen otherwise.
Comments
Exactly! Peace-long, my ass....unless peace-loving means suicide bombers, rock throwing, open sewage in the streets and a violence-lovin' movement in control of the Parliament.
I guess the big question for Hamas is, guns or butter? Since the great nation of Palestine is in such fine shape already, I'm betting they choose guns.
Posted by: fred | January 26, 2006 10:51 AM
Barry,
I think that this is a disastrous election result. It could not have gone worse than that. Ironically, the Bush administration and Condoleeza Rice were so proud of how they are "transforming the middle east" and were considering it as their "own success" that Libya denounced terrorism and that Palestinians were having a turn towards democracy (presumably due to the Iraq example). I want to hear what Rice and Bush will say about the fact that palestinians elected a terrorist and criminal organization as their goverment. It is another proof of the failure of the neocnservative theory and the full incompetence of the Bush administration.
The only good news out of this is that Israel will now move unilaterally to define its borders, and paradoxiacally a de-facto peace process may move faster. Of course, this will be more difficult these days without Sharon.
Posted by: Blue Wind | January 26, 2006 11:02 AM
"I want to hear what Rice and Bush will say about the fact that palestinians elected a terrorist and criminal organization as their goverment."
From America's POV, we may not like this result. However, I think you are missing something you said Blue. The "Palestinians elected" this government. Isn't that the whole point of being able to choose who you want to govern you?
I think it is a poor choice, but it was their choice, and like it or not, I'll live with it.
A lesson that could use to be re-learned in our own country.
Posted by: Malcolm | January 26, 2006 05:51 PM
Yeah, and Ahmednijad was democratically elected too, so stop fucking with him, we have no right to complain.
Posted by: ortho | January 27, 2006 11:49 AM