tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447402.post115341800018640625..comments2023-09-18T02:20:14.674-07:00Comments on Pith and Substance: Do Democracies Have a Special External Moral Licence?PithLordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03856231065567376894noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447402.post-1153435178303884782006-07-20T15:39:00.000-07:002006-07-20T15:39:00.000-07:00Well, in the Occupied Territories, 55% of voters v...Well, in the Occupied Territories, 55% of voters voted for parties other than Hamas. But you are probably right that Israel is not wild about seeing democracy in either Egypt or Jordan (or Syria).<BR/><BR/>However, I am puzzled by the references to Turkey and Iran. Perhaps I am ignorant, but how have relations between Turkey and Israel gotten worse as Turkey has become democratic? Turkey has been mostly democratic for some time (with several brief military interruptions along the way), and relations have not exactly gotten bad under the moderate Islamist government now ruling Turkey.<BR/><BR/>And Iran did not exactly become a democracy after the Shah.<BR/><BR/>But I really don't understand the claim that the Middle East faces "fundamentally ethnic conflict about land." If we are talking about Zionism vs. the emergent Palestinian nationalism that led to the creation of the PLO, I get it. But Hamas and Hezbollah are not ethnic movements. They are radical Islamist--and thereby religious--movements. <BR/><BR/>I am not sure what any of this has to do with the question of democracies and moral license.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com