I must be using a wrong dictionary. Apparently Mubarak is not a dictator. I thought the whole, election-with-only-one-candidate trick didn’t work, but apparently … (sorry my mistake, in one of the elections others were allowed to run, but only he was allowed to win, big difference!)
January 28, 2011
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Iran is significantly more democratic, but you wouldn’t know that to hear our leaders talk…
Comment by Ian McKellar — January 29, 2011 @ 7:06 am |
They’re both democratic in the Ankh-Morpork sense: One man – one vote. (Though maybe in Iran, there are actually several people who can vote
Comment by jlebl — January 29, 2011 @ 4:18 pm |
Iranian democracy is semi open. The elections seem relatively fair and a fairly broad spectrum of candidates can run (though they must be approved by the religious authorities).
The real problem we have with Iran is that they keep electing people we don’t like. Ahmadinejad is basically their George W Bush, he talks a lot of shit internationally, he’s really unpopular in big cities, but all of the red-necks love him.
The real problem with have with Egypt is that their most credible opposition is the (banned) Muslim Brotherhood. And we[*] need a brutal pro-western leader in power to protect the Egyptian relationship with Israel and access to the Suez Canal.
[*] we = the US Israel lobby + everyone who cares more about international commerce than human rights
Comment by Ian McKellar — January 29, 2011 @ 7:00 pm