talkmagic.co.uk

My day job has sprung a nice opportunity: I shall be appearing on CNN International Monday morning at 7:30 UK time to discuss the upcoming US mid-term elections...funny old world....

Today's Guardian tells how the Neocons that advised Bush to go to war are now turning on him. It seems that they think he's stupid for listening to them in the first place.

Yes, they are all eating crow in one form or another. Fukuyama was the first one to really come out strong in America at the Crossroads, which is a great history of the neo-cons and why he has become disillusioned with the Bush administration. There is another critique which sees Bush-Rice-Rumsfeld-Cheney as Marxist-Leninists since they are trying to use a form of vanguard politics to change the world!

I'm never very impressed with people who impose what they feel freedom and democracy should be by force. These things are almost organic not made overnight. You can't preach peace while pointing a gun and pressing someone's face into the dirt any more than you can preach sobriety with a pint in your hand.

It may well depend on context. It appeared that only force could have deterred the Nazis from imposing their own vision on large parts of the world, while the democratic recontruction of Europe was done through large transfers of capital. But this is not some generic solution for all time and place. History will not judge the Iraq intervention kindly.