The Obama Effect: Extremists lose a Democratic Election

by: Roatti

Mon Jun 08, 2009 at 01:53:09 AM EDT

X-posted at Kos

With idiot conservatives questioning the point of making a stirring, beautiful speech to win over the hearts and minds in the Muslim world, it looks like those efforts to nudge public opinion are already bearing fruit:

NY Times:  U.S.-Backed Alliance Appears to Win in Lebanon

An American-backed alliance appeared to retain control of the Lebanese Parliament on Sunday in a hotly contested election that had been billed as a showdown between Tehran and Washington for influence in the Middle East.

Preliminary results reported on Lebanese television showed the alliance, known as the March 14 coalition, had managed to preserve its majority in Parliament. If those results are confirmed, they would represent a significant and unexpected defeat for Hezbollah and its allies, Iran and Syria. Most polls had showed a tight race, but one in which the Hezbollah-led group would win.

So wooing minds in the Muslim world has helped tip an election towards a pro-western coalition in a notoriously divided Lebanon.

When I try to sometimes wrap my head around what about conservative thinking bothers me so much, it comes down to this:

conservatives care more about means than ends.

This case is the perfect example.  The end in this particular foreign policy issue is weaken the strength of violent extremest forces in islamic countries.  Obama thinks that by opening up dialogue with the region and improving America's image in those countries is the best way to achieve that end.

But conservatives aren't really interested if that end is achieved.  They are more interested in having means that look cool on TV and that satisfy a gut emotional craving to just do something, goddamit, like making the Bagdad sky light up with the force of American airpower.  Anything short of that just isn't getting the job done, because something in their minds lacks the capacity to make the cognitive leap that soft power can sometimes be much better at achieving the end they profess to care about.  

Obama just achieved a significant end, and conservative heads are exploding because they just cannot compute how.  I can't wait to see their reaction when the Iranians toss out Ahmadinejad in a week.

Thankfully, Obama has the ability to see the big picture, and a small part of that picture just got a whole lot brighter today.

History and Hezbollah: A Podcast Interview With Augustus Richard Norton

by: Intrepid Liberal Journal

Sun Jul 08, 2007 at 17:59:16 PM EDT

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal as well as the Independent Bloggers Alliance and the Peace Tree.

Trying to make sense of tribal politics in the Middle East can't be done with simple bumper sticker slogans. The history, entangling relationships, religious dimension, shifting alliances, geography and multiple cultures are a Byzantine maze of complexity. Specifically, the Muslim world is often regarded by people in the west, especially Americans, as a large bowl of alphabet soup. As a result, policy makers who look for quick and easy fixes by force in the region overreach and miscalculate.

One tragic example of miscalculation and overreach is Lebanon. Once regarded as the "jewel" of the Middle East, Lebanon endured a brutal civil from 1975 to 1990. Surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, Syria and Israel, this small country the size of Connecticut has flummoxed leaders in Jerusalem and Washington for two decades.