Ukraine vs. Iraq: When America Gets It Right
"Democracy is not the absence of tyranny. It has to grow from within over time, and it requires far more care and feeding than Washington seems able to give."
Just in time, George Packer makes a compelling case for American foreign intervention that actually works. Call it Operation Ukraine. (Read the full article here.)
Contrast Ukraine with Iraq: whereas hasty, aggressive, and unilateral attempts by America to democratize the latter have met with almost universal resistance and questionable success, a much less invasive, much more sensitive and incremental approach in Ukraine over the past decade has helped that country embrace democracy with relative smoothness.
And with considerably less damage to America's global reputation.
In the Christmas edition of The New Yorker, Packer documents how the United States helped establish genuine democratic reforms in Ukraine from behind the scenes and gradually during the nineties. Financial and technical support was provided by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, and to all political parties, in order to create a truly balanced, non-partisan democracy.
With Ukraine, U.S. leaders apparently remembered that democracy "has to grow from within over time", that it can't be shoved against its will into the microwave and nuked at high without boiling over and tasting funny.
"The United States did in Ukraine exactly what it failed to do in Iraq: it upheld international standards in conjunction with democratic allies. The consequences of this failure in Iraq will always haunt the American effort here. . .Iraq has shown that a war of liberation is a crude instrument for setting a country free."
Here's hoping that Ukraine, not Iraq, serves as the model that future U.S. administrations follow in the years to come.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Just in time, George Packer makes a compelling case for American foreign intervention that actually works. Call it Operation Ukraine. (Read the full article here.)
Contrast Ukraine with Iraq: whereas hasty, aggressive, and unilateral attempts by America to democratize the latter have met with almost universal resistance and questionable success, a much less invasive, much more sensitive and incremental approach in Ukraine over the past decade has helped that country embrace democracy with relative smoothness.
And with considerably less damage to America's global reputation.
In the Christmas edition of The New Yorker, Packer documents how the United States helped establish genuine democratic reforms in Ukraine from behind the scenes and gradually during the nineties. Financial and technical support was provided by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, and to all political parties, in order to create a truly balanced, non-partisan democracy.
With Ukraine, U.S. leaders apparently remembered that democracy "has to grow from within over time", that it can't be shoved against its will into the microwave and nuked at high without boiling over and tasting funny.
"The United States did in Ukraine exactly what it failed to do in Iraq: it upheld international standards in conjunction with democratic allies. The consequences of this failure in Iraq will always haunt the American effort here. . .Iraq has shown that a war of liberation is a crude instrument for setting a country free."
Here's hoping that Ukraine, not Iraq, serves as the model that future U.S. administrations follow in the years to come.
Happy New Year, everyone!
posted by Paul Donnett at 1:52 PM
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