Suspend Your Disbelief

In the November 7th-13th issue of The Economist, an article on Karzai's victory in the run for president was published, citing the mass involvement of the Western powers to place him there. Going against democracy, the West is forcing it upon the Afghans, electing a president for them is not the same as giving them the choice to do so. What point is there if the Afghan people are allowed to vote, only to turn around and say their votes don't count at all. Many politicians already spoke of Karzai's victory before it happened, citing their support and ignoring the other candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, who actually stood a chance at winning if he had not been forced to bow out of the second round.

"Other diplomats declared that the 48.2% of the vote Mr Karzai won both matched what opinion polls predicted and was good enough mandate to run the country for the next five years."

While President Obama claims Mr Karzai won in accordance with Afghan law, one cannot help but wonder if cheating, threats, and thousands of fraudulant votes count as "the accordances of Aghan law". To stay inside the loop of chaos and war, the Taliban gleefully claimed that the election had been decided in Washington and London--an observation that did not go unnoticed with the voters and population of Afghanistan.

"Days before Dr Abdullah threw in the towel, a Western diplomat said 'we are already looking forward to Mr Karzai's inauguration speech' ".

Ignoring fraudulant votes, the American's and their allies are planning on--and already have--used Karzai as their puppet in the middle-east to begin the movement towards democracy in their favour. I strongly believe that while the Afghans are willing to accept democracy, I don't believe that the Americans and the West need to force their policies and puppets on the people; they are clearly ready for change but instead of aiding them in their fight against internal forces hoping to keep democracy at bay, they are forcing upon the people their ways and leaders--echoing the past where the White Man claimed countries for themselves and any natives living there were forced to assimilate.

It's not just a clash of civilizations, but more of a conflict of common human values, where change will come, but patience is required on the part of the Americans and the West.

Female Cartoonist Proves Democracy & Change is on the Way

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/27/hajjar.female.cartoonist/index.html

In a recent article on CNN, a female cartoonist--Hana Hajjar--proves that women are rising in Saudi Arabia, and Middle-East in general, as persons and Hana is showing that the bar of inequality is being erased with every stroke of her pencil.

"I think men have put women in an unfavorable position in this part of the world. They've put women in an oppressive situation," said Hana Hajjar.

She feels it's her duty to speak on behalf of women being oppressed everywhere in the Middle-East.

The youngest of nine children, Hana grew up in a family that supported her ambitions to become a cartoonist. And though outspoken women in conservative Saudi Arabia, Hajjar hasn't faced any repercussions.

I think that this article demonstrates the strides the Middle-East is taking in modernizing their countries, bringing them, slowly but surely, into a democratic society. With help from the Western countries, the Middle-East can turn the crawl to democracy into a run and the sooner, the better.

Today, more and more fathers are allowing their daughters more freedom, freedom to explore the world around them, apply for jobs that are meant for 'men', and even sometimes allowing them to leave the country without a male member of their family as an escort. These leniencies and open-mindedness are exactly what conservative Middle-Eastern countries need to adopt in order to establish themselves in the 21st century.

On the precipice towards democracy, I believe that the key lies with the oppressed women of the extremely conservative Middle-Eastern countries. If they do not rise up (mirroring the suffragists of the early 20th century), if they don't speak up and defend themselves, then the country will be choked by the iron-grip of men's oppressive rule over women which mirrors that of a dictatorship.

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