Third world dictators blame external forces, for their excesses, corruption, and ineptitude? Have you examples? I was unaware that dictators usually admitted to excesses, corruption, and ineptitude? But perhaps you can cite an example of dictators X or Y saying: We have a lot of corruption, and ineptitude, and it is all the fault of the US. What did you have in mind?
The closest I can come to making any sense of this is blaming corruption on adopting western values--ie.when someone is found to embezzle government funds for personal gain. This might be seen as caused by adopting the view that it is indvidual selff-interest and material gain that are important, etc. rather than loyalty to group goals. I don't know how ineptitude would fit in.
Cheers, Ken Hanly
----- Original Message ----- From: Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu>
.
> At best we can speculate. And in the vein of such speculation, there is a
> reason to believe that the US support might have some softening effect on
> the harshness of local autocracy, as a comparison of Saudi Arabia or
Kuwait
> (both client states of the US) and Iraq seem to suggest. Or we can
> speculate otherwise by contrasting, say, Cuba and Central America. One is
> free to pick the speculative poison to one's mind.
>
.
> >
> In that vein, it is one thing to accuse the US administration of political
> myopia, opportunism, or lack of imagination - which is essentially true,
> and quite a different thing to hold it responsible for all imaginable evil
> in the world - which is sheer lunacy. That lunacy, however, seem to be
> valid currency among many third world dictators and propagandists who
blame
> the external force for their own exceses, corruption, or ineptitude. This
> might be fine, since every power figure does that to some extent. What I
> find foolish, to say the least, is that self-proclaimed "progressives"
with
> big pretenses to critical thinking, take this tripe for its face value and
> repeat ad nauseam as their political 'programme.'
>
> wojtek
>
>