CIA’s Washington Post Says “democracy” is Causing All the Problems in the Middle East – so there should be less

by Scott Creighton (archived from June 2 2018 )

How many mistakes, outright lies and convoluted perceptions about the history of our involvement in the Middle East can one writer stuff into an Op-ed for the Washington Post (where “Democracy Dies in Broad Daylight”) and what does their twisted version of “truth” reveal about their fascist agenda?

It’s a good question isn’t it? Lets ask Yoav Fromer, a man who teaches a particular version of American history at Tel Aviv University and who just wrote a piece for the Post titled (believe it or not) “The Middle East doesn’t lack democracy. It has too much.”

“From Turkey to Israel to Iran, popular opinion drives the radicalism and instability of governments in the region“ Yoav Fromer

Is Turkey a “radical” nation because they oppose the faction of their Kurdish population who are striving to bust off part of the country for the Greater Kurdistan project? Are they “radical” because they call out Israeli aggression in places like Syria, Lebanon and Gaza? Or perhaps because they rejected a pipeline deal the Saudis and Qatar wanted? What exactly makes them “radical”?



And one can ask the same questions about Iran.

I think we all know what makes Israel radical. Endlessly posturing for war with Iran, bombing targets in Syria in support of groups like al Qaeda and ISIS and of course, the constant abuse of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Folks sitting on lawn chairs watching children being bombed during Operation Cast Lead didn’t help much either for that matter.

“Things got even worse after the United States inaugurated its new embassy in Jerusalem in May and violent protests erupted along the Gaza-Israeli border that left more than 60 Palestinians dead” Yoav Fromer

The protests were not only not violent… they started on March 30 as part of the Great Return March. One might think that a professor in Israel would have to toe the party line as it were but one would be wrong. The one country where criticism of Israeli foreign policy is allowed… is Israel.  So Fromer’s historical white-washing of the IDF’s snipe murder-spree is completely by choice.

“There’s something that links all these crises: the considerable role of democratic majorities and public support in fueling them.” Yoav Fromer

Here are the crises that he mentioned as being caused by “democracy”:

1. Trump scrubbing the Iran nuke deal (on behalf of Israel)
2. Pompeo’s ridiculous list of 12 demands to Tehran (on behalf of Israel)
3. the conflict between Iran and Israel “heating up” (due to Israel bombing targets in Syria)
4. Lebanese election which Hezbollah won a majority (because they stand up to Israel)
5. Iraqi election which Moqtada al-Sadr won (because he supposedly stands up to the U.S.)
6. Trump moving the embassy to Jerusalem (obviously to appease Zionists across the world and in his own administration)
7. conflict between Turkey and Israel (because of Israel’s vicious treatment of Palestinians in Gaza)

While I agree with Yoav in so much as he claims “(e)ven by Middle East standards, recent weeks have been harrowing”, I have to take exception with him as he posits the notion that democracy is the problem. I think a slightly more thorough examination of his list might find a different, more obvious common thread running through all these crises. But that’s just me. I don’t teach American history on the university level… so… I might not be as… careful as he is.
Now, if you think that is a rather striking display of someone misreading current events in the Middle East, try wrapping your head around Fromer’s take on American foreign policy since the end of WWII:

“If there has been one constant in U.S. foreign policy since 1945, it has been the firm belief that the defense and expansion of democracy are aligned with the national interest. That was the rationale for the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, which aimed to buttress America’s Cold War allies and contain the Soviet Union; later, it became a central pillar of the Bush Doctrine . Although Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama disagreed on how to promote democracy, they both thought spreading it was vital to America’s national security.” Yoav Fromer

Wow. Yoav thinks all we’ve been doing since WWII has been focused on spreading democracy huh? Like all that democracy we dropped on North Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Indonesia, East Timor, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen…. and of course… Libya.
A pillar of the Bush Doctrine of unilateral warfare is democracy? Obama and Killary “spread” it butter all over places like Ukraine, Syria and Libya, didn’t they? Hell, they tried to “spread” some in Russia and Iran as well but I guess it just didn’t take.

Does this guy have any idea what an NGO is and what Capitalism’s Invisible Army (CIA) does with them in other countries? Did he never hear of Operation Gladio or understand it’s purpose was to crush democracy across Europe and elsewhere if it was moving in a direction our glorious “national interests” couldn’t profit from? Yoav would do well to read some Wayne Madson from time to time (US Meddling in Foreign Elections: A CIA Tradition Since 1948)

“The CIA never meddled in foreign elections for purposes of extending democratic traditions to other nations. The chief purpose was to disenfranchise leftist and progressive voters and political parties, ensure the veneer of “democracy” in totalitarian countries, and protect the interests of the US military bases and US multinational corporations.

In double-talk that is reminiscent of the Cold War years, the CIA considers its election interference to fall under the category of “influence operations,” while the same agency accuses Russia of “election meddling.” In truth, there is no difference between the two categories. Election interference represents intelligence service “tradecraft” and it has been practiced by many intelligence agencies, including those of Israel, France, Britain, China, India, and others.

 On the rare occasions when the CIA’s efforts to rig an election failed – as they did in Guatemala in 1950 and Chile in 1970 – the agency simply organized bloody military coups to replace with military juntas the democratically-elected presidents who defeated CIA-supported candidates at the polls.” Wayne Madson April 3, 2018

Since the end of WWII America’s foreign policy, for the most part, can best be described as a vulture capitalist applying the “mergers and acquisitions” model to the world where instead of acquiring, strip-mining and selling off companies… they do that to nations, one after the other.
And one might think that Yoav Fromer would be unaware of such things as he is an academic and lives in an academia bubble where real evaluation of our foreign policy doesn’t serve the interests of the donor class… but one would be wrong about that as well.

“Latin America, for instance, understands all too well what Trump means when he says “America First,” the motto of his foreign policy doctrine. Driven by self-interested realpolitik or exploitative economic interests, the U.S. has threatened, intervened — and even invaded — Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Grenada, Cuba, Panama, Honduras and Nicaragua. When voters in Chile and Guatemala democratically elected leaders deemed unfavorable to America’s interests, America had them removed. And it didn’t end there: From the Philippines to Vietnam, through Lebanon, Iran, Cambodia, Angola and recently in Iraq, America — although its heart was sometimes in the right place, but often not — has time and again bullied other nations in an imperial manner that led Robert Kagan to aptly title his study of America’s foreign relations “Dangerous Nation.” Yoav Fromer July 8, 2016

At some point Yoav understood what it meant to oppose America’s interests at the ballot box. It often meant you would be regime changed, sanctioned or bombed out of existence and back then he seemed at least somewhat perturbed by the obviously anti-democracy trend. However, today he is openly advocating for it.

“But recent events in the Middle East suggest otherwise. Far from being the panacea that could save the volatile region from itself, democratization has bred unintended consequences that are tearing it apart. In Iran, Gaza, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and even Israel — the only functioning liberal democracy in the area — democracy may be the problem, not the solution” Yoav Fromer

Ironic isn’t it? A paper who’s motto is “Democracy Dies in Darkness” publishes an Op-ed that suggests we kill it in broad daylight. Of course, the fact that the CIA, enemy of democracy since it’s inception, essentially bought the Washington Post years ago shouldn’t be mentioned or considered… right?

When the will of the people gets in the way of our neoliberal agenda or Israel’s land-grabbing agenda, then the will of the people is wrong and must be thwarted. That’s the historical opinion of the CIA and their masters and apparently, that it is the opinion of Yoav Fromer and the editorial staff at the CIA’s main Mockingbird outlet, the Washington Post.
To sum up his article, Yoav makes his point perfectly clear:

“Meanwhile, the main source of stability in the Middle East remains the dictatorships and monarchies where the popular will has little impact on government policy…

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Motivated by deeply rooted historical, economic, cultural and religious grievances, large majorities throughout the Middle East are hostile to the United States and Israel…
The particular form of government taking root in the Middle East — (democracy) — has not made it any more safe or stable. Instead of imagining how to spread democracy in the region, the United States may soon begin thinking about how to contain it.” Yoav Fromer

Pretty remarkable huh?

Pretty remarkable that a writer who, two years ago, fully understood how the fascists at the CIA and the State Department have hated and worked against democracies for decades, now suddenly takes up their campaign and calls for less in the Middle East.

Contrary to what this new Mockingbird writes, the people in the Middle East aren’t motivated by historical, economic, cultural and religious grievances. That’s another of Yoav’s efforts to white-wash history AS IT HAPPENS.

But they are motivated by:

• the U.S, and Israel constantly bombing them or hiring terrorists to regime change them or sanctioning them or endlessly lying about them in pursuit of WAR and REGIME CHANGE.
• They are sick of being OCCUPIED like an apartheid state or being IMPRISONED in “the world’s largest open air prison“
• They are tired of being SHOT when they peacefully protest or being RENDITIONED when they get in the way of our leaders “democratization” schemes.
• They are tired of TORTURE inflicted upon them by our allies we installed.
• They are fed up with our plans for the “New Middle East” which features Greater Kurdistan and Greater Israel.

I recently wrote several articles that expose the sudden shift in our national propaganda away from democracy, even rising to the level of condemning it when public opinion isn’t that which we are supposed to hold. They would be worth reviewing at this point so you can see this is more than just one man’s convoluted opinion and in fact, it’s probably the direction they want to take us. Right out in the open… declare the failure of government of the people, by the people and for the people.

• When Democracy Rears its Head in Italy, Horrified Oligarchs and their Apologists Move to Kill it
• Two CFR Videos Expose Hatred of Populism and Fear of an Interconnected, Uncensored Participatory Public
• Meet The Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity: Ensuring “Democracy” in a Neoliberalized World Order
• 60 Protesters Barely in the Ground and South Carolina Sneaks in Law to Make Illegal Any Criticism of Israel and it’s Behavior

Democracy isn’t the problem in the Middle East. We are. Us and Britain and France and Israel are. Our endless attempts to thwart the will of the people in pursuit of our own greedy, self-serving interests are the problem and efforts like Yoav’s here to misdirect blame are incredibly enlightening when it comes to seeing the truth for what it is.

The CIA and their Mockingbirds want to bring the killing of the Great Experiment right out in the open, in broad daylight, and so this article is a sort of trial balloon, seeing what kind of blow-back they get from it. Because it’s very clear to me that if they can get a public to support the notion of killing democracy abroad, it’s just a small thing to get them to accept that same effort back home.