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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/08/opinion/08BREZ.html
The Wrong Way to Sell Democracy to the Arab World
(New York Times) Zbigniew Brzezinski - There is a suspicion - not only among the Arabs but also among the Europeans whose support the U.S. is seeking - that the sudden focus on democracy has been promoted by administration officials who wish to delay any serious American effort to push the Israelis and Palestinians to reach a genuine peace settlement. That suspicion was fueled by Vice President Dick Cheney's recent remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The spread of democracy, Cheney said, was "the precondition for peace and prosperity in Western Europe" after World War II. He went on to assert that democratic reform "is also essential to a peaceful resolution of the longstanding Arab-Israeli dispute." Cheney's argument that democracy is the precondition for peace appeared to many to be a rationalization for postponing any effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.