THE GUARDIAN: Prime minister will tell Kuwait national assembly that Britain was wrong to prop up 'highly controlling regimes' as [a] way of ensuring stabilityBritain has been guilty of a prejudice bordering on racism for believing that Muslims cannot manage democracy, David Cameron will say as he recasts foreign policy in light of protests across the Arab world.
In a speech at the national assembly in Kuwait, the prime minister will abandon decades of so-called "camel corps" diplomacy by saying Britain was wrong to prop up "highly controlling regimes" as a way of ensuring stability.
Cameron – who is facing anger in the UK for placing defence exports at the heart of his long-planned visit to the Gulf – will use the speech to show that Britain is promoting political reform in the region.
The prime minister, who attended a ceremony in Kuwait with Sir John Major to mark the 20th anniversary of the first Gulf war, said: "Now, once again, this region is the epicentre of momentous changes, but pursued in a very different way. History is sweeping through your neighbourhood."
Cameron, who on Monday visited the scene of the demonstrations in Tahrir Square in Cairo that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, said the protests had highlighted a hunger for freedom across the Middle East.
He depicted the protests as "movements of the people" that were not ideological or extremist.
But he indicated that the demonstrations presented a challenge for Britain as he dismissed as a "false choice" the old calculation that authoritarian regimes needed to be supported as the price of ensuring stability.
"For decades, some have argued that stability required controlling regimes and that reform and openness would put that stability at risk," Cameron said.
"So, the argument went, countries like Britain faced a choice between our interests and our values. And to be honest, we should acknowledge that sometimes we have made such calculations in the past."
He added: "But I say that is a false choice. As recent events have confirmed, denying people their basic rights does not preserve stability – rather, the reverse."
The prime minister said Britain and other western countries cannot impose any democratic model on the Arab world, but stressed: "That's not an excuse, as some would argue, to claim that Arabs or Muslims can't do democracy – the so-called Arab exception.
"For me, that's a prejudice that borders on racism. It's offensive and wrong and it's simply not true." >>> Nicholas Watt in Kuwait | Tuesday, February 22, 2011
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Read my essay on Islam and Democracy, Mr. Cameron. You might learn something! >>>
My comment:
I find Cameron’s naïveté and ignorance of the Islamic world staggering! I also find it rather unnerving that a man so ignorant in Middle Eastern affairs at this important juncture in the history of the Middle East, and the world, could be my prime minister! Doesn’t Cameron know anything about the meaning of democracy? Doesn’t Cameron think that there might be a very good reason why democracy has never taken hold in all these Muslim countries? Is he so naïve as to think that this is a co-incidence?
It wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to start reading some books in your spare time, Mr. Cameron, especially on Islam, and on Middle Eastern affairs. You might learn something as you read. Now that would be a good thing! – © Mark
