In Alarm, or Half-Mad Analysis

There goes the neighborhood. Hamas has won the Arab world's freest and fairest election in a landslide, and the entire fury of the united West seems unable to even ruffle the feathers of an aggressive, soon-to-be nuclear Iran.

This leaves the U.S. in a bit of a bind. Although both Iran's government and Hamas are nationalists first, their allegiances to radical Islam are worrying. Hamas was democratically elected, and Iran's dictatorship is too tough to dislodge except by massive force (of the kind we're currently unable to apply). But doing nothing means that we accept radical Islam as the wave of the future.

The Third Way, as Tony Blair and Bill Clinton like to call it, should be to strengthen the forces of good instead of trying to balance and co-opt the forces of bad. Liberal, progressive forces in the region have too long been under the thumb of Arab and Iranian governments, and strengthening these elements of Middle Eastern society is the only long-term solution. Radical Islam may be a rising tide, but as the people of the Middle East see that, like Arab nationalism, readical Islam produces only economic disarray, humiliating removal of freedoms, and national weakness, that tide will go back out.

Here are two very interesting articles, detaining how this approach could be applied to Iran and Hamas. I agree with the Iran article; a long-term campaign of Cold War-style information warfare, liberal propaganda, and underground support for liberal groups is the best way to neutralize the threat posed by Iran's current aggressive regime. The Hamas article, which emphasizes internationally isolating Hamas, rests on shakier ground; I think Hamas should be given the chance to morph into a more liberal form before we drive it into the arms of Iran.

Either way, I think our focus in the Middle East should be on strengthening liberal values and culture, not on simply setting up elections between autocrats and theocrats. This is a liberal alternative, which Democratic leaders in our own country should be trumpeting with all their might.

P.S. - Thanks to Soccer Dad for noting my semi-original take on the Hamas issue, even if he did think it "perverse".

P.P.S. - The title of this blog can be rearranged to spell "Hamas and Iran Ally for Islam"...