blog 1: Democracy and unintended consequences in the Middle East

 The article I read brought to light several key components about the challenges facing bringing democracy to a country that has little to no experience with it.  The article began by explaining how America has wanted to try and promote democracy within several Middle Eastern countries but the fact that there is commonly a minority in power and a majority suppressed makes it very challenging for both parties.  The challenges in Egypt presented in this article were however not divided by ethnic background but rather by religious affiliation, Muslim or Christian.  The article then provided information on the current hot topic of Syria and how the Alawhite minority has been acting as a tyrant ruling the majority Sunni population.  the article wraps up by demonstrating that when America decides to back a particular group it either has not researched the situation fully enough or the or group they decide not to support gains power and in turn looks at America as bullies against their countries.

The fact of the matter with the middle east is that it has such deep ties with such strict religions that it is next to impossible to make one country happy that may contain five different powerful ethnic groups.  America has troubles trying to decide upon which group to back or which group to support because a large majority of the time the leading party will misrepresent the facts of the country in such a way that it would almost appear as if the government is under siege and not the other way around.  The other big issue with trying to decide upon which group to back is that other groups are quick to reach out to other countries that we have had clear struggles with such as with Syria's government reaching out to Russia which has put us in a terrible spot in which we must tip toe around in order to keep international peace.  overall, true democracy in the middle east appears to be far away due to political parties not wanting to give up power and also because if they do they know they will in turn be suppressed.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/democracy-and-unintended-consequences-in-the-middle-east-b9995481z1-223699761.html
Ryan Clark
9/13/13
10:54