Umbrella Revolution - Hong Kong Protests

aaron_sl said:

People need to wise up to this NGO funding "democracy" shit. It's not about promoting democracy at all. It's all about destabilising rival countries. That's it. Don't agree? Take a look at the US's track record of promoting democracy. There are basically two countries in the world where the US has been successful in doing this: Germany and Japan. In both cases the countries and their respective ideologies were truly and utterly defeated, their cities destroyed and their population demoralised. Therefore, when the US came in and occupied them for decades (some say they are technically still being occupied) the US could install and nurture a democratic climate and, more importantly, make sure it survived it's baby steps by protecting it via the might of the US armed forces.

Every other case has ended in, at best, another crackpot dictatorship or oligarchy. Or, at worst, a (semi) functioning state is turned into a failed state that's so bad it makes the population wish for the "good old times" of a brutal, repressive dictatorship.

What I'm saying here, is if the US truly and sincerely was interested in creating and fostering a true democratic system that would last longer than the next elections then they need to do far more than throw some money at it and train a few students to protest. First, the country itself (not just some students) needs to be ready and willing to take on democracy (something that, strange as it may seem, people are often afraid of) and to realise and accept that there will be a difficult transition period. Secondly, the US needs to go in for the long term, not just seek short term goals of having an election in a year then declaring "mission accomplished". It takes time to foster democratic thinking. Thirdly, during this transition period, the old guard (or what's left of it) will try and subvert the process, so it needs protection (hence my reference to the occupation of Japan and Germany). In short: to do this right, it takes a LOT of commitment, both from the people on the receiving end, and the giving end. After all, it's your tax dollars at work.

That's why I say this, and all other NGO attempts over the past few years (Libya, Ukraine, Iran...) are not at all about installing democracy, but about destabilising rivals. The only reason the term "democracy" is used is to better fool the people doing their dirty work for them (the students) and the better sell it to the folks back home.

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