Opinion

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Editorial

Dubai's Democratic Facade

T

he theoretical underpinning for
the Iraq war is that establish-
ment of democratic states in the
Middle East would ease regional tensions
and alleviate the threat of terrorism.
Because democracies don't go to war with
each other.
It is another tenet of neo-conserva-
tism that free markets are a prerequisite
for democracy. Capitalism advances
free political institutions and this, in
turn, would foster a reasonable attitude
towards Israel in newly democratized
Muslim nations.
Many of these ideas went on the rocks
in Iraq. But the direct equation of Islamic
capitalism with democracy may be more
tenuous than anticipated.
The real test case is Dubai. This Persian
Gulf emirate is going through the big-
gest economic spurt in the region. One
recent news story described it as "capital-
ism gone mad." New office towers and
hotels have turned Dubai's main street
into a steel canyon and it is now the most
populous urban area in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE). Some commentators
compare it to Singapore, the tiny econom-

is dynamo in Southeast Asia.
All this was punctuated by the recent
announcement that Haliburton, a compa-
ny with close ties to the Bush administra-
tion, was relocating from Texas to Dubai
to get where the real action is.
So that should be good news for Israel,
right? Well, maybe. Dubai seems content
to maintain a deliberate air of ambigu-
ity about that relationship. It officially
subscribes to the Arab boycott of Israeli
goods and insists they cannot enter the
country.
That is one of the reasons a Dubai-
based company was denied a contract as
supervising agent at several American
ports last year. Unofficially, however,
there appears to be a back-door agree-
ment to allow the passage of such goods,
as long as no one kicks up too much of
a fuss.
Similarly, business travelers are told that
if an Israeli stamp appears on their pass-
port, they will be denied entry to Dubai.
But in almost all cases, such restrictions
are ignored. Occasionally, however, they
are not and for no apparent reason.
Dubai seems determined to keep up

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appearances with the rest of the UAE,
while signaling Israel with a wink and a
nod. That might be construed as encour-
aging news if there were also a genuine
democratic movement in Dubai. But there
is little evidence of that. Neither political
parties nor a free press are permitted, and
its rulers make sure that they maintain
majority control in any elections that are
held.
Dubai says it has instituted instruc-
tion in democracy in its schools as early
as the first grade to prepare its citizens
for such a form of government at some

unspecified future date. But there is no
great rush, and it certainly would not
be the sort of free-wheeling democracy
familiar to Israelis. Dubai says that
model may "not be the best fit for our
people."
That isn't the sort of rhetoric one wants
to hear from a state where capitalism is
on a roll. But it seems that the anticipated
next step may be quite a while in com-
ing.

wrote in the New
Yorker that it was
all America's fault
anyhow and that
its foreign policy
had brought about
a well-deserved
retribution. That's
pretty much
the position of
Clinton's critics,
too.
Mitt Romney is going through the
same sort of thing among the Christian
Right. No one can be elected governor of
Massachusetts by opposing abortion. So
he didn't.
Romney was an excellent governor,
devising a health care plan that may yet
be a model for the other states. He also
did nothing to make abortion easier.
That's the basis on which he should be
judged by pro-life groups — not for tak-
ing a foolhardy stance in a general elec-
tion. Absolutism doesn't get it done.
I have changed my mind on several

issues — abortion, legalization of mari-
juana, especially capital punishment. I
have been writing columns for a long
time and if you go back 25 years or so you
will have no problem finding one that no
longer reflects what I now believe on the
death penalty.
How can you ignore the accumulating
evidence of prosecutorial misconduct,
incompetent defense and biased or emo-
tional juries, all bolstered by DNA tests? I
don't know how you can sustain a belief
anymore that the legal system protects
the innocent from an unjust capital con-
viction.
Well, that's fine for an innocuous jour-
nalist. But it won't cut it in the political
arena. Change your mind on something
like this and you'd be cut to shreds.
I've also changed my mind about going
out and shooting a cow to get milk. I
think you should sedate and euthanize
them, instead. I I

E-mail letters of no more than 150 words to:

Ietters@thejewishnews.com.

Reality Check

How's That Again?

W

hen I was about 5 years old
I wrote a short story about
some people stranded on a
desert island. They needed milk so they
went out and shot a cow.
That's why I can never run for public
office. Because if I did, in a matter of
weeks this ad would appear on televi-
sion:
"George Cantor believes that the prob-
lem of hunger in America can be solved
by the wanton slaughter of farm animals.
It's all written down in black and white.
Call George Cantor at this number and
tell him to keep his ignorant hands off
Bossy."
American politics has become almost
that absurd. Put something in writing at
any point in your life and you are stuck
with it forever.
Some weasel in the opposing camp will
track it down and plaster it to your image
on the Internet.
You are not allowed to change your
mind or correct a mistake. Ever. That is
waffling, indecisiveness, a mark of poor

leadership.
The possibility of growth, measuring
your own beliefs against new information,
is not an option in the simple-minded
world of gotcha politics.
Hillary Clinton asserts, for example,
that if she had access to intelligence that
came out later, she wouldn't have voted
for the Iraq War.
That sounds perfectly reasonable to
me. Yet the left wing of her party is on
her trail, baying like a pack of hounds,
demanding that she "apologize" for her
vote.
This is consistent with the Democratic
Party's apparently irrepressible drive to
destroy its most electable candidates.
The Iraq War is a mess, but let's be clear.
Those heckling Hillary wouldn't have
voted for any war at any time under any
circumstances.
They opposed conflict with Afghan-
istan, even though it was indisputable that
the Taliban regime harbored the terrorists
who planned and carried out 9-11. Just
days after the attack, the late Susan Sontag

George Cantor's e-mail address is

gcantor614@aol.com .

April 5 • 2007

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