Europe Coming Around?

We've been witnessing some great things the last few months: Libya voluntarily disarming, the death of Arafat, elections in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Team America, and now the resignation of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government. So although civil rights have been taking a beating here at home, it looks like other parts of the world are moving in the right direction. Luckily Kerry wasn't elected, otherwise he'd claim responsibility for much of this, just as the left blamed W for the recession inherited from Clinton. But I digress.

The Mid-East is on the slope toward democracy, and Bin Laden's getting frustrated, so does this mean Bush (well, his administration) was right all along? Absolutely. Even the left is starting to see it. (Thanks Brett) Today's Leader for The Times echoes the slow realization:

Suddenly, there is a whiff of 1989 in the air. The Middle East, one of the last regions in the world to cling to repressive government by corrupt and self-perpetuating elites, has been touched by democracy. One by one, regimes that seemed as entrenched as they were unresponsive have accepted demands for greater democracy and accountability — demands that only a few months ago would have brought persecution, arrest and even torture to those voicing such sedition. As with the collapse of communism, the challenge to authoritarian Arab governments has appeared suddenly, has emboldened once cowed protesters and has been largely inspired from outside.

It's about time that the opposition is starting to own up to the latent legitimacy and justice in the administration's Mid-East policy. It also appears from his interview with the Guardian that Tony Blair has no intentions of tempering his support of U.S. Administration policy or the war on terror.

On a not-entirely unrelated note, many things please me. One of them is watching Chomskyites getting pummeled. It's a good thing for freedom.

The Weekly Standard's Olivier Guitta discusses "Confronting Saudi evangelism in Kuwait, Europe and the United States." Do we really have to stop with "Saudi" evangelism? I hope not.