Munich Security Conference

[Blau&Gruen]

There is now going to be a panel about Mid-East.

Streaming: http://metafiles.gl-systemhaus.de/SiKo-Player/

It starts in a few minutes.


My question is: Does cold war logic going on in the Mid-East?

[sumskilz]

I’m not sure if any of the participants really explained what they meant in referring to cold war mentality, but I think it is partly the legacy of the US and USSR picking their pet proxies and propping them up with or with out popular support of the local population. The US certainly did its share of supporting friendly autocracies over potentially unfriendly alternatives, which is of course at odds with the ideological rhetoric of supporting democracy. Has this changed? Is it unrealistic to run with our pro-democracy ideological position when our national interests may be threatened in doing so? The US is allied to the Saudis after all.

The other main topic of the conference was of course intervention in Syria. It seems both Turkey and the US are reluctant to supply support to the rebels without the explicit support of the Arab League which is politically prudent in my opinion.