Tonight on FOX News Amabassador Dennis Ross, former special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton, had a few great lines regarding the deterioration of fear in certain parts of the Middle East, and compared this to the atmosphere in Eastern Europe in the 1990s:
The most profound thing that we're seeing is the loss of fear. In Syria, everything is governed by fear, and the Syrians use coercion and intimidation to get thier way in Lebanon. And what we've seen in Lebanon looks an awful lot like what we saw in Kiev. In the end, people are not prepared to accept this kind of a process any longer. And they saw in their numbers (in a kind of collective approach), they saw strength. And the more they saw strength, the more they gained confidence. ... What they saw in Iraq was people who were in a position when they were told "you vote - you die," they went and voted anyway. Fear was not going to rule out an Iraqi voice. And that was the lesson for the Lebanese: "If it could work there, it can work for us as well." ... I do believe that the most profound thing that we're seeing in the Middle East today is in Lebanon. More than elections, it's the empowerment of people by being willing to go on the street and make it clear that they will no longer be intimidated - they will no longer be coerced and live by fear.No link (it was on TV) ... No commentary (that quote says it all) ... It's just a great point. It's a Sharansky "Fear Society" (and collapse thereof) meets David Pryce Jones "Honor / Shame" kinda thang. :)
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