The more things change…
Wednesday, October 22, 2003; Page A28
THE BUSH administration says it now recognizes that the U.S. toleration of corrupt Arab autocracies in exchange for their oil wealth and military cooperation was a mistake -- that the lack of freedom in those countries engendered its own threat to U.S. security, in the form of terrorist movements such as al Qaeda. Yet the administration is repeating the mistake in the Caucasus and Central Asia. A string of former Soviet republics there are ruled by dictators who crush opponents by force while seeking favor from the United States with offers of energy supplies and help with Iraq and Afghanistan. Though it claims to be promoting democracy, the administration has mostly swallowed the old bargain, reaping short-term gains while storing up long-term problems.
