"Most are fairly grey and depend on what political alliances are convenient."
Yes, that's the point.
"overall they were definitely toppling a dictator that had done plenty of terrible things"
Saddam also did terrible things, which didn't prevent the West from supporting him against Iran - until he became expendable. I don't think I'm that naive.
It's true that the Tuareg nationalist movement has been hijacked by Islamists. But it's not like it met applause from the West even at the time when it wasn't yet hijacked. It's just that the Malian regime is friendly to the West and France in particular, the same way Mubarak's regime was convenient for the West and the US in particular.
It's all a matter of Realpolitik, and the fact that most of these issues are grey rather than black-and-white, doesn't help much, either.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2013-01-22 07:16 am (UTC)Yes, that's the point.
"overall they were definitely toppling a dictator that had done plenty of terrible things"
Saddam also did terrible things, which didn't prevent the West from supporting him against Iran - until he became expendable. I don't think I'm that naive.
It's true that the Tuareg nationalist movement has been hijacked by Islamists. But it's not like it met applause from the West even at the time when it wasn't yet hijacked. It's just that the Malian regime is friendly to the West and France in particular, the same way Mubarak's regime was convenient for the West and the US in particular.
It's all a matter of Realpolitik, and the fact that most of these issues are grey rather than black-and-white, doesn't help much, either.