U.S. and Israel take PA politics to the next level

The New York Times' Steven Erlanger report today that the United States and Israel are conferring on how to get rid of the new Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority.

Critics will doubtless see these discussion as nefarious and anti-democratic (not to mention ham-handed and sure to back-fire). But those critics fail to understand that this is just Phase Two of democratization -- teaching them the tricks of the trade.

From the Times:

The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.

The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement.

While this might on its face look sinister, it is just the natural progression of teaching democracy to the Middle East. First they learn how to vote (Phase One). Then we teach 'em politics (Phase Two). In this case, the political lesson is that when your opponent wins an election, you do whatever you can to undermine so that they lose the next one.