12 February 2004

Democratic Elections

Christopher Marquis wrote from the Imperial City on the Potomac yesterday: "As the Haitian crisis deepens, with violence flaring and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide locked in an impasse with his opponents, the Bush administration has placed itself in the unusual position of saying it may accept the ouster of a democratic government."

There is nothing unusual about this at all. Nothing whatsoever. I remember being part of the crusade to restore the embarrassing little ex-priest to his legitimately elected position. It seemed important at the time, but the context of those days seems a world away. The democratically-elected President of Haiti had become inconvenient, and the violence should cease, or else another boat-lift could result. We don't need that right now.

We have a long history of changing things around in the Haitian government, so this is just a part of a grand tradition in the Western Hemisphere. We have branched out a little, though.

I seem to recall that Saddam Hussein rolled in an impressive unanimous popular vote in his last election in Iraq. It was a hoax, of course, but there is nothing sacred about the result of popular elections. This is the new era of realpolitik, after all. You can count the tyrants, great and small, who have swept to unlimited power through the ballot box. Many of them continue the charade, even when they control every aspect of their societies. The Soviets used to have regular elections and People's Assembly. Hitler was popularly elected as the Chancellor of the Reich, a fact that some of my more disaffected Democratic friends mutter darkly.

"You want to know the difference between George Bush and Adolph Hitler?" they say. Sometimes I detect small flecks of foam on their lips as they lean forward to whisper with emphasis. "Hitler was democratically elected."

Some of the rhetoric is already over the top in this campaign year. It makes me uncomfortable and it really hasn't begun in earnest. We are still at war, as best I can tell. British Airways has cancelled another couple of flights from Heathrow to Washington. I keep waiting for the car bombings to start here.

Senator Kerry will campaign for another month or so, already anointed, but enjoying the free publicity. Howard Dean will have his last stand in Wisconsin in a few days. Sad about Howard. I think he is a good man and a his is a cautionary tale about the nature of the Internet and Ameican politics in general. Senator John Edwards will continue to carry his banner and meet new people in new states. They have only chosen a quarter of the delegates thus far, and I think he will make a fine Vice Presidential candidate, and quite a contrast to the phlegmatic man from Wyoming who he may replace.

But that is the nature of our democracy. The current Russian version just gave us the only entertainment we are likely to see in that campaign. Ivan Rybkin is one of the primary opponents to Vladimir Putin, or I should say that he was for a moment. He brought home a bag of fruit from the market and disappeared. When he turned up again, a bit red faced, his wife sounded the bitter sigh of the married all around the world: "I feel sorry for Russia if people like this want to govern it."

They must be a lovely couple. I feel sorry for Rybkin, too, though not as bad as I do for Howard Dean.

I remember the bad old days in Russia where the Security Services routinely compromised their newly-reporting opponents to get them calibrated to the Soviet environment. It was quite matter of fact. A new Attache might be walking around the Old Arbat neighborhood and walk around a corner and suddenly get a swift punch to the gut. The officer might drop to his knees as the KBG or GRU laughed and disappeared. Always think about that when you walk the streets, that around any corner can wait sudden pain. Nothing to leave a mark. "Welcome to the Soviet Union" was the philosophy, calculated to make the spies stay near their spy nests.

There was the honey trap, too. Really basic. It was not even necessary to deliberately be in a vulnerable condition, like drinking too much in a society that was clinically drunk. Sometimes the Service would drug a hapless diplomat or spy and make merry with a Polaroid. Then shame and embarrassment and career ruin, and even worse if the victim tried to cover it up.

So I am not completely convinced that Mr. Rybkin only stepped out for a short vodka. He may have been shown a Polaroid helping him to recall a moment in time that seemed a bit fuzzy.

But Mr. Putin is democratically elected, fair and square. He has stabilized the Ruble and pensions are being paid on time. So there are some problems. There are everywhere. Maybe the re-subordination of the Press to the State is a good thing for the Russian people, and the suppression of the Oligarchs a good thing. I do know that we aren't going to hear much about it as we move toward our election. I love it when the circus comes to town every four years and we all get to pick what cast of loveable characters to who we will give the keys to this astonishing machine in which we live.

A Democracy whose government can, with a wink or a nod, overturn the results of other people's elections.

It is just realpolitik, after all.