True Democracy

As soon as Armenia's contentious parliamentary elections are over today, Flora Nakhshkaryan expects that the government will shut down her newspaper once again. "Armenia is not a democracy," said Nakhshkaryan, editor in chief of the vitriolic but popular anti-government daily Golos Armenii, which means Voice of Armenia in Russian. "We are becoming a police state." In the past six months, Armenian President Levon A.

No sooner had President Hosni Mubarak announced that he wouldn't seek reelection than the protesters who brought him low rejected his gesture. As a result, it's still unclear whether Mubarak will leave abruptly or after a period of transition; that, ultimately, will be up to the Egyptian people. But either way, the country appears to be on the verge of a post-Mubarak order. It's not too soon to ponder what that will look like. The first question is whether Mubarak's departure will empower Egyptians by leading to a more representative government in which dissent is tolerated and there are genuine choices for voters.

Only two decades ago, with the big exception of Japan, most of Asia's 39 nations rated poorly on international indexes of democratic freedom and civil liberties. Dictatorships in some form included South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, all of which are now either parliamentary democracies or republics struggling with some form of democratic governance. Today, Asian democracies like Taiwan and the Philippines rank with the U.S. and Britain in terms of freedom of the press.

On Monday, the results of the April 11-15 elections in Sudan were announced: The ruling party's President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir won 68% of the vote. Despite being opposed in advance and severely condemned by many critics, these elections will permit this war-torn nation to move toward a permanent peace and strengthen its quest for true democracy. Among the more than 75 challenged or troubled elections monitored by the Carter Center, the Sudanese vote was by far the most complex and difficult.

President Reagan vowed Friday to keep American aid flowing to the anti-Sandinista rebels fighting in Nicaragua until "true democracy" exists in the war-torn Central American nation. Three days after President Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica asked him to give the revived efforts to achieve peace in Central America a chance to succeed, Reagan declared: "Communist Nicaragua is in fact a Soviet beachhead in the Americas. . . . Aid to the freedom fighters must, and will, continue.

Declaring "let's bury the past," opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said Sunday that she seeks no vengeance against the government that ordered the execution of her father and the persecution of her family. She also indicated that her party will confine its targets during the coming national election campaign to the damaged institutions left behind by the late President Zia ul-Haq.

I am often asked what my grandfather would have thought about the current situation in Russia--about the chaos of the market place, the absence of law. Would he consider all that progress? Considering that I was just 8 years old when my grandfather died in 1971, I can't offer informed recollections; our conversations to that point were on subjects appropriate to the nursery. But I am curious: What would he think?

In response to "From Bad to Worse," editorial, June 21: As a Greek citizen and scholar I found your editorial very offending. Your sarcastic statement that Greece "claims" (my quotation mark) to have invented democracy is insulting to all Greeks. Especially disturbing is your passing judgment as to how voters of a free society such as Greece should vote. It reflects an elitist as well as an interventionist attitude on your behalf. You seem to be nostalgic for the days when the U.S. government manipulated political life in Greece by undermining popularly elected governments and assisting a military dictatorship.

If we lived in a true democracy, here is how the bill for the savings and loan mess might be distributed. Those in Washington who made it possible through legislation and those who owned/managed the S&Ls that failed, would be stripped of all they own to pay the bill. Then those who had $100,000 or more on deposit would be taxed a certain percentage, going on down to lesser taxes for those who had only a few thousand on deposit. And the poor, urban dweller who never even heard of an S&L?

This is a plea for voting day to be on Sunday, not a working day like Tuesday. Isn't it about time that we recognize that we have become an urban society? It now takes long hours to reach our workplace, by way of freeways, public transportation and private auto. We expect the working person to either get up very early to vote and go to work, or get to the voting booth after a long day's work and commute. Of course this requires none of the above from the rich, retired and old. So it is they who really are able to vote.

THE UNITED STATES is not drawing the right lessons from Hamas' victory in the Palestinian elections. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted that they underestimated Hamas' strength and made it clear that they had hoped for a different outcome. But that's not the critical issue. The bigger point is that Hamas' victory reveals a major strategic deficiency in the American design for democracy in the Middle East.

Today, Iraqis are summoning their courage and casting their ballots in a bold act of suffrage. But it remains unclear whether their bravery will put Iraq on the road to democracy, much less whether the election heralds a new era of participatory government in the Middle East as promised by the Bush administration. Iraqis and international observers alike are divided in their expectations of today's balloting.

Re "Exporting the Ukraine Miracle," Commentary, Dec. 30: Max Boot gushes about the ability of outsiders to impose democracy on other countries. It seems that Boot is overstating the case in Afghanistan, where much of the country remains in the hands of warlords, and completely ignoring that wonderful petri dish of imported democracy known as Iraq. It's understandable, though. Boot and his exuberant neocon artistes have to thrust Iraq aside so that we can be lulled into another false sense of confidence that our national security depends on military intervention in Iran.

Only two decades ago, with the big exception of Japan, most of Asia's 39 nations rated poorly on international indexes of democratic freedom and civil liberties. Dictatorships in some form included South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, all of which are now either parliamentary democracies or republics struggling with some form of democratic governance. Today, Asian democracies like Taiwan and the Philippines rank with the U.S. and Britain in terms of freedom of the press.

A thunderous applause in response to your April 29 editorial "Tell the Truth on Weapons" and Robert Scheer's "Are We Dumb or Just Numb?" (Commentary). The Bush administration has lied to the American public and the world. I feel betrayed by our government. No weapons of mass destruction have been found. The United Nations inspectors were correct. Who knows how many other lies the administration has told us and will tell in the future. I hope that the American public will clamor for truth, honesty, integrity and justice -- just a few of the hallmarks of true democracy.

The political crisis in Venezuela is not a local problem but an international one, especially for the U.S. ("Venezuela's Strange Days," editorial, April 17). Hugo Chavez has declared openly his anti-U.S. ideas and his intention to turn Venezuela into a country that will enjoy the brotherhood of nations with leaders like Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein and Moammar Kadafi. Since Chavez got into power, Venezuela has started to exchange oil for technical and intelligence support from Cuba. The U.S. needs to act in order to find out the real intentions that this new enemy of democracy has in mind.

Re "Exporting the Ukraine Miracle," Commentary, Dec. 30: Max Boot gushes about the ability of outsiders to impose democracy on other countries. It seems that Boot is overstating the case in Afghanistan, where much of the country remains in the hands of warlords, and completely ignoring that wonderful petri dish of imported democracy known as Iraq. It's understandable, though. Boot and his exuberant neocon artistes have to thrust Iraq aside so that we can be lulled into another false sense of confidence that our national security depends on military intervention in Iran.

THE UNITED STATES is not drawing the right lessons from Hamas' victory in the Palestinian elections. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted that they underestimated Hamas' strength and made it clear that they had hoped for a different outcome. But that's not the critical issue. The bigger point is that Hamas' victory reveals a major strategic deficiency in the American design for democracy in the Middle East.

For decades, Palestinian intellectuals have gathered in the gardens of East Jerusalem's venerable American Colony Hotel, sharing their dreams of Palestinian statehood over cups of Arabic coffee and mint tea. But now, with the birth of the state seemingly at hand, they come here not to rejoice but to grieve. Beneath swaying palms on a balmy summer's night, Charles and Maha Shamas tried to explain the disillusionment that they and others feel.

Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin's resignation speech was filled with fine words, but "democracy" wasn't one of them. In fact, while he referred four times to the constitution and six times to national elections, Yeltsin made no mention Friday of what the constitution and elections are supposed to bring: participatory democracy in which the will of the people determines who rules.