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Neuhaus: Echo Chamber for Hegemonists?

And few would deny that the American-led demonstration of resolve is related to a movement toward decency and democracy in countries as various as Ukraine and Lebanon, with ripples of hopeful change in Egypt and even Iran and Syria. ~Fr. Richard John Neuhaus Fr. Neuhaus’ original interview from 2003 is interesting, but more instructive are […]

And few would deny that the American-led demonstration of resolve is related to a movement toward decency and democracy in countries as various as Ukraine and Lebanon, with ripples of hopeful change in Egypt and even Iran and Syria. ~Fr. Richard John Neuhaus

Fr. Neuhaus’ original interview from 2003 is interesting, but more instructive are his remarks from this year. The quote given above speaks volumes for how deeply indebted Fr. Neuhaus is to the hegemonist party line espoused in varying degrees by the self-styled “radical” Wall Street Journal and the “wet” Economist. That will hardly be news to longtime observers of Fr. Neuhaus and First Things, but these remarks from October 2005 show no sign of a moderation of opinion, contrary to what The Japery has claimed, at least not on the question of Iraq. Indeed, in important ways, Fr. Neuhaus appears as more of a dedicated supporter of the whole of Mr. Bush’s foreign policy agenda than I would have thought he would be willing to admit.

It is regrettable that anyone could confuse the advance of the cause of Hizbullah (the main upshot of any greater democracy in Lebanon) and the success of the criminal Yushchenko with the advance of “decency and democracy.” In its crude, ochlocratic moments and the promise of renewed sectarianism the stirrings of greater Lebanese democratisation does showcase some of the worst of a democratic regime, and if victory for the ugliest, most bigoted sort of nationalists is a victory for decency then Fr. Neuhaus and I have very different definitions of what it is to be decent.

It is almost beside the point that these things did not come to pass because of the invasion of Iraq, but because of other forms of interventionist policy related to separate pro-Israel and anti-Russian policies, much to the detriment of the well-being of Lebanon and the Ukraine respectively. What can it possibly say about Fr. Neuhaus’ “prudential” judgement that he finds anything praiseworthy in these events? Are the election of Ahmadinejad and the outlawing of Mubarak rivals “ripples of hopeful change” by Fr. Neuhaus’ own standards of what qualifies as a desirable course for the Near East?

Granted, he is not alone in these views, but his almost verbatim recitation of hegemonist talking points would be eerie if it were not so predictable. Neuhaus’ source for Near Eastern policy analysis is Fouad Ajami–need any more be said? If anything, his only barely qualified embrace of Mr. Bush’s lunatic Second Inaugural marks him out as more of an extremist on Iraq and interventionist foreign policy than I ever suspected.

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