Paulie

I’m touched by Paul Wolfowitz’ expression of concern for Indonesian democracy. One of his friends, it seems, is being unjustly persecuted by the Indonesian government. He relates the tale in a New York Times Op-Ed:

In the interest of disclosure, I should say that I have known Mr. Bambang for nearly 20 years. I knew him particularly well in the late 1980’s, when I was American ambassador in Jakarta. I know him to be a journalist of enormous integrity, someone who takes seriously his responsibility not only to publish the truth but also not to publish falsehoods. He is also a Muslim who has courageously denounced terrorism and extremism on the editorial pages of his magazine.

While holding two fair presidential elections in a row is a hallmark of democratic progress, the real test of a democracy is how it protects the rights of its citizens. Our own Declaration of Independence doesn’t speak of elections but rather about the rights of all human beings to certain “inalienable rights,” in particular “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And it is a fundamental principle of our Constitution that citizens cannot be deprived of those rights except by due process of law. Elections are properly viewed as a mechanism to hold government accountable, particularly in its most fundamental responsibility of protecting the rights of its individual citizens.

Great! This will provide grist for the wingnuts for quite a while. When we ask “what has George Bush ever done for democracy,” they can reply “Hey, look, Paul Wolfowitz is trying to save democracy in Indonesia! That clearly proves that the Bush administration has turned all of its efforts towards democracy promotion!”

With such a orientation, one wonders why the administration hasn’t actually taken any steps to promote democracy. Putin is jailing journalists and political opponents? Are any of them my friends? No? Well, I’m sure that they deserve it. Putin is making all regional governors centrally appointed it? Are any of them my friends? No? Well, I’m sure that he knows what he’s doing.

But we can say without reservation that Wolfie does help out his friends who are in trouble, like Ahmed Chalabi.

Matt Yglesias thinks that that Wolfie deserves credit for standing up to Indonesian censorship, and John Quiggan agrees. Abu Aardbark has a more sensible response:

So spare me the tears for Indonesian journalists – I care about them, and it sure is nice to finally hear a Bush official care about them, but let’s be frank. The Bush administration doesn’t get to put a pretty face on its own appalling record on the question of media freedoms in the Islamic world just because Paul Wolfowitz happens to have a personal relationship with this particular bunch of journalists.

If Wolfowitz wants to impress me, he could go back to his administration and say something like “you know, what I’m seeing in Indonesia makes me think that maybe we’ve been going about our dealings with the Islamic and Arab worlds all wrong. Maybe we should think more seriously about encouraging a free media, even when it asks uncomfortable questions – since that really is one of the most basic pillars of the democracy which is so vital to their future and ours.”

The administration deserves credit when it does something that advances the cause of democracy. It doesn’t deserve credit when it claims to want to advance the cause of democracy. That democracy in Indonesia is backsliding is hardly surprising; the same thing is happening everywhere else in the world. The “democratic moment” that began in 1989 is over, and we’re losing ground. The responsibility for this lies in no small part at the feet of a Bush administration that violates all principles of international liberalism in its effort to prosecute a war that can never be won, and that turns a blind eye to autocrats who profess friendship.