Democracy: Results May Vary

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With democracy on the march in the Mid East, one would've expected the US to welcome it with ecstatic delirium. After all, they did set out to 'spread democracy' to that region and they had chosen to start with Iraq, which has become a quagmire of a bloodbath that would have made the 1960s IRA proud. But, that doesn't matter because Saddam Hussein isn't in power any more and they had democratic elections!

And with democracy on the march, the Yanks weren't satisfied. They had to see it make to all corners of the Mid East; after all, there was incredible success in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, which saw Ukrainian-style oustings with a complimenting deep hue orange revolution.

There was no reason to stop there. The Palestinians, now without their authoritarian leader, Yassar Arafat have turned to democratic elections. After all, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. They gave it a good running attempt. But, of course, the will of the people isn't always apparent until after the ballots have been counted.

Polls are utterly meaningless. They are a mere sample of the opinion of voters and often due to their randomness aren't a decent representation of the opinions of the voters.

The west (aka, the US and the UK) were counting on the Fatah to win, so that they could continue to negotiate with their little lapdog, Abbas. Of course, the Palestinian people saw right through this facade and voted for Hamas, the notorious terrorist group, which made its name by bombing favourable locations throughout Tel-Aviv and various Jewish settlements.

Hamas sweeps to election victory

Preliminary results give Hamas 76 of the 132 seats in the chamber, with the ruling Fatah party trailing on 43.

The win poses problems for efforts to restart peace talks with Israel, say analysts. Israel insists it will not deal with an authority including Hamas.

So, being democratically elected isn't good enough any more...

Israel wanted no more terrorism and opted for democracy and not wanting to block the elections, allowed it to go forth, but has since changed its mind simply because it disagrees with the results?

It looks like history is repeating itself...

Sinn Fein (the political branch of the IRA) was democratically elected by the Irish people in the 1920s and the English government refused to recognize it even though they were allowed to run in the elections in Ireland. This led to the violent revolution that saw the Irish forcefully declaring their independance from the English...