Friday, March 04, 2005
Isto deve doer
Jonathan Freedland, no Guardian, faz uma retrospectiva da entrevista com Blair, ontem publicada no mencionado pasquim.
Mas Jonathan fala por si próprio:
Tony Blair is not gloating. He could - but he prefers to appear magnanimous in what he hopes is victory. In our Guardian interview yesterday, he was handed a perfect opportunity to crow. He was talking about what he called "the ripple of change" now spreading through the Middle East, the slow, but noticeable movement towards democracy in a region where that commodity has long been in short supply.
Mas há mais. Como qualquer jornalista manhoso, Jonathan estendeu a armadilha...
I asked him whether the stone in the water that had caused this ripple was the regime change in Iraq.
Azar. Blair não mordeu o isco. Caso contrário seria um vaidoso...
But if he had wanted to brag and claim credit - boasting that the toppling of Saddam Hussein had set off a benign chain reaction - he would have had plenty of evidence to call on.
Lá mais para o fundo da coluna, vêm as admissões mais dolorosas: depois de mencionar a decisão da Libia em abandonar o seu programa nuclear, as eleições no Iraque, as eleições locais na Arábia Saudita, o recente pedido de Mubarak de uma revisão constitucional que permita eleições presidenciais plurais no Egipto, a situação actual no Libano e finalmente o desanuviamento entre Israel e a Autoridade Palestiniana, explicando cada uma destas situações de modos diferentes, vêm as verdadeiras confissões:
Even so, it cannot be escaped: the US-led invasion of Iraq has changed the calculus in the region. The Lebanese protesters are surely emboldened by the knowledge that Syria is under heavy pressure, with US and France united in demanding its withdrawal. That pressure carries an extra sting if Damascus feels that the latest diplomatic signals - including Tony Blair's remark yesterday that Syria had had its "chance" but failed to take it and Condoleezza Rice's declaration that the country was "out of step with where the region is going" - translate crudely as "You're next".
Claro que Jonathan não se arrelia muito com este sopro de democracia - que como todos nós sabemos, não é coisa garantida - que atravessa o Médio Oriente. Não. O que verdadeiramente preocupa Jonathan é:
This leaves opponents of the Iraq war in a tricky position, even if the PM is not about to rub our faces in the fact. Not only did we set our face against a military adventure which seems, even if indirectly, to have triggered a series of potentially welcome side effects; we also stood against the wider world-view that George Bush represented. What should we say now?
Sim, Jonathan, e agora? Fácil! Admite-se o irrefutável...
First, we ought to admit that the dark cloud of the Iraq war may have carried a silver lining. We can still argue that the war was wrong-headed, illegal, deceitful and too costly of human lives - and that its most important gain, the removal of Saddam, could have been achieved by other means. But we should be big enough to concede that it could yet have at least one good outcome.
... e para o restante, continua-se com o discurso habitual: os Estados Unidos estão-se nas tintas para a democracia, querem é regimes mais ducteis, mas mesmo assim...
Second, we have to say that the call for freedom throughout the Arab and Muslim world is a sound and just one - even if it is a Bush slogan and arguably code for the installation of malleable regimes. Put starkly, we cannot let ourselves fall into the trap of opposing democracy in the Middle East simply because Bush and Blair are calling for it. Sometimes your enemy's enemy is not your friend.
Parece de algum modo uma posição mais ou menos razoàvel. Mas será que a esquerda em geral é capaz de a seguir? Duvido muito. Contradiz todos os seus reflexos pavlovianos...
Mas Jonathan fala por si próprio:
Tony Blair is not gloating. He could - but he prefers to appear magnanimous in what he hopes is victory. In our Guardian interview yesterday, he was handed a perfect opportunity to crow. He was talking about what he called "the ripple of change" now spreading through the Middle East, the slow, but noticeable movement towards democracy in a region where that commodity has long been in short supply.
Mas há mais. Como qualquer jornalista manhoso, Jonathan estendeu a armadilha...
I asked him whether the stone in the water that had caused this ripple was the regime change in Iraq.
Azar. Blair não mordeu o isco. Caso contrário seria um vaidoso...
But if he had wanted to brag and claim credit - boasting that the toppling of Saddam Hussein had set off a benign chain reaction - he would have had plenty of evidence to call on.
Lá mais para o fundo da coluna, vêm as admissões mais dolorosas: depois de mencionar a decisão da Libia em abandonar o seu programa nuclear, as eleições no Iraque, as eleições locais na Arábia Saudita, o recente pedido de Mubarak de uma revisão constitucional que permita eleições presidenciais plurais no Egipto, a situação actual no Libano e finalmente o desanuviamento entre Israel e a Autoridade Palestiniana, explicando cada uma destas situações de modos diferentes, vêm as verdadeiras confissões:
Even so, it cannot be escaped: the US-led invasion of Iraq has changed the calculus in the region. The Lebanese protesters are surely emboldened by the knowledge that Syria is under heavy pressure, with US and France united in demanding its withdrawal. That pressure carries an extra sting if Damascus feels that the latest diplomatic signals - including Tony Blair's remark yesterday that Syria had had its "chance" but failed to take it and Condoleezza Rice's declaration that the country was "out of step with where the region is going" - translate crudely as "You're next".
Claro que Jonathan não se arrelia muito com este sopro de democracia - que como todos nós sabemos, não é coisa garantida - que atravessa o Médio Oriente. Não. O que verdadeiramente preocupa Jonathan é:
This leaves opponents of the Iraq war in a tricky position, even if the PM is not about to rub our faces in the fact. Not only did we set our face against a military adventure which seems, even if indirectly, to have triggered a series of potentially welcome side effects; we also stood against the wider world-view that George Bush represented. What should we say now?
Sim, Jonathan, e agora? Fácil! Admite-se o irrefutável...
First, we ought to admit that the dark cloud of the Iraq war may have carried a silver lining. We can still argue that the war was wrong-headed, illegal, deceitful and too costly of human lives - and that its most important gain, the removal of Saddam, could have been achieved by other means. But we should be big enough to concede that it could yet have at least one good outcome.
... e para o restante, continua-se com o discurso habitual: os Estados Unidos estão-se nas tintas para a democracia, querem é regimes mais ducteis, mas mesmo assim...
Second, we have to say that the call for freedom throughout the Arab and Muslim world is a sound and just one - even if it is a Bush slogan and arguably code for the installation of malleable regimes. Put starkly, we cannot let ourselves fall into the trap of opposing democracy in the Middle East simply because Bush and Blair are calling for it. Sometimes your enemy's enemy is not your friend.
Parece de algum modo uma posição mais ou menos razoàvel. Mas será que a esquerda em geral é capaz de a seguir? Duvido muito. Contradiz todos os seus reflexos pavlovianos...
# posted by Pedro Oliveira @ 2:14 PM 
