Charles Krauthammer is a neo-conservative op-ed writer for the Washington Post and Political talk show talking head on Fox and the Sunday morning shows. He often defends neo-conservative policy even when it flies in the face of fact and reality. Consequently he is a good insight into the neo-conservative mind and agenda, especially with relation to future White House policy. The op-eds in major newspapers like the WaPo are often used to prepare the population for the next Bush Administration policy.

Krauthammer's latest op-ed displays how the neo-conservative view of freedom does not contain a how or why freedom becomes powerful in a society and culture. To the neo-conservative mind, freedom is an intrinsic value of a society, culture and nation-state, not an emergent property. At the individual level this is true, but it does not translate in that manner to a society or culture.

Are Europeans Neo-conservative After All?

Krauthammer's op-ed is titled; Why only Ukraine? . He is confused why Europe supports democracy in Ukraine, their own backyard, but not in Iraq. He asks why is that the Americans and Europeans agree on this, yet they are still in a stand off over Iraq, and even Darfur. Krauthammer believes it is because Europe only cares in their borders. They acted on Kosovo, and no Ukraine because it was in their backyard. He writes;

Europe makes clear once again that it is a full-throated supporter of democracy -- in its neighbourhood. Just as it is a forthright opponent of ethnic cleansing in its neighbourhood (Yugoslavia) even as it lifts not a finger elsewhere (Rwanda, southern Sudan, now Darfur).

That is why this comity between the United States and Europe is only temporary. The Europeans essentially believe, to paraphrase Stalin, in democracy on one continent. As for democracy elsewhere, they really could not care less.

They pretend, however, that this opposition to America's odd belief in spreading democracy universally is based not on indifference but on superior wisdom -- the world-weary sagacity of a more ancient and experienced civilization that knows that one cannot bring liberty to barbarians. Meaning, Arabs. And Muslims. And Iraqis.

Hence the Bush-Blair doctrine of bringing some modicum of democracy to the Middle East by establishing one country as a beachhead is ridiculed as naive and messianic. And not just by Europeans but by their "realist" allies here in the United States.

Supposedly Europeans are neo-conservative after all. Just callous ones that think Muslims are sub-human.

Freedom From Within, Not Freedom From Without

Freedom is an intrinsic value of an individual. An individual is born in perfect and complete freedom. Society by definition, and especially one with a government, is not in complete freedom. Supposedly an individual surrenders their right to violence and force to the state in return for security of their person and possessions. Governments go beyond that quickly and oppress individuals, even in the most liberal societies.

A liberal culture that is capable of expressing individual freedom and liberties is an emergent property that comes from the wider consensus; and hence legitimacy of the society and culture. This is where neo-conservative thinking fails. It assumes that freedom is intrinsic at the individual and cultural level.

This is why Iraq is a complete failure and why Ukraine will develop into a powerful country. Iraq did not have a ground swell of people demanding freedom. As individuals they wanted it, as a culture they were powerless to make that desire a reality. A force coming in from without, emasculated that step the culture has to make, to create their desire for a free, libertous and open society - free from authoritarianism and arbitrary government action.

This has not been achieved in Iraq. Martial law, appointed council, occupation by troops, social disorder and civic chaos. Compare this to Ukraine, where the people are asserting their demands in a positive non-violent manner. Often all it requires is a slim-crack of liberalism; and freedom and democracy rapidly becomes a social, cultural and political reality. The process the Ukraine is going through is the same the Georgians, the Portugese, the Indonesia and the Spanish went through. All got rid of dictators one way or another and established liberal democracies.

The natural state for a society and culture is to seek the maximum freedom an individual can have, but this power must come from within for it to be legitimate, and hence established as a cultural and political meme for that society. This is what neo-conservatism does not understand. It still believes that it can impose order (and hence freedom) by force.

The Iraqi people would be a million time stronger, and Iraq would be ten million times more stable if the Iraqis had overthrown Hussein themselves. This is true for Indonesia who used the destablization of the currency in 1999 to throw Suharto out on his ear. All it takes is a slim crack of oppurtunity and freedom and democracy is through. The US would have been better served manipulating a slim crack of oppurtunity for the Iraqis to overthrow Hussein, rather than a military invasion. The same is true for Iran.

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