The world public witnessed in the first half-year of 2011 a massive increase of political misbehavior. Especially the rulers of the Maghreb, the East Mediterranean countries and the Arabian Peninsula disavowed themselves by their deeds and speeches, their silence or their inactivity:
Tunisia's Ben Ali registered too late the demands of his people. Instead of forcing a dialogue he sent his guards and troops around the country to intimidate the protesters. A classical shot in the foot. The citizens became not only angrier but also stronger after decades of silencing the regime's oppression. His last chance was to enter a plane direction Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile he's condemned in absence and will possibly never return to his homeland.
Hosni Mubarak tried to combat the uprising in Egypt with a lot more dirty tricks. Prisoners were released as pretense to reinstall law and order. But the brave people of Tahrir Square in Cairo don't let themselves dupe, not even from his announcements holding speeches to the nation which were a) delayed b) cancelled c) announced again and d) more than cryptic. Finally the former president appeared to misunderstand himself and decided to take a timeout at the Red Sea.
In Libya 'Colonel' Gaddafi is still playing the role of the unloved child. In case it wouldn't have such a tragical background with tens of thousands dead and injured Gaddafi could be the top nominee for the category 'bewildered comedian'. First he named his own people 'rats' - big mistake, nobody wants to be called like this. Than he spun a dubious conspiracy theory about Al Qaeda working together with the White House to eliminate him. His political and personal reputation vanished as a dust cloud in the desert and most people in and outside Libya want to see him joining the same destiny.
Ali Abdullah Saleh had a dream: to rule over Yemen until his last breath. This dream - which was more a nightmare for the Yemeni population - seems to be over now. One of his main arguments, that he is the only one who can hold the nation together, shattered on the rock-like resistance of hundreds of thousands peaceful protesters in Sanaa, Taiz and other cities. He tried to crush down the democratic movement with arms and tanks, he played cat and mouse with the negotiators and now he's still in Saudi Arabia for recovering his injuries caused by an assault on him and his followers. Nobody knows at that time about his real physical status and his opponents wish he may never come back from his rehab.
More sinister it looks in Syria where the Assad clan reigns as a bizarre combination of an Apartheid regime and the Mafia. President Bashar al-Assad, originally enthroned as sophisticated counterpart of his father, gambled in the last three months all his legitimacy away. While his security guards and soldiers terrorized the civil population he made himself some kind of mystery - three speeches in a quarter are doubtless not adequate for an academic in his position. Speech No.2 reminded the observers more on an inaugural address during a corporate group's symposium. Speech No.3 strengthened the public opinion that he and his regime are living in some kind of parallel universe and that the suffering people still are bearing all the brutal consequences.
It seems always easy to put the finger one someone straight out of a secure position. But a look around Europe's nations and their governments uncovers similar strategic faults - even if they don't have the same lethal consequences:
In Germany it looks like all seems to be about the nuclear question. Citizen rights movements and a growing number of the Green Party's supporters are shifting the political landscape into a far more ecological consciousness. But that makes not forget the external blunders of the conservative-liberal administration. Examples? When it came to the voting on UN resolution No.1973 the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle declared abstention on the demanded NATO mission in Libya. All Germany wanted was not to take part in military actions. But the intention of their decision appeared more like a veto - mainly because the abstention was shared with Russia and China - two nations not really famous for their understanding of democracy and human rights. The next lapse happened after the 'failed detention' of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. One of the first sentences of German Chancellor and mother figure Angela Merkel during her public announcement was 'I am glad that the killing of Osama Bin Laden succeeded.' That was too much even for christian conservatives who saw in the Al Qaeda leader the devil's assistant himself.
Belgium holds the official world record in not having a government. Since 262 days the political parties are not able to form a cabinet, all kinds of coalition negotiations failed. Pragmatically viewed someone could suggest: 'Where's no government there's no wrong decision.' But the political prestige loss of the trilingual country menaced through secessionist efforts above all from the Flemish side destabilizes the 180 years old union.
The advance of national right-winged political parties has reached its current climax in Hungary. With an absolute majority President Viktor Orbán's Fidesz has pushed the most rigid cutbacks concerning freedom of press. And the fascist movement of Jobbik - 'the better ones' - who are also represented in the parliament of Budapest could harass minorities like the Roma gipsies without fearing legal consequences.
It's not easy to be a Greek politician nowadays. The handling of the debt crisis is for Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou and his cabinet a walk on a tightrope. On the one hand the implementation of austerity measures seems to be inevitable to obtain further financial aids for Greece but on the other hand the bigger part of the Greek population does not accept that the same responsible persons are getting some billions of Euros who'd squandered it in the last years. That's in one - greek - word a: dilemma.
Last but not least a short look at the continent's boot. Italy's now since ten years - except Romano Prodi's two years term between 2006 and 2008 - in the hands of one of the most outrageous cleptocrats of the newer European history. To sum up all his knowing violations of law this post would enlarge to a dissertation. For everyone who's interested in a more detailed summary of Silvio Berlusconi I like to quote the outstanding writer Roberto Saviano, an expert for Italian politics and the Mafia.
The conclusion of all the listed facts is not to hesitate. Even though it seems that everywhere something goes wrong the people's consciousness is growing from day to day and we have to be aware that democracy means not the end of a long road to freedom. It's a continuing process to handle and it takes a lot of permanent hard work. It's a lifetime occupation.
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