Democracy?......

Two things made me really incensed this week... (Well, there were probably more, but two sprang to mind): one watching Rob Newman talking about the us 'bringing democracy to the middle east' (in a humorous and sarcastic way - he didn’t make me angry, the implications of what he was saying did), and secondly, the news on the bbc website today regarding the us government urging Nicaragua’s not to vote for Daniel Ortega when he stands (fairly and democratically) for election as president later this year. Of course there are two interesting things about this. One, how is it democratic, or supportive of democracy, for a country to attempt to tell the population of another country how to vote. How can it be acceptable for the largest superpower in the world to attempt to dictate to Nicaraguans how they should vote? Can you imagine the outcry in the US if china began issuing statements telling us citizens how they should vote? And secondly, isn't there the usual hint of sickening irony and hypocrisy about this news - the US government telling the people of Nicaragua not to vote for Ortega? Because, of course, we all remember what happened last time the people of Nicaragua DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED by a free fair national vote of 63%, ratified by international observers, Daniel Ortega as there president don't we? He, and the Sandinistas he had led in defeating the fascist dictatorship of the US backed Somoza regime, were subjected to 12 years of the most brutal, violent and immoral repression meted out by the US government and their CIA funded, armed, and backed paramilitary front the Contras. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were deliberately targeted by the Contras after the US used AWACS planes to inform the rebels where the Sandinistas were so they could AVOID them and attack unhindered the villages and autonomous communities of the Nicaraguan people. And now the US government has the audacity to inform Nicaraguans not to democratically elect Ortega president.