Diplomatic Reality: As In Egypt, U.S. Often Relies On 'Useful Autocrats'

The Two-Way: Diplomatic Reality

US Often Relies on Useful Autocrats

National Public Radio®. Heard on All Things Considered (Transcript)

Guest: Mr. Joshua Keating (Associate Editor, Foreign Policy Magazine)
"And the interesting thing now is how the sort of old logic of supporting anti-communist authoritarian regimes has been replaced by supporting regimes in places like, say, Ethiopia, who are providing support to us in the name of counterterrorism efforts."

"So, you know, in this delicate balancing game of U.S. foreign policy, often it's necessary to make alliances with autocratic regimes. The problem is, as we're seeing in Egypt, that these guys don't last forever. And often, when they face major challenges to their influence, the people on the streets remember who's been supporting these governments and providing them with weapons for years and years."

"And I think that, you know, if you look at especially the Cold War experience, that many of these regimes that we supported - look at Iran, for instance. For years, the U.S. was supporting the shah's regime and in 1953, the CIA even backed a coup against a democratically elected leftist government there."

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