Lizzie, after all what happened in the past of those countries that Zulu also has mentioned, do you really believe west help them for just democracy and freedom.. 
do you really think all those arab nations sleep for many hundred years and one day wake up, voila all of them want democracy and freedom is that possible or someone push a needle in their arse
honestly, west is searching/feeding supporters/partisans in that area .. giving them some promises.. but what west dont know is those areas mostly stay on a very critical balance that when you play all things collapse on your head where those people are living very far from western values.. middle east is the best example .. :-/
and can I remind those helps are never free.. when the time comes the bill will be on the table.. 
Yes I do Cem. In England we were dictated to by the monarch and church for centuries, then the English peasants with the middle classes and even arostricacy (Magna Carta 1215/25) started to rise up, asking questions and requesting greater freedoms. That developed into further demands on "the system" to give the people their rights. The English Civil War,1642-1651, questioned the divine status of the monarch and his / her right to rule by the word of God against the natural rights and freedoms of the people. A number of movements questioned the 'ruling classes' further, but the British Chartist movement, 1838-48, took this to new heights, demanding voting rights within a truely democratic system. That actually didn't happen altogether immediately, but by the start of the twentieth century, much of that fought for by the Chartists had been established within the modern British democracy.
That is what basically is happening now in the Middle East and North Africa. The taste of democracy has reached those people as it did in historic England / Britain, but in Egypt first, if you do not include Iran during the 1970s, and they like the idea of it, thinking it could be for them. That feeling is spreading, with the age of the dictator that was still alive and kicking in Europe until relatively recently, now fading at last in those distant parts.
We, the democractic west, must help this process if and when we can, because the peaceful future of our world depends on it. No longer, if ever we could, can we let dictators rule over the people's of the world. It will take time to rid ourselves of all of them, but we must head in that direction. 
I don't think that we can necessarily hold up our version of democracy as being one to follow Lizzie.
For the most part this democratic process has allowed many here to enjoy the freedom and rights associated with it, however these facilities are contingent upon the Establishment being acquiescent to its presence, however when that Establishment by way of elected government or otherwise decides that certain rights should be ignored in the national interest or those interests of the government/Establishment, then that very process of democracy is put to one side.
I'm thinking of such things as Treaties being signed which fundamentally alter our ability to independently govern ourselves, military action being taken on the back of cobbled together information and rumour dressed up as a pressing need to defend our way of life, super injunctions which permit those who have influence and money to restrict, absolutely, knowledge – by anyone - of their circumstances, deals done behind closed doors favouring those 'in the know' and a very parliamentary system which has allowed the most appalling behaviour within it's own portals to go unchallenged in all the most simplified way - the list could go on but finally I would cite the 'Big Sis' phenomenon in the US where it now seems that many Americans are being subject to stringent regulations in order to 'protect them' - many of these regulations affecting their ability to travel freely, communicate freely and associate freely without government interference and examination – all applied by agencies never voted for under a declared mandate.
I would submit that democracy and all the generally accepted benefits that should accompany it can never be a universal given as democracy (in whatever flavour) exists insofar as the government/Establishment of whatever nation is operating under its banner allows it to do so.
I wouldn't be at all surprised that many of currently fighting for influence in those regions view the West's notion of democracy with suspicion as there invariably appears to be a price to be paid for everything (in terms of assistance rendered) and whatever the process, those with influence, power and money can operate in a way of their choosing - democratic process or not.
Sadly there are few (if any) true democracies in this world as the very thing that cripples the socialist/communist movements also afflicts democracy - the inclination of the individual to put themselves, their circumstance and their own wellbeing first and foremost.
We're not too badly off here in this nation - but things could be much better if true concern for the nation and one’s neighbour was put before concern for one’s self/party or social grouping.
Given human nature, that is a very big ‘ask’ indeed.
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Topic: ...and now, Sheila with the weather where you are (Read 1945 times)