21st Century Siege Warfare

Just a few moments ago (relatively speaking), the Palestinian people went to their ballot boxes and voted in a new government. The two major parties available to cast a vote for were the Fatah and Hamas parties. Palestinians apparently had grown tired of the Fatah party and decided that a change was in order. Utilizing the ballot box, Palestinians demonstrated what can be done when you live in a democratic society. The people voted, and when the dust settled, the one who garnered the most votes took control. Right or wrong, the will of the people prevailed. Hamas was the victor. And they all lived happily ever after.

...Ummmmm. Not quite.

The United States and Israel didn't take too kindly to this type of democracy. You see, this election doesn't fit into their plans for the region--whatever those plans may be. Immediately after the victor was announced, the U.S. declared that it would not recognize Hamas as the new leader of Palestine and basically called for a 'do over' on the election.

The long and the short of this is that the U.S. and Israel basically told the Palestinian people that their votes didn't matter and that they were going to do everything within their powers to disrupt and destroy their newly elected government. You see, dear reader, while Palestinians exercised democracy in the choosing of their leaders, they didn't exercise U.S. brand Democracy. Therefore, any outcome would be considered fraudulent and subject to revocation by the United States.

To prove this point, I've come across a couple of articles that explain the methods of siege warfare the U.S. and Israel intend to employ to cripple financially the new Hamas led Palestinian government. A quote from one will suffice to show this. From a New York Times article, U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster, we read how they intend to "starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement."

"But, how can these two countries lay siege to Palestine?" you may ask. The article explains:

The officials said the destabilization plan centers largely on money. The Palestinian Authority has a monthly cash deficit of some $60 million to $70 million after it receives between $50 million and $55 million a month from Israel in taxes and customs duties collected by Israeli officials at the borders but owed to the Palestinians.

Israel says it will cut off those payments once Hamas takes power, and put the money in escrow. On top of that, some of the aid that the Palestinians currently receive will be stopped or reduced by the United States and European Union governments, which will be constrained by law or politics from providing money to an authority run by Hamas. The group is listed by Washington and the European Union as a terrorist organization.

A brilliant plan. By cutting off a nation's cash supply, that nation will whither and eventually die. This tactic is similar to cutting off vital utilities on your initial strike into enemy territory. If you can sever their power, communications, and water/sewer supplies, the chaos this generates will go far to consume your enemy's resources and create great uncertainty in their minds.

So, what are we to learn from all this? That only U.S. branded Democracy will be tolerated through out the world. If any country chooses to deviate from our brand of Democracy, they had better be prepared for the consequences of their actions.