I'm not sure if this is an area worth discussing, but while reading, I find myself annoyed at how these British politicians bandied around these two words in regards to the Ottoman Empire (and how they were going to share it out).

Independence: freedom from control or influence of another or others
Autonomy: Self-government or the right of self-government; self-determination.

So, what exactly is required for a nation-state to be independent and autonomous? Are some states truly more...able to self-govern? And others just can't? What are the criteria? And who is to judge? What is the moral and/or ethical choice -- leave a country to its own devices or intervene? When is intervention the "right" thing to do, when is it overstepping that line?

[Whew. ]

"All beings are the owners of their deeds, the heirs to their deeds."

Loricat's Book Nook
Celebrating the Absurd

One thing that leapt out at me, and which I'm planning on bringing up in another thread, is that the British (and presumably most Europeans) believed that the Arabs were incapable of really governing themselves (see p. 144). Fromkin asserts that the British always talked about Arab independence in the sense of independence from the Ottoman Empire, and it was always assumed that a vacuum of power would remain which the Arabs would be dependent on a European power to fill.

A friend of mine just posted a blog entry about the similarities between Lebanon and Ireland:

Quote:

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Ireland and Lebanon have a great deal in common. It seems to me that Lebanon had been encouraging the peaceful partipation of Hezbollah in the government and society, and as in Ireland it had been effective at giving them a stake in building the peace.

No one is naive about Hezbollah's "other actions", but neither was anyone pretending the IRA or Sinn Fein were innocents, either. These are the people you have to work with; is it better to give them good reasons to feel persecuted, or good reasons to lay down the RPGs and get rebuilding the country?

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I think this fits in here, in that the "West" seemingly still doesn't believe that Arab countries can rule themselves...therefore, the Lebanese need help in getting rid of Hezbollah. Ireland was commended for attempting, and succeeding in intergrating Sinn Fein into the mainstream, but Lebanon gets their infrastructure bombed to hell for attempting the same thing...

(and yes, I do realize there are other factors in that situation...I'm merely making the point about autonomy)

"All beings are the owners of their deeds, the heirs to their deeds."

Loricat's Book Nook
Celebrating the Absurd