ME turmoil offers tough choices for Western democracies

News reports that the Obama administration could face potential political problem with yet another ally in the Arab world, this time in Algeria.

The Kabyles, watching the upheavals in neighboring countries, now demand that a referendum be held in Algeria on giving them greater autonomy. This week, a group of Kabile leaders, led by Ferhat Mehenni, the president of the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK), was in Washington, D.C. in an effort to persuade the administration to pressure Algeria to agree to the referendum. The administration snubbed the delegation, agreeing only to a meeting with a low-level State Department official.

The reason? The administration regards the government of Algeria as an ally in the war against al Qaeda and, more generally, Islamic radicalism.

A former U.S. government official with experience in the region told Fox News: “The Algerian government would totally resist the idea of Kabyle autonomy as leading to the breakup of the Algerian state. Algerian government and army are tough customers, and there is no way they could be jaw-boned or nudged into accepting the idea … There is a reason to be concerned about various aspects of human rights and democracy in Algeria, but far less reason to take on only one aspect of the issue and ignore the rest,” he said.

Dr. Walid Phares, Fox News contributor, warns that “a confrontation will take place” if nothing is done by the Obama administration. “Washington must use its diplomacy to create a dialogue between the two parties. If the administration sponsors the dialogue, the chances of heading off the crisis and a potential ethnic conflict would be higher. We must learn from Iraq and Sudan to do a better job in preventive medicine, instead of waiting for the crisis to worsen.”

The difficulty the Obama administration faces should not be underestimated. The Algerian government is not a model of democracy and transparency, and corruption is endemic. It has been active against al Qaeda, though – a legacy of the bitter and vicious war the military launched against Islamist radicals after the aborted 1992 elections.

There is also no denial of the secular and pro-West credentials of the Kabyles. Moreover, they do not demand independence but only a cultural autonomy with only mild, symbolic measures of political autonomy.

This is a case of choosing between two friendly elements. Not an easy choice.

Bahrain

The Bahrain security services have dealt with the anti-government protesters rather harshly,