The Middle East (general catch all)

[Dayuhan]

It becomes less debatable when one looks at all 47 assessed as "not free" rather than just the bottom 10. Any state on that list of 47 is ripe for insurgency. Many that make the top 10 are so bad that no insurgency has much chance to get going as any sign of subversion is quickly crushed.

You specifically referred to "states where the US implemented the control measures of a long containment strategy that has nurtured the rise of the majority of the states that top the "least free" list". That is demonstrably not true.

I won't take the time to break down the 47 but on a quick scan it does not at all seem to be dominated by US allies or regimes the US nurtured as part of a strategy of containment. I suspect that on a global basis you'd find that more of those "US-nurtured" despotisms have made the transition to democracy than those of the many despots we didn't nurture.

That main point is to not so totally freaked out by who shows up to help the populace gain freedom that we overract by committing ourselves to keeping despots in power.

Who exactly is showing up to "help the populace gain freedom"?

We should not be so naive as to think that anyone who fights a despot is fighting for freedom. Often they've simply spotted a weak regime that they think they can replace with their own despotism. Often the populace is quite aware of this: why do you think the populaces of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States have shown so little interest in AQ's attempts to lead them into a new form of despotism? I doubt that it's because they love their rulers: they just see that AQ has nothing better to offer.