Saturday, October 31, 2009

For WashPost, Honduras agreement is a victory. Just not how you thought.

Say what you will about the agreement, reached late Thursday night, in Honduras. It's not completely clear what the national assembly will do from here, or that the conditions for free and fair elections will now necessarily be in place by a month from now, though they could be.

But what would the Washington Post editorial page say about it all? They declare it a win for Honduras, and particularly for the Obama Administration's diplomacy, which is sort of the emerging CW. Whatever, that has some truth to it, though I think it misses the point that, you know, a deposed government is having to agree to potential 'power-sharing.'

For Jackson Diehl and Fred Hiatt at the Post, though, this was all about Hugo Chavez, of course. In fact:
The beauty of the U.S.-brokered deal is that it is founded on democratic process -- the very thing the Chavistas want to destroy. The Honduran Congress will vote on whether to restore Mr. Zelaya to office for the three months remaining in his term. Mr. Zelaya says he has the votes to return as president, but if he does, he will head a "government of reconciliation," and the armed forces will report to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, a presidential election previously scheduled for Nov. 29 will go forward with international support and regional recognition for the winner. Neither of the two leading presidential candidates supports Mr. Zelaya or his agenda, which means that Honduras's democracy should be preserved, and Mr. Chávez's attempted coup rebuffed.
Chavez's attempted coup? Huh?

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