The Point of a Pen

I guess we can finally agree that democracy can't be imposed at pen point. Wretchard quotes a NYT article on the failure of delegates to show up at the EU conference on creating democracy on the southern rim of the Mediterranean Sea:

In a summit meeting marked as much by who was not there as who was, the European Union opened a two-day conference here on Sunday aimed at renewing its commitment to developing and democratizing Muslim nations on the Mediterranean's southern rim ...with the goal of replicating in the Muslim world some of the European Union's procedures for integrating Central and Eastern European countries.

Like Eastern Europe was integrated? Wait, wasn't there that little 40-year struggle known as the Cold War that predated the glorious EU expansion east? You know, the one where American military might confronted the Soviets who held the eastern European nations enslaved? The Cold War we won? Hmm, must be thinking of something entirely different since conferences and bound agreements affixed with bright ribbons and offical stamps were all that were needed.

Meanwhile, Iraqis and Afghans vote in free elections under American-led guidance and protection. Must have been the pens.