The Bush Doctrine ... in real life!

I have never been a believer in moral politics and you may think I’m a cynic or a realist, depending where you stand politically. I do believe in coherence though.

Well, it seems that the Bush Doctrine of moral politics, i.e. of "active promotion of democracy and freedom” only applies to certain countries.
Here’s a photo op of a meeting of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice with Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema taken last week.

I am no moralist, but there is some apparent lack of 'coherence' here - Nguema has been the President of Equatorial Guinea since 1979, one of the most corrupt, ethnocentric, oppressive and anti-democratic states in the world and Rice calls him 'a good friend'. BUT the discovery of large oil reserves in 1996 and its subsequent exploitation by American companies may make him a much better friend in our Iranian-nuke crisis era.

One could hope that this means that the Bush administration has been converted to 'Real Politik' after all. In any case, they should really stop pounding us with moral politics and moral values.

But I’m just a cynic. So I have doubts.