How to let Putin know that we're
“serious” about the goings-on in Ukraine? Send Joe Biden, of
course! At the risk of over-using the term “tone-deaf”, how did
Obama manage to miss the point that his vice president is widely
regarded – not only here but overseas as well – as a world-class
buffoon? I mean... if he had really wanted to show the Russkies that
we mean it, he should have sent someone with more gravitas – like
Bozo the Clown, or Pee-Wee Herman. And just to add to the absurdity,
we have John Kerry, AKA Lurch, mumbling and growling in the
background like some one-man Greek chorus. (OK then, make it three
butt-heads – two plus two halves.)
So you have your answer right there –
we're not serious. And yet we're sending troops into Poland, en
route to the Baltics? Because they were, somehow, talked into
joining NATO (an organization that should have folded the minute the
Soviet Union broke up)? So OK, Mr. President, what do you seriously
propose here? A land war with Russia on what, up until recently, was
Soviet soil? You're going to succeed where both Napoleon and Hitler
failed? And with nuclear arsenals complicating the matter? And if
non-nuclear (how to keep it that way is beyond me) war with Russia is
not contemplated, why go through the charade of sending troops ever
there? Ah yes, I know, it's “symbolic”, right? And in fact, our
entire foreign policy these days is symbolic; it has no real
substance. It is – I'll say it again – a sign of a dying empire
(ours, that is – the Soviets just put theirs on hold for a while).
Besides, Obama – and Democrats in
general – don't really believe in foreign policy any longer; to
them it's just an annoyance and a distraction from the real work at
hand, which is to collectivize the U.S. The Democrats used to be
known as the “war party”, and this, I believe, began with Wilson,
i.e. with the progressives, who felt that enlightened democracy for
just one country (i.e. us) wasn't enough – that it had to be spread
throughout the world (by force, if need be). And this was just one
of the many manifestations of humanism -- the notion that “we”
(the intellectuals) know better than “the people” (ignorant,
impulsive, superstitious, etc.) what is best for them. This attitude
persisted through World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, although with
diminishing fervor and idealism, and more cynicism... and then when
the Cold War faded away we became reformers without a cause. (The
“War on Terror”, which is actually a war on Islam, hardly
measures up – a war on a religion by a post-Christian society? I'm
unable to make any sense out of that.) But old habits die hard, and
rather than pull us out of Iraq and Afghanistan the day he took
office, Obama perpetuated Bush's folly... and besides, he was (and
is) owned by the Regime, which always profits handsomely from war.
But just because you're fighting endless wars doesn't mean you have a
coherent foreign policy; in fact it could be said that war is
our foreign policy, period. (The real “war party” now is the
Republicans, who are, in turn, neocons, who are fake patriots ruled
by internationalists. So Obama, basically, inherited a war he didn't
believe in from people who did believe in it. But it didn't matter
what he believed, because he had his orders.)
But to get back to Ukraine and environs
-- there are already signs that Western Europe is not totally buying
in to this idea of ours to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with whomever
the Russians appear to be picking on, or might be picking on at some
time in the near or distant future; they are just too dependent on
Russia in the commercial, practical sense (AKA “energy”). And we
know that, contrary to popular belief, we follow the EU's orders more
often than they follow ours – or, to be more precise, both we and
the EU follow orders from the cabal, which is, according to my
theory, based in Europe. In any case, I imagine the EU is much more
willing to cut Russia a bit of slack than we are – for one thing,
the Europeans live in Europe. They are much more entitled to be
“war-weary” than we are, have ever been, or ever will be. They
are all about negotiation – you know, that thing we call
“compromise” and “cut and run”. They are much more
appreciative of issues of hegemony, “turf”, and so on. (And we
should be, since we still cling to the Monroe Doctrine, which is why
the Cuba boycott drones on even though we are trading partners with
Vietnam.) I imagine they would be willing to cut Ukraine, and maybe
the Baltic States as well, loose in order to keep the peace. And
yes, Chamberlain's ghost is rising, but so what? What ever happened
to “realpolitik”? (If Hitler had stuck to the agreement,
Chamberlain would be a hero on par with George Marshall. But that's
a long shot.)
There's a reason we never invaded
across the Iron Curtain, and it's the same reason the Soviets didn't
(in the other direction). The Cold War was kept cold for what I
assume were good reasons, but now, in the post-Soviet era, we're
disoriented (or as George W. Bush would say, “disorientated”).
Those newly-free countries are rightfully ours, dammit! Or... I
mean, if not “ours” exactly... um... well, they at least ought to
be allowed to join NATO, AKA “us and some other guys”. Which is
a way of saying they ought not to be free – I mean really
free, i.e. “non-aligned”. But clearly, neither side is willing
to put up with such nonsense. So they send troops up to their
border, and we send troops halfway around the world to their
border... anyone see any asymmetry here? If the Russians had troops
in New Brunswick or Ontario, it would make more sense... and if we
minded our own damn business, that would make more sense as well.
But it was not meant to be.
I should add that the commentariat has
been “leaking”, in a very subtle way, the idea that a war with
Russia is off the table... ain't gonna happen... not contemplated...
etc. And since they are in the same echo chamber as Obama &
crew, one has to wonder, why are they so confident in this, even
though the actions of the administration don't provide any basis for
confidence, at least not on the surface? This is further evidence
that troop movements, Kerry's mumblings, Biden's buffoonery, etc. are
just so much strutting and chest pounding – symbolism with a bit of
body english. Read between the lines of the Regime's organs and it
doesn't sound like we're in a crisis at all – merely a dialogue.
And this would be OK if it were only the gullible American public who
had to be dealt with, but the Russians are very good at seeing
through things like this, and the more Obama piles on, the weaker he
becomes in their eyes, which, arguably, emboldens them even more,
etc. A new domino effect? Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment