THE WORLD IS TURNING ITS BACK ON JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU AND TILTS TOWARDS VOLTAIRE. THE WESTERN PHILOSOPHERS AND THINKERS MUST BE TURNING IN THEIR GRAVES SINCE THE COHERENCE THEY TRIED TO ACHIEVE HAS BEEN REPLACED BY CONTRADICTION AND BAD FAITH. MANY EVENTS WORLDWIDE HAVE BECOME AN AFFRONT TO DECENCY AND DIGNITY.
SINCE WORLD WAR II, HUNGER, ETHNIC CLEANSING, DEMOCRACY A LA CARTE, GOT EVEN MORE THAN BEFORE MAYBE, AN ALMOST FREE HAND. THE TRAGEDY BEING THAT THOSE CALAMITIES WERE MAN-MADE AND THAT THEY WERE TOO OFTEN IGNORED, PENDING THE FACT THAT PERPETRATORS WERE ALLIES OR FOES.
WE ARE FORGETTING CONGO AND RWANDA BUT WE PLAY AGGRIEVED FOR EGYPT WHILE HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY ARE EQUALLY TRAMPLED UPON ON A DAILY BASIS ELSEWHERE. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE WEST NEEDS SOME OF THE ARAB PSYCHOPATHS WHILE THEY MIGHT STILL BE HELPFUL, WHILE MEANWHILE OH SO CAUTIOUSLY CRITICIZING THE ONES WE NEED BUT WHO LOOK LIKE BEING IN TROUBLE.
THE WEST IS ON ITS KNEES FOR A RED CARPET TREATMENT IN CHINA. I WAS A FIRST-HAND WITNESS. THE SAME HAPPENED UNDER MUBARAK'S IRON FIST RULE. THE MILLIONS WHO DIED AND SUFFERED UNDER MAO WERE DUST UNDER THE CARPET. TIEN-AN-MEN BECAME AN OFFENSIVE DIRTY WORD WHICH WESTERNERS AVOIDED. EGYPT THREE YEARS AGO WAS A PIECE OF CAKE DIVIDED BETWEEN THE SYCOPHANTS. THE EMIRATES, SKYSCRAPERS INCLUDED, ARE NOT THAT DIFFERENT FROM SUDAN, WHICH IS NOT THAT DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER GAY BASHERS IN UGANDA...AND ONE CAN GO ON AND ON.
PARADOXICALLY, THE TALKS EN MINEUR BETWEEN PALESTINIANS AND ISRAEL ARE A SIDELINE TODAY, WHILE THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN FRONT PAGE YESTERDAY. THEY MIGHT EVEN SUCCEED BECAUSE FEWER CARE ANY LONGER. WASHINGTON PLAYS NANNY BY DEFAULT OF LARGER CAUSES WHERE ITS INFLUENCE HAS BECOME CLOSE TO ZERO. CHINA AND RUSSIA LEAVE THE AMERICANS TO COPE WITH THEIR MESS AND PURSUE THEIR OWN PRIORITIES WITHOUT CARING TO COVER THEM UNDER THE MANTLE OF SOME MORAL DOCTRINE. WHY SHOULD THEY, SINCE THE AMERICANS HAVE NO QUALMS ABOUT WORKING HAND IN HAND WITH THE GULF STATES OR SAUDI ARABIA, WHICH CAN BOOST ON A RECORD OF HUMAN RIGHTS CLOSE TO NIL. THE INGLORIOUS U.S. DEPARTURE FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN LEAVES A SITUATION WHICH IN SOME ASPECTS IS WORSE THAN THE ONE THEY FOUND, DESPITE THE "EDUCATED CHANGED'' PROPS THEY PARADE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE OBESE MASSES FED ON FAST-FOOD, UNINFORMED THINKING AND HOLLYWOOD MOVIES. AGREED, THE LATTER SPECIES ARE ALSO FOUND ELSEWHERE BUT THE MESSAGE THEY ARE PRESENTED IS NOT ONE OF WELCOMING LIBERATORS AND BENEFACTORS, AS IS TOO OFTEN THE CASE ON FOX NEWS AMERICA.
THE AMERICAN PUBLIC IS DUPED. MARC LEIBOVICH DESCRIBES IN HIS LATEST BOOK "THIS TOWN" HOW THE JEFFERSONIAN IDEAS HAVE BEEN DISMANTLED IN A POLITICAL SUB-CULTURE OF GREED, SEX, MONEY AND BELTWAY BRAIN DEATH. THE E.U. DOES NOT DO MUCH BETTER BUT IT NO LONGER PRETENDS TO. OTHER MAJOR POWERS PUSH INTEREST RATHER THAN WISHFUL UTOPIA. THEY SEE WHAT WE SEE BUT THEY CHOOSE NOT TO INTERVENE.
PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS BECOME UNCONVINCING, A GULLIVER SWIFTIAN CREATURE WHO SEEMS TO TAKE BAD ADVICE INSTEAD OF THE GOOD, FAVORING THE UNNECESSARY COMPLEX RATHER THAN TRANSPARENCY. SOMETIMES IT LOOKS AS IF WASHINGTON D.C. ('THE SWAMP' IN PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH'S WORDS) CORRUPTS. CONGRESS IS AT A DEAD-END. THE SUPREME COURT HAS BECOME A POLITICAL LAOCOON. THE FED, WITH THE IMMINENT DEPARTURE OF BEN BERNANKE, IS NOW A MANO-A-MANO BY PROXY BETWEEN LARRY SUMMERS AND JANET YELLEN. IMPORTANT ISSUES, SUCH AS BAILOUTS, DEFICIT REDUCTION, QUANTITATIVE EASING, ARE RELEGATED FOR NOW TO A SECOND TIER IN THIS PANEM ET CIRCENSES UNPLEASANT POWER STRUGGLE. HERE AGAIN THE PRESIDENT MIGHT END UP BEING A "VOYEUR.'' THE GREAT CONSOLER-IN-CHIEF HAS TO BE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AS WELL. INDEED THERE MIGHT BE SOMETHING ROTTEN ALONG THE POTOMAC.
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