The contemporary vernacular adopts with open arms dubious newcomers, such as "quantitative easing", "strategic patience" or "We shall make America great again"...and one could go on. They become part of the conversation, while nobody really knows the substance they are supposed to cover. They have out- maneuvered former solid concepts such as "containment" and "balance of power", considered depasse. As a result, the neo-reality which is presented does not cover any measurable fact. As long as a pronouncement becomes viral it receives a lifeline, fed by media and pundits who are less about accountability than about entertainment. Trump is a master of the inconsequential, selling the absurd as theorem while the President has a knack to present the spin as strategy.
Trump receives "impunity" while uttering the most far-out suggestions with regard to, for instance, the American debt, the Fed or non-proliferation, not to mention the personal gutter attacks and ego building. The President chooses the opposite path, keeping his cool while China is cementing the South China Sea and the Middle East is in total chaos. Both, in different modes, are stuck in the fantasy world of some form of artificial intelligence.
The world is turning to a stage of dangerous infantilism, wherein the ISIL nihilist becomes Robin Hood, and Kim Jong Un is a spoiled Caligula playing with a nuclear toy. This reversal is perverse. It is the result of a form of abdication of enlightened leadership, mostly in the West. Presidents Xi and Putin are unhindered in clearing their paths to some form of absolutism. The image of the Russian orchestra in Palmyra is surreal. It was surprising they did not play Tchaikovsky's loud 1812 Overture to cover the noise of the Russian military planes over Syria.
While the Russian and Chinese leaders remain above the fray, holding court, their Western counterparts haunt the screens, the airwaves and the papers until one becomes to numb, unable to switch the channel or return to normal. Maybe there is a conspiracy to hijack the minds until total surrender by the intelligentsia occurs. One focuses on the United States now because they run the major show. It should not be a distraction from the amazement with regard to the happenings in Europe which is heading for the "icebergs" with a frightening speed.
Confronted with so much human folly, the Queen of Hearts would not hesitate to scream "Off with their heads".
No comments:
Post a Comment