Logic be damned. Desperate Hours rule.
My views of reality are shared by so few people in this country that I treasure those moments when I encounter opinions that mirror my own. I suppose that is one of the attractions (and probably redemptions) of social media. The Internet allows us to have friends or "colleagues in thought" you never met in person, but whom you hold in profound esteem. As editor of this publication I am fortunate to have more than a normal share of such fine minds. By their presence they provide oxygen in a coarse culture that, at every turn, seems to revere and reward stupidity and uninterest in knowledge.
One of these colleagues in thought is Luciana Bohne. I frequently feature her opinions on TGP because she has the knack to cover an issue most effectively in just a few paragraphs, often a single one. Baltasar Gracián, a Spanish prose stylist, novelist and philosopher (a pessimist, and Jesuit, too, by the way) became famous in the 1600s for his critiques of baroque oratory. He is reputed to have coined the famous aphorism, in honor of conciseness, "the good, when brief, twice as good."* I mention Gracián and his witticims because if there was a "Gracián award," Luciana Bohne would be a serious contender. Recently, Luciana took on that fat and ridiculous (but never assailed) belief in American generosity. Ideally, as is becoming customary, Trump provided the cue:
Trump and NATO: "Europe is exploiting US"
Fallacy of logic: Trump demands of the Europeans that they pay more for US military protection. The premise of "protection" is a derailment of the premise of NATO. NATO is a US-enforced military alliance, extracted and imposed by an occupying US army in 1950 and agreed upon by America's Europe-occupied collaborating governments. NATO was intended to protect US interests in occupied Western Europe. So, Trump's demand is put in terms of Europeans being beneficiaries whereas the truth is that they were captives to US interests. The real question behind Trump's disingenuous one is this: "Are you or are you not committed to the US? If so, prove it." Who, in their right mind, expects the US to intervene on behalf of national interests that are not US interests? Put it this way: Mafia Boss X says to all the merchants in a neighborhood: do you want our protection? You'll have to pay more--or we'll leave you to Mafia Boss Y (in the analogy, the Russians). Unfortunately for X, everybody except the Baltics and the Ukraine know there is no Mafia Boss Y poised to move into the neighborhood except for trading with the merchants. Ergo, Trump's fatuous demand is for domestic consumption: to portray US as victim. Classic "stab-in-the-back" tactic of nationalist strategy.
She's right of course. On solid ground, historically and logically. NATO was created by the US oligarchy to build a military deterrent (and offensive force) against the Russkies, not to protect the Europeans.
This absurd Trumpian posture reminds me of the Bush (and later Obama's) cabal's hectoring of Iraqi politicians when things were not going Washington's way. The complaint was soon taken up by the whore media, who began to castigate the Iraqis for ingratitude to the Americans. Yea—ingratitude. At the time I saw it many times on tv and papers, the same refrain: the Iraqis were (the audacity!) resisting, blowing things up, killing some Americans. And the sanctimonious response from our top political brass above was: "If you don't behave, if you don't play nice, we're gonna leave!!"
Try for a moment to wrap your mind around that abominable level of narcissism. Or cynicism. Take your pick—both stink. The facts—reality—go like this: On the basis of lies, the Americans go in guns blazing, bomb the hell out of the Iraqis, kill and rape and humiliate to their hearts' content, and destroy everything that catches their infantile eye (except installations the US command judges of some value to the corporate carpetbaggers soon to arrive). The society is soon in ashes, the infrastructure purposely smashed. Eventually, after innumerable atrocities, there are stirrings that show defiance to American diktats. That's when the American public hears that these ingrates are acting unruly, surly, actually fighting back and in the process putting American lives at risk which, incidentally matter a helluva lot less to politicans and media than they constantly proclaim.
Desperate Hours
Can you imagine the level of brainwash and exceptionalist fog we have reached in this country when the most elementary logic can be violated, before tens of millions, with total impunity? The whole thing apparently flew over most Americans' heads with nary a reation, the majority bovinely approving, or not even thinking it through. OK. Maybe foreign policy is not their forte. So let's put it in simple terms that any red-blooded American can understand. In fact the whole thing except for the denouement was made into a memorable noir in 1955, with Bogart and Fredric March in the leads. In the movie, a trio of escaped convicts invade a suburban home—terrorizing one of those white families that Hollywood stills sets up as examples of solid upper middle class propriety. Still, Hollywood being Hollywood, things don't end exactly well for the home invaders.
Let's translate this plot now in terms of US foreign policy. A bunch of thugs (one of them clearly sociopathic) break into your home—that being Iraq—hold everyone hostage, beat the shit out of the father, rape the daughters and threaten the wife with a big knife. A few hours into the ordeal the terrified family begins to plan a way out, but they are no match for the hardware of the home invaders, and, keep this in mind, these are habitual, hardened criminals. So they start resisting anyway they can. If a guy asks for a beer they give him a glass of water (this is risky). They tell them to keep quiet but they make some noise. They try to be belatedly friendly, but they meet with cold contempt and rejection. Man, they are beginning to annoy the hell out of these trespassers. Eventualy, they piss them off so much that the gang's boss issues a terrifying threat: "If you don't behave, if you don't start acting friendly, we're gonna leave!" Yea, just like that. Keep acting nasty and we'll just pick up and leave. Take that ingrates! We won't help you any more!
Where can such absurdity fly? Only in America. Where lead balloons also shoot straight up into the sky.
—PG
* lo bueno, si breve, dos veces bueno’.
is one of the best edited political blogs in the anglophone world. No one surpasses our standards.
We give you the unadulterated truths that affect your life and the lives of countless people around the world, and the destiny of the planet itself. Just think for a moment: an insignificant sum for you can mean whether we continue to publish or go under. Don’t take the citizens’ media—YOUR media—for granted. Sign up today for a simple, recurring donation of just $5. You can cancel anytime—and no hard feelings. That’s a promise.
