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April 20, 2011

Honest!

What's infuriating about U.S. foreign policy isn't just its brutality, but the way it's accompanied by explosions of rhetoric about our love for All Humanity. Moreover, the rhetoric's always soaring yet bland, like watery vanilla pudding dropped on you from 30,000 feet.

So I appreciate this statement about Libya by Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, which I don't think has gotten enough attention:

"...we don't get very hung up on this question of precedent because we don't make decisions about questions like intervention based on consistency or precedent. We base them on how we can best advance our interests in the region."

Fair enough.

–Jonathan Schwarz

Posted at April 20, 2011 11:43 AM
Comments

And so eventually Colonel Aureliana Buendia concluded that it was better to give up even the last of his ideals so that "all we're fighting for is power."

--very loosely paraphrased from One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a magical realist prone to intemperate outbursts of communistic thinking and respect for Fidel Castro

Kierkegaard's observation that purity of heart is the will to one thing has its dark side.

Posted by: N E at April 20, 2011 01:22 PM

Yes, America does not have friends, only interests.......

here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RmYkC4agj4

continued.....

Posted by: Rupa Shah at April 20, 2011 02:08 PM

continued.......
Lyrics: Orphans ( Brawlers ) Road to Peace

here

http://www.tomwaitslibrary.com/lyrics/orphans-brawlers/roadtopeace.html

This one is excellent!

Posted by: Rupa Shah at April 20, 2011 02:18 PM

Rupa - yes! One of my favorite songs ever!

Posted by: Aaron Datesman at April 20, 2011 02:27 PM

And a great cartoon of US intervention with American symbols, COKE and Mickey Mouse!!

here

http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1-Opinion/594-the-us-has-no-friends-only-interests.html

Posted by: Rupa Shah at April 20, 2011 02:28 PM

U.S. officials seem free to make the most astonishing admissions without a public backlash. I remember in the lead up to Gulf War 1 hearing both Les Aspin and I think Colin Powell describe on NPR the "nightmare scenario" of an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait which would deprive the U.S. of a Casus Belli.

Posted by: Edward at April 20, 2011 11:33 PM

Edward

I'm not surprised, but I didn't notice at the time. I know Gorbachev had Saddam's agreement to withdraw, and we nixed that.

The whole Gulf I Performance planned in advance to accomplish what it did--undoing Vietnam Syndrome, controlling Middle East to take advantage of collapse of USSR--which soon lead in turn to new plans to accomplish new things, which in turn led to new plans which in turn are even now leading to new plans. . . It's an Escherempire (correct spelling) in more than one way.

Posted by: N E at April 21, 2011 09:22 AM

NE: It just took ALL those years for the GREEDY to talk US into the much deserved roll of STUPID.

Posted by: Mike Meyer at April 21, 2011 01:51 PM

@NE

If you were a regular listener to "All Things Considered" at the time you had a chance to hear those remarks. What drives me nuts about such comments is they contradict the official narrative; remember Bush's rhetoric about "going the extra mile for peace"? What was going through the minds of those journalists when Aspin and Powell flatly contradicted the official line? It seems the journalists know the official explanation is B.S. and they are going participating in the deception.

Posted by: Edward at April 21, 2011 02:06 PM