Comments on: the decline of the wild west http://politicsandpress.com/2006/the-decline-of-the-wild-west/ The interaction of the press and politics; public diplomacy, and daily absurdities. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:46:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.3 by: Jeff http://politicsandpress.com/2006/the-decline-of-the-wild-west/#comment-35 Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:52:40 +0000 http://politicsandpress.com/2006/the-decline-of-the-wild-west/#comment-35 This is Old News that apparently is just now wending its way to the Great North. Conrad Black is obviously slipping – or perhaps MacKenzie Bros’ subscription to the National Post expired. Or, worse, he has left Canada for more serious countries. But then, he has a point. It is unlikely that the U.S. administration can get anyone, anywhere, to do anything they want done. The Iraqi Prime Minister asks us whom we think we are to even think about telling them to agree to a deadline to accomplish anything. The Dear Leader says he is sorry about the little bomb he set off, but he had to do it because the U.S. told him not to. Iran thumbs its nose. Tony Blair is seriously damaged goods because he actually did do what we told him to do. Italy is about to indict their Head of Intelligence for helping the CIA kidnap an Egyptian. The Canadian government has to apologize for helping the U.S. send one of their innocent citizens to get the crap kicked out of him in a Syrian prison. The Chinese will not help on Sudan or seemingly any other crisis where we could use some help. And Russian democracy has deteriorated into a kind of neo-Stalinism. And let’s not bother mentioning Afghanistan, where we actually had a chance to do some good. It is simply impossible to find anywhere in the world where what we want matters to anyone else. Given the state of our foreign policy (sic) it is a miracle that Condi Rice wasn’t subjected to full body searches at each border. But off she goes, selling moonshine and liver ointments to a world that ain’t buying. Seymour Hersh was quoted in the aftermath of his Abu Ghraib reporting as saying that Rice had been the most incompetent National Security Advisor in the history of the position. Note the not-so-subtle difference between saying that and saying that she was the least competent… And recall that her competition included McGeorge Bundy, Walt Rostow, Henry Kissinger and John Poindexter. So we have an administration that refuses to talk directly to people they don’t like but starts a war with no end for a series of ever-changing reasons – none of which are valid. James Baker is apparently trying to beat some sense into the President and there are signs of movement in our policy toward Iraq. But the nonsense that talking to North Korea or Iran in direct bilateral talks would be rewarding bad behavior is junior high school psychology. Bullies have limits to their power and if we did not know that in 2000, we sure know it now. This is Old News that apparently is just now wending its way to the Great North. Conrad Black is obviously slipping – or perhaps MacKenzie Bros’ subscription to the National Post expired. Or, worse, he has left Canada for more serious countries.

But then, he has a point. It is unlikely that the U.S. administration can get anyone, anywhere, to do anything they want done. The Iraqi Prime Minister asks us whom we think we are to even think about telling them to agree to a deadline to accomplish anything. The Dear Leader says he is sorry about the little bomb he set off, but he had to do it because the U.S. told him not to. Iran thumbs its nose. Tony Blair is seriously damaged goods because he actually did do what we told him to do. Italy is about to indict their Head of Intelligence for helping the CIA kidnap an Egyptian. The Canadian government has to apologize for helping the U.S. send one of their innocent citizens to get the crap kicked out of him in a Syrian prison. The Chinese will not help on Sudan or seemingly any other crisis where we could use some help. And Russian democracy has deteriorated into a kind of neo-Stalinism. And let’s not bother mentioning Afghanistan, where we actually had a chance to do some good. It is simply impossible to find anywhere in the world where what we want matters to anyone else.

Given the state of our foreign policy (sic) it is a miracle that Condi Rice wasn’t subjected to full body searches at each border. But off she goes, selling moonshine and liver ointments to a world that ain’t buying. Seymour Hersh was quoted in the aftermath of his Abu Ghraib reporting as saying that Rice had been the most incompetent National Security Advisor in the history of the position. Note the not-so-subtle difference between saying that and saying that she was the least competent… And recall that her competition included McGeorge Bundy, Walt Rostow, Henry Kissinger and John Poindexter.

So we have an administration that refuses to talk directly to people they don’t like but starts a war with no end for a series of ever-changing reasons – none of which are valid. James Baker is apparently trying to beat some sense into the President and there are signs of movement in our policy toward Iraq. But the nonsense that talking to North Korea or Iran in direct bilateral talks would be rewarding bad behavior is junior high school psychology. Bullies have limits to their power and if we did not know that in 2000, we sure know it now.

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