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Wednesday, July 23, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:07 AM:
No big links on this one, just a few observations. I checked the news last night and the big story was that the US wanted help in Iraq but was having troubles dealing with the UN. Then I opened the Mercury News this morning and the cover story was the stacking of bodies in front of our embassy in Liberia, presumably because Liberians killing Liberians is something Liberians can't control, only the US. People quoted in the story said as much. So did Kofi Annan in a sidebar. Which leaves the question: Are we, as seems to be argued, the font of all that is imperial, neocolonial and just plain evil, or are we the indispensable nation and a beacon of hope for the world. It seems it's both. To wit, Kofi Annan is all in favor of American men and women fighting and dying to take control of a country, just as long as he gets to pick which one.The TurkeyBlog wholly supports the Bush administration's position to date - that it will keep the peace but not make it. If Kofi and pals are so concerned, we'd suggest that he go to the French and Germans who surely have soldiers to spare, given their absence in the Persian Gulf. He was unquestionably enthusiastic about their role in the world a few months ago and they can surely work something out. For that matter, the United States even let through a resolution so that France could take action in the Ivory Coast with the UN's imprimatur. Given the insistence of Mr. Annan that the UN, not the US, make all judgment calls regarding matters international, we'd suggest he find his own damn army to do it. Given the insistence of France and Germany that their respective positions allow them to control what the UN does by dint of a vow to veto anything they don't like, we'd suggest that Kofi see them about getting that army since the US has got decidedly less excited about things UN since we found out we were the enemy of all that is right and good, not the number one contributor to the UN in dollars and the surest bet for any serious military operation.
Please note that the TurkeyBlog is not going neo-isolationist. The US has interests in the world and it has to stay engaged to protect them. But the credibility of the UN is not one of them. According to the Merc, a Liberian protester was hollering, "What's the problem, is it because we don't have oil that the US doesn't care?" Well, that and because Charles Taylor is only in a position to really foul up Liberia whereas Saddam could destabilize the whole Middle East. But to address the broader question, yes, the US is in Iraq and diffident about Liberia because we have a lot more at stake in the former than the latter and with limited funds and forces the interests of the United States, not those of Liberia, are going to dictate our foreign policy.
I am frankly at this point completely disgusted with Liberia and revolted by Kofi Anan. The two have shown themselves to be but hapless twits in the international community. For Liberia, I feel a little bad. It's not like they'd been disparaging us for months, only to decide we mattered after all. Still, it's a bit conceited to think that because your own citizenry can't get its sh-- together it's up to Americans to get in the crossfire and soak up the bullets. As for Kofi Anan, in my view he can go straight to hell. The man has consistently been a thorn in our side, running around acting like because he could get the backing of enough of third-world thugocracies he ought to get to be in charge of the American military. The only thing stupider is our continuing participation in this morally bankrupt forum for backward nations to try and procure enough filthy lucre from the grown-up nations of the world to be able to maintain a system in which bureaucrats from NGOs and flunkies of tyrants drive Mercedes while ordinary families wonder if they can catch enough rats to keep food on the table another week.
A propos, I've had a glance or three at Jimmy Rogers' latest, Adventure Capitalist, which has as one of its main theses that you can drive a Mercedes anywhere in the world because international agencies and bankrupt governments that can't find money for food and shelter for the people can always scare up enough to maintain a fleet of Mercedes for the "important people" to drive from scene of squalor to scene of squalor, thus assuring that spare parts and service are made available too.
It is time that we stop funding this nonsense, pull out of the UN and give them one year to relocate before property taxes, etc, start kicking in. In the meantime, we should be building the case for the coalition of the willing, starting with a recognition that for noblesse oblige to work for an organization, there has to be more nobility than knavishness in the organization and its participants. It is time, in short, that we asserted what the Liberians are screaming from the rooftops - the primacy of the First World as an agent for change, wealth creation and, yes, justice, and announced that henceforth the proudest international body would not be the one with the most nations but the most civilized nations, as that body would be the only one capable of seriously acting to better the world. As it stands, we have a big muddle in which the scum of the earth rule by their numbers, thus hamstringing the great and the good while the lowly and the foul fester. Enough.
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