A marvellish foreign policy (by CP)

In response to my last post, lally posted the following:

"The foolishness of such a scenario was attributed to the worse-than-Hitler evil lust for blood that consumed a deranged Assad"

I think that is an excellent observation, and an excellent starting point. After all, we encounter this odd phenomenon time and time again.

(Master)Mindlessly Evil

I wrote that Assad would have to be a complete moron to have comitted Ghouta the way and at the time it happened:

First he aims for deniability, and builds a deniable improvised rocket, fills it with deniable kitchen Sarin, the idea being either to pin it on the rebels, or to, finally, be able to do a Saddam, and poison his opposition, too.

Then, out of sheer excitement, he blows his load prematurely - by doing it at a time he promises chemical disarmament and when he has inspectors in country who can be expected to be tasked with investigating the matter, opening himself up to not only being caught, but to be convicted as a liar and war criminal at the same time. What an opportunity!

But - trifles! The answer to the question why he would do that anyway is simple: He is simply mindlessly evil, beyond comprehension, which is why any logical approach to his actions must fail. All that is required to know is the enemy and to suspend that nagging disbelief by revelling in the glory of being on the side of the angels.

Cartoonisation

America's without exception personifies its enemies. Judging by narratives, the US fought not Iraq but Saddam, they fight not Syria but Assad, they fought not Libya but Ghaddafi, not Afghanistan but Mullah Omar and OBL, and not Russia but Putin etc pp. In doing so, they turn the targeted country's leaders into cartoon villains. They are illegitimate, usurpers, and their governments are 'regimes'.

This cartoonisation is a general trend in American foreign policy and foreign policy coverage over the last decades. Politics take the lead, the media follow, with great glee and enthusiasm. As a result, America's narratives of their various arch villain's conduct read much like a Marvel comic, and indeed, we are to marvel at the events in light of the infathomable evil projected on America's enemies.

So we are to believe that Putin (who is after all 'directly responsible') had the separatists shoot down MH17. Why? What would he hope to get out of it? A kick, if nothing else? Or is it just a habit? Because one morning he woke up with that insatatiable bloodthirst? Well, that's just how these old KGB thugs are. They always kill civilians before breakfast just so they can enjoy the day!

We were also expected to believe that Saddam was 'linked to' 9/11 and 'harbored terrorists' - irrespective of the fact that that there probably could not be a more implausible alliance than this proposed cooperation between jihadi Islamists and Saddam. Why would they cooperate, when they hate each other from another picture? Presumably, because they both hate Freedom and all that's good and pure more, and with that common ground established ... everything goes, however far fetched. Oh, and beyond that, the story was BS from the onset (and to say that took the US what, five or six years?).

Trivialisation

This cartoonisation trivialises America's enemies and their motives. As cartoon villains - what do they have to say anyway?

Russian interests? Syrian interests? That's just fake excuses. Russia doesn't have any interests. Putin doesn't have any rational motives. Neither does Syria. Or Assad. Sovereignty? Forfeited! Because they lost the legitimacy to govern! Sphere of influence? Only the Hegemon has such a thing and that's the entire globe. Putin in contrast just selfishly covets land in pursuit of his insatiable thirst for power.

This personal demonisation makes it increasingly difficult for US politicians to change course on failed and failing policy even if they notice it going off course. There is cowardice in face of the ever looming accusation of appeasement and weakness, and the prospect of congressional resistance. And then, apparently American politicos like wars since the US loses so comparativley little hair in those these days.

The pain with which the US tries and tries not to make peace with Iran is indicative of the resulting dysfunction. It isn't any better vis a vis other countries. The inability of the US to come to terms with a communist Cuba even after half a century likewise speaks for itself. In the US, a president has to have a justification for talking with designated villains once they've been tarred with that label. And being American presidents, by habit, they usually demand surrender. After all, how else to deal with a tyrant?

In this context, media coverage is suggestive. Assignment to the readers: Spot the fake one.

Guilt is assumed, as best examplified in the Spiegel cover in upper left, with a classical variation of the 'When did you stop beating your wife' theme.

Context and Reasons for Actions

The leaders that American has turned into cartoon villains are not only super evil - they are also super ridiculous. The enemy de jour is at the same time mastermind, murderer, liar, idiot and clown - a subject of scorn and ridicule - but still so much of a threat that he compels a reluctant US/West into intervention because of the clear and present danger he poses - an unresolved contradiction, which is why we swiftly move along lest we endanger our 'moral clarity'.

The villains also act devoid of context, without reason and without reasons, driven only by their fiendish bloodlust and petty impulses. In Ukraine, there were violent clashes between police and protesters on the Maidan. Clearly Yanukovich's capricious tyranny at work, not to mention Putin's hidden if heavy hand! Or not?

Well, usually, governments strive to retain or restore order in face of street protests lest they deterioriate into riots. In Kiev Yanukovich did just hat. It was US encouragement not to back down and not to compromise, coupled with official declarations of support, that helped perpetuate and exacerbate the protests, which then eventually escalated into open and violent street battles between police and hard core right wing groups among the protesters. If one looks at the Maidan, and what the police faced every day in the later stages, Yanukovich's response looks restrained, but what did it help him.

To screw a villain

Faced with such a situation a government basically has two realistic choices - backing down to the demands - however (un)reasonable or (un)justified (giving in then indicates defeat or weakness, resulting in the call to leave office) or cracking down (to be denounced for using force, and 'showing the real, ugly face of tyranny').

Which means that in Ukraine the US push for escalation paid clear political dividends. Yanukovich was screwed either way he decided. Inciting large scale unrest in Ukraine put his ruling government in a classical lose-lose proposition.

That must have been the very point of pushing things there in the first place. It also means that the US, far from defusing the situation and trying to mediate a compromise, aimed for escalation. I read Nuland's famous 'Fuck the EU' as a comment on the successful EU led mediation efforts that were going on at the time. The US didn't want de-escalation or mediation - they weren't done yet.

I think US influence taking in this regard can be described along the lines of 'Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?' and, as things went, somebody rid them of that troublesome compromise. The EU brokered deal didn't survive for a single day. There was escalation, shots fell at the Maidan, the situation rapidly detoriated, the agreement was ignored and the rest is history. At the end of the day it was Nuland's favourites who came to power.

Projection

It is healthy to try to imagine a similar situation developing in America:

There was a certain sternness to the way with which 'America's mayor' Bloomberg pacified Occupy Wallstret. It gives an idea on how he would have acted if Occupy had started to attack NYPD officers 'Maidan Style'.

Try to imagine what would have happened if Putin had flown to New York to egg them on, handing out cookies to protesters in Zucotti Park and funding Occupy to the tune of 5 billion. John McCain would probably have died of apoplexy.

Considering how US police geared up over Occupy and Ferguson, the reader is invited to look at these pictures from New York, Ferguson and Kiev and to extrapolate how US police would react to a Maidan-like protest. What would they do if protesters attacked cops with molovtov cocktails, chains and iron bars? What if snipers had taken shots at cops and protesters alike?

Faced with a situation like the Maidan, New Yorkers would have found themselves under something closely resembling martial law, probably involving national guard on the streets. Considering the US police singular emphasis on 'officer safety' i.e. 'force protection', there would very probably have been casualties. US authorities would in many cases react just as severely if not more severe than those 'regimes' which the US government routinely scolds for 'falling short of international standards of behaviour'.

But that's exceptionalism for you: You can have your cake and eat it too.

by confusedponderer

Comments

[Bill H]

We do the same thing internally. Democrats refer to Republicans as "evil minded," claim that they are "stupid" and "idiots," and make the sincere claim that the Republican Party has a desire for "poor people to starve to death."

Democrat House Representative Alan Grayson proudly claims that the Republican health care plan is "die quickly."

[e]

We've all had our adventures in Fat Thumb word creativity "incestigation" in the third paragraph is hard to beat. And now, back to reading the post.

[Matthew]

CP: I enjoyed your piece. But what about the Germans? Why do they support Maiden? Considering their huge commercial interests in the Russian Federation, why rock the boat for an economic basket case like Ukraine?

BTW,the narrative of "American Exceptionalism" is inspired by a pernicious motive: to undermine that traditional all-American habit of healthy skepticism. When things are exceptional, they can't or shouldn't be improved.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Read El Paise and despair of any intelligence shown by any one on the continental Europe; excellent example of Yellow Journalism.

[Babak Makkinejad]

The conception of the World as a cosmic struggle between Good and Evil - the Wise Lord and the Father of Lies - is rooted in Zoroastrian tradition.

To a Hindu, such a conception is slightly amusing; for he knows that the world is just a game....

[Aka]

CP,
considering some of the things US planned like Project A119 (nuclear test on the moon), Madman theory (Nixon) it is not really difficult get whether this over-dramatization comes from.

I remember Hillary Clinton saying putin does not have soul. That might have looked pretty good on msm headlines but think about the awkwardness when the two actually meet. Maybe she didn't felt awkward which also says somethings about her.

[Ex 11B]

Democrat House Representative Alan Grayson proudly claims that the Republican health care plan is "die quickly."

Sounds about right. As useless as the Democratic Party is, Republicans are a disgrace. I think it is fitting that they regain the Senate just in time for the big toilet bowl to flush so they can get blamed for it. When we really needed a loyal opposition party, they were miserable failures. Sometimes groups actually live up to the stereotype. You think Fox news isn't pure propaganda? I find interesting you make no mention of that side. It's called a tell, and you are definitely living up to the stereotype of a partisan purveyor of propaganda.

Its all Kabuki Theater anyway. So go ahead and clutch pearls when Grayson calls it like it is, it don't mean nothing. The cake is baked, and every damn politician who is all about the status quo is equally to blame. I find Grayson refreshing and I find people who have bad reactions to his simple truths amusing.

[Ishmael Zechariah]

Col. Lang, SST;

Udo Ulfkotte's latest book:

http://www.amazon.de/Gekaufte-Journalisten-Udo-Ulfkotte/dp/3864451434

may indicate that the stories in the European MSM are not really uncorrelated.

Ishmael Zechariah

[grizziz]

CP: I agree with your assessment. Does the oppo perform the same ritual or is editorial permission more constrained in other countries?

[confusedponderer]

Ulfkotte is a mixed bag. Read with care. There probably is a good deal to the influence taking and institutional corruption he describes. Point is, he apparently overdoes it, and is being attacked on his inaccuracies. A pity.

Book sells well, but MSM treats him as a crank at best, with a lot of insulted egos screaming against him.

One argument I read just today was that he had an impossible standard, because absention from participation in Lobby groups would mean to not have access at all. There is something to that.

Now, and then there is this:

"Pray, why ... only because I am on the 'atlantic bridge' group (or something) that doesn't mean I am not neutral when I laud a policy paper for a new German security strategy that I co-wrote without disclosing that I helped co-write it. How unfair is that?"

Well, not very unfair. And so found the court when they largely scrapped the restraining order in the curious case of ZEIT editors Bittner and Josef Joffee that they had secured against the TV show 'Die Anstalt' .

Die Anstalt had disclosed that and their transatlantic lobby affiliations and, to Joffe's and Bitner's fury, had dared to suggest the existence of a conflict of interest.

Here's the segment from the Anstalt (german)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTnc5oHcE7w

[Joe100]

CP -

Wonderfully written! And appallingly depressing.. I will be circulating this widely. What really bothers me is that I have many quite intelligent and thoughtful friends, none of whom have a clue what is really going on in Ukraine and the Middle East. And they all seem to accept the MSM view without question, although most have great incite on domestic issues and definitely don't see such issues in cartoon form.

I have woken a few up, but it really takes engagement and generally pictures (late stage maiden videos, etc.).

[Valissa]

Matthew, here is one possible answer.

Top German Editor: CIA Bribing Journalists http://russia-insider.com/en/tv_politics_media_watch/2014/10/10/06-31-52pm/top_german_editor_cia_bribing_journalists

[BabelFish]

All of this stuff is rooted so deeply in human history. I'm old enough to remember the completely non-PC Popeye cartoons in the 50's. They were made in WWII and showed every Japanese combatant with giant buck teeth and coke bottle glasses. My memory tells me that it was not so for the portrayal of German or Italian soldiers, with the exception of Herr Hitler and Benito. Layers of what was tolerable bigotry, or not.

[D]

Bill H,

I think somehow you may have missed CP's point that America's enemy du jour is personalized - i.e. put into one person - not a party. And having missed that point you seem to have missed Republicans referring to Obama as the anti-Christ, the "enemy in the White House," a secret Muslim, a communist, etc. And yes, Democrats did something similar to Bush Jr.

[William R. Cumming]

CP! Great post!

[ked]

Domestically, we engage in the same personalization of our heritage and policy-making. Most GOP candidates (at least where I live, in the Deep South) are running against Obama as if he were the be-all / end-all of political-cultural meaning for the USA.

I wonder if it has to do with the nature of "American Character", constructed from real & idealized reformed Christianity, the ruggedly independent hero, our frontier experience, a once-dynamic middle class and sheer luck. We may yet have a ways to go as a civilization.

[ISL]

CP, your great post answers the question posed, why are there no adults in the room. It seems that without a bi-polar world there is no need to be adult, and regression has set in - the govt shut down last year is incomprehensible to most of the world as it seems like non-adults are running the show.

[curtis]

True. None are blameless.

[Ex 11B]

Untrue

There are politicians who speak truth to power and work for our benefit. Those people have no power because those who prefer the status quo make sure of that. Grayson is not in favor of the status quo,ergo he is blameless. The worse thing you can do in the cesspool of the Potomac is speak the truth. Cassandra and all that.

They're all the same is a dangerous meme because
1.They are not all the same.
2.It's an excuse to do nothing.

The best thing we could do is vote out everyone of them. But there all too many that are attached to their 'team'. So we will go out the T.S. Elliot way. If we're lucky.

[VietnamVet]

CP

I agree with this assessment. The American media has pushed “he said, she said” reporting for decades. But, discussion has now devolved into no communication at all. There is no mutual agreement on what is reality. There is no history. The West supported the dismemberment of Yugoslavia yet demands Ukraine remain united. In all intents and purposes Ukraine is a land grab at the cost of thousands of dead and wounded.

Last night on the NewsHour discussing Ukraine Stephen Cohen and Andrew Weiss aren’t on the same planet.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/ukrainian-separatist-rebels-elect-new-leaders-breakaway-republic/

One blames Russia, the other Washington DC. This is a tragedy; except, the Ukraine civil war can so easily explode into WWIII. What is really scary is that there is no way to remove the neo-cons and true believers who want war. There is no responsibility for their past and future disasters.

[lally]

CP...what a Marvelous exposition!

BTW, twitter has enabled the interested to track nodes of often overlapping activist networks working hard to invent, perpetuate and protect their narratives of demonization of their perceived enemies.

For Syria, those associated with the (formerly fringe) FDD/Foundation for Defense of Democracies are at the forefront of the American sector pushing regime change. They are fellow travelers with the well funded enemies of Putin operating from the platform of interpretermag.com. and their agendas are overlapping. In fact, the primaries involved in the later org are actively working to establish as a given that any counter-narratives coming from the Russians perspectives are all lies, lies and more damned lies.

Bombastic representatives from both of the above entities have become enshrined as go-to experts by their media partners; experience not required.

As far as the Obama administration goes, I see more collusion with the aforementioned entities from the DoS than from the WH. The WH has refused to perform the tasks assigned to it and is stubbornly appeasing Iran, colluding with Assad and enabling Hezbollah to avoid terrorist attacks on neighborhoods in Beirut.

The phenomenon of demonization that you have so ably described is, imo, far more fiercely, witheringly intense with regard to Assad, Putin and always, Iran than I have ever seen; including the collusion of interests that led to the war on Saddam.

........

BTW, it's quite impossible for me to choose which magazine cover is the ringer.....good job!

[MRW]

I agree with Joe100, CP. Smart piece, sharp observations.

[oth]

Aka,

I think that was Biden and he said it to Putin in person as joke refering to GW's peering into Vlad's "soul."

I think Vlad was probably weirded out by GW's oogling.

[Tyler]

Personally I found Hillary calling Putin Hitler to be the height of hubris and,idiocy. IIRC the man lost family at Stalingrad.

But hey, the Left finally met a KGB agent it didnt like.

[Ex 11B]

By everyone I meant everyone who favors the status quo. My reply needed clarification.