Subject: since you ask
From: Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Date: Thu Dec 21 2000 - 04:42:38 GMT
I should emphasise *I* wasn't nominating General Powell
as an Uncle Tom. I wondered were others doing so. I was
genuinely intrigued by the strength of criticism being aimed
at him - a black man, who, as I reported quite truthfully,
was the first I'd seen so attacked. Many of us Europeans
sneer - no doubt unwarrantedly - at what looks like a
suspiciously strident American correctness in matters of race
& the tone of voice of those attacking Powell presented,
for me, a curious exception.
I can think of no Arab country where, for the foreseeable
future, any American, or indeed English-speaker, can hope
to be other than at least a cousin of the Great Satan.
Would you like to commit the US Army to the policing
of a country the size of Iraq deep in the heart of the Moslem
world? Or do you perhaps believe the oppressed Iraquis were
only longing for the benign rule of an American nominee?
Tell that to the boys in Ho Chi Minh City.
It seems to me that the obvious solution (the present one)
is the age-old one: keep as disentangled as possible &
maintain dynamic balance by encouraging local conflict.
(This is how we controlled India for centuries with a tiny
handful of people - also the Middle East while stealing
their oil.)
So far as I know, the official cover of the Gulf War was
not the removal of the head of state of the opposing people.
Whereas it WAS announced as the pious aim of Clinton
& Blair. In the event - after all that stratospheric precision
bombing that left a lot of dead civilians & little detectable
effect on Serbian soldiers or weaponry - the war ended
when the Russians declined to back the Serbs. Milosovic
was VOTED out of office, now heads the official opposition
& bids reasonably fair to regain eventual power. His popularly
elected successor is quite as ardently opposed to Kosovan
secession as Slobo.
We all know the Balkans remains the mess it ever was
& no doubt ever will be. But what the hell are we doing
there? The Balkans were only ever a hobby for a few
Western enthusiasts & when we made an issue of it in 1914
got dragged into a world war. And I wonder how did
a patriotic Russian who could recall the summer of 1941
feel as he watched NATO (an ostensibly defensive outfit)
bombing Belgrade?
Human rights me ass. Only insofar as they play on
tonight's television.
This little country recently welcomed the Great Pacifier
with her usual warmth & courtesy. How extraordinary
he didn't also take a final lap of honour to accept the
gratitude of the citizens of Port-au-Prince, Tel Aviv,
Belgrade, Beijing, Djibouti (?) & all those other places
where his warm handclasp & boyish grin have ensured
the peace that passeth all understanding.
And yes, Sean, since you ask & as you may possibly have
guessed, I'm that classic case of Reversion to the Right.
It's the money that does it. That & the overwhelming
stench of self-righteousness emitted by all my erstwhile
comrades in the brigade.
Scottie B.
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