The Globalist’s Stephan Richter Captured the Silliness of American Foreign Policy — in Two Essays about the Ukrainian Situation — It May Be Impossible to Be too Cynical about the Money Driven Manipulation of US Leadership

07 May 2014

My World War II father belonged to the last American generation that had leadership sense

Every generation since, including the Boomers, has been filled with self-important ignorami, who spend most of their time sucking up to aspects of the Military Industrial Complex and the oligarchy that goes with it.

Stephan Richter, editor of the The Globalist, hinted at this discouraging phenomenon in two recent essays:

Remember the “reset” with Russia?

In the foreign policy arena, nations ought to pursue their (long-term) interests.

Since it is inconceivable for this current American leadership – or pretty much any American leadership – to admit to strategic errors, the blame is laid at the feet of other nations.

[T]he blow-up in relations with Russia is reported (!) to be the Germans’ responsibility.

The trouble with such a stance is that most other nations are no longer able to make rhyme or reason out of U.S. foreign policy.

The only “pattern” to describe U.S. foreign policy is that it is always shaped by the latest fad Washington elites have seized upon in order to corral an increasingly dubious public into the U.S.’s never-ending series of ill-fated foreign policy adventures.

Afghanistan? Iraq? Egypt? Libya? Syria? Japan? Korea?

Under Bush or Obama, none can be called a success . . . .

Meanwhile, the hyperactivity syndrome in some of these arenas is curiously paired with a determined stance of complete inaction on other vital fronts, such as climate change.

And this:

Elites on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean see the world of today in very different terms.

The Americans tell everyone in Europe that the entire continent — not just Ukraine, the Baltics or Poland — will eventually be steamrolled by a newly assertive Russia.

[T]he point is to turn the looming calamity into a sales opportunity. No wonder the Boeings, Lockheed Martins and other U.S. defense firms are eagerly supporting any American “strategist” or think tank who is keen to trumpet this message.

The Europeans, for their part, aren’t buying. They are under no illusion about what a crook Putin is. But they seriously doubt that the Russians are going to pursue an offensive strategy beyond their own immediate neighbors.

To the Americans’ great chagrin, the Europeans are not fixated on funding their armies — but their pensions.

Facing such unresponsiveness, American strategists are trying desperately to up the ante.

What will Europe do, they ask, if the North Koreans undertake a nuclear strike on South Korea, the Chinese move on the Senkaku islands and Saudi Arabia engages in a war with Iran? Will it wake up then?

To which the Europeans’ response is the one feature they have by now readily adopted from Britain – the mindset to “keep calm and carry on” even when faced with a real crisis.

Yes, indeed

As I have written, Russia today is doing no more than regionally dominant powers do around their borders, especially when pressed by the provocative steps their purported adversaries have taken to encroach thereon.

Europeans appear to recognize the permanent dynamism of human affairs, given that it harmonizes with European history going back to the beginning of recorded time. There is no point in getting intemperately excited, when one of the world’s larger bears decides to nibble on nearby beehives. Such usually limited movements are all part of the global ecology.

Americans, on the other hand, ignorantly and thoughtlessly succumb to paranoia that enriches our Military Industrial Complex. It is fun to catastrophize even mild events and ignore the more subtly major ones that potentially will suck us to the bottom of the marsh. Like, from my perspective, our increasingly crappy national infrastructure.

The moral? — Greedily ignorant America is losing its way as a symbol of greatness

My dad’s generation was the last one that solidly stood for measured sense in foreign affairs. Since then, we have sold out to the fear-based foolishness that enriches the Military Industrial Complex and the oligarchy that goes with it.

As Stephan Richter opines, Europe appears not to be buying our BS any longer. So, who are the grownups in the room?

PeteFree.com

The Globalist’s Stephan Richter Captured the Silliness of American Foreign Policy — in Two Essays about the Ukrainian Situation — It May Be Impossible to Be too Cynical about the Money Driven Manipulation of US Leadership