ENRON-STYLE MANAGEMENT IN A DANGEROUSLY COMPLEX WORLD
John Chuckman opednews.com
At least North Korea won't have Bush droning about fake documents for
the sale of uranium from Niger. He's already played that role, and it
wasn't well received. Besides, North Korea reprocesses spent
nuclear-reactor fuel to extract plutonium, and they now politely inform
us they have enough to build six nuclear devices. Former Defense
Secretary Perry, normally a man of soft words and low blood pressure,
says the US will be at war with North Korea before very long.
Iran tests a missile that can travel 800 miles, its eighth test, making
it ready for military service. It is almost certain that the Iranians
are working to create nuclear weapons, and who can blame them? It is so
clear that nuclear weapons make a difference about the way you are
treated in the world.
Israel is very concerned over what is happening in Iran. After all, it
does not want to lose its nuclear monopoly in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Israel arrested a man said to be from the Real IRA working
with Palestinian terrorists, only it turns out he was someone else
altogether who happened to have the same name as one supplied by British
security services. Do you think this kind of sloppy work might have
helped Blair's idiotic Iraqi claims? Or is this just an elaborate
intelligence stunt to take pressure off Tony?
Speaking of Blair, he does appear to be in serious political trouble,
fighting members of his own party, former ministers, members of the
opposition, and the BBC. I've always regarded the British as among the
world's most decent, sound, and sensible people. They're proving it once
again, holding Blair accountable for the dirty, lying mess in Iraq.
Things tend to go a little more slowly in the US where Bush remains
popular. Lincoln's line about fooling some or all the people has been
boiled down by marketing consultants to fooling enough of them long
enough to do what you want, knowing most will loose interest in anything
that happened more than a week ago.
Afghanistan remains pretty much a chaotic, murderous patchwork of
government by warlords, some financed by a huge expansion of drug
production. The situation bears an uncanny resemblance to what we find
in many "inner-urban" areas of America. Somehow, I doubt we'll
see any time soon a Congressional program, like the one pushed on South
American countries, to spray poison over growing fields. Meanwhile, the
US, wanting to limit the risks to its boys, badgers every country in the
Western world to police the chaos they've created there.
The CIA advises that concern over Syria having "weapons of mass
destruction" has been overblown. The good ol' boys in Langley spend
about $30 billion dollars a year to come up with cream puffs like this.
So Bush's war on the Syrian front, at least for now, appears postponed.
Anyway, all the stories on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction probably
have passed their best-consumed-by date-stamp and can safely be dumped.
US soldiers are ambushed and killed almost each day in Iraq. The
Pentagon and the press serving its interests keep calling the attackers
"militants loyal to the former regime," although how they
could possibly know that is impossible to say.
Little is said in the American press of the daily misery in which Iraqis
must live, a situation that just might motivate many otherwise decent
people to attack Americans. The morale of American soldiers is reported
to be falling in the face of so much hatred against occupation.
A fair part of America's militarily-active forces - as opposed to that
part dealing with worldwide beer shipments, hot showers, appearances by
aspiring starlets, and selecting new fabrics for future uniforms - is
tied up in Iraq while Bush prays for guidance over which one of a half
dozen countries to attack next in his sacred mission to bring the forces
of evil to heel finally and forever.
Pressure reached a very high level for the US to intervene in Liberia's
bloody mess. Bush has felt the pressure and hopes a token,
much-publicized military inspection will dampen it. America's
loony-right crowd has busied itself with articles about why the US
should not become involved in Africa, wrapping itself in a cloak of
higher ideals, but it is painfully clear what lurks just beneath the
rhetoric for many of them.
Can any rational person imagine America's right wing supporting
Americans dying for blacks in Africa? Does anyone remember Republican
Tom DeLay's racist-tinged comments on President Clinton's trip to
Africa? Look at the rest of the cast of characters including Trent Lott.
Situations like Liberia are authentic calls for help. There are no
geopolitical considerations of weight, just people suffering under a
terrible situation. The US, of course, is not in the business of genuine
humanitarian or toss-the-tyrant interventions, despite all the
comic-book-hero nonsense about Iraq and Afghanistan and a dozen other
smashed-up places. America's establishment uses force where foreigners
stand in its way. All the rest of Washington's foreign-policy words
serve only to keep "folks back home" putting up tax dollars
and sons for the job.
The world is becoming a very complex place. Just as free markets are
messier and more complex than state-run ones for individual countries,
all the elements of globalization contribute to vastly increasing
complexity for the entire world. One feels sometimes almost a twinge of
nostalgia for the Cold War's simple verities.
The more complex the world becomes, the more we need transparency and
honest regulatory mechanisms in international relations. Greater
complexity also increases the need for intelligent, educated, and
accountable leadership. Old cliches and pat formulas that may have once
served, especially on the part of the world's leading nation, become
daily less useful and more dangerous for everyone. The Enron-style
management we see in the White House is a formula for eventual
catastrophe.
America, are you listening?