Ignorance rules
GW Bush, International affairs, US issues - - Posted on April, 16 at 2:21 pm by Ken L
It’s been obvious almost from the beginning of the first Bush Administration that neither Bush nor his kitchen cabinet had much interest in or knowledge of the world outside the USA. They blundered from one embarrassment to another, screwing up or forgetting funny foreign names, confusing Sunnis and Shiites (that’s after the penny finally dropped that the Middle East wasn’t populated by homogeneous Muslim terrorists), expressing child-like amazement at the size of Brazil on a map and so on.
One hoped that this ignorance reflected an innocent naivete; that these rather ordinary members of the American ruling class had stumbled into power in a time of perceived calm and prosperity and were simply unprepared to deal with the complex issues of foreign policy that were suddenly thrust upon them. One hoped, fervently, that the people concerned would have immediately embarked upon a crash course of education so they could develop more informed attitudes and policies over time.
One’s hopes were, unfortunately, in vain.
It’s now clear that Bush’s mob don’t know much about countries outside the USA because they couldn’t care less. They haven’t tried to educate themselves because as far as they’re concerned, the rest of the world is a kind of Sim City to be manipulated by the masters of the universe in Washington. The only thing that matters to these morally vacuous bastards is their own welfare and power. If anybody doubted that, there’s further proof in this latest display of utter contempt for the nations about whose rights Bush and company pretend to be so concerned:
Host George Stephanopoulos asked Hadley whether Bush would attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summer Olympics, and Hadley then riffed on the issues surrounding protests in and around Tibet, the Olympic torch and the Dalai Lama. Only Hadley seemed too think the protests related to the Dalai Lama revolve around Nepal, a neighboring country that is largely Hindu, not Buddhist.
“If countries are really concerned about Nepal, we shouldn’t have this sort of non-issue of opening ceremonies or not. They should do the hard work of quiet diplomacy to urge the Chinese government — in their interest — to take advantage of this opportunity to do something,” Hadley said.
He continued: “What he’s doing on Nepal is what we think the international community ought to be doing, which is approaching the Chinese privately through diplomatic channels and sending a very firm message of concern for human rights, concern for what’s happening in Nepal.”
Stephen Hadley is Bush’s national security adviser.
No doubt we’ll get in due course the usual smarmy bullshit about how he ‘misspoke’ and of course he knows the difference between Nepal and Tibet. Just like of course John McCain understands that Iran hates al Qaeda and ‘misspoke’ when he suggested - on at least three separate occasions - that the former was training the latter.
The truth is they don’t know because they don’t care. They have a simple, single-minded objective: fight the endless war against all the thems who aren’t with us and are therefore against us. Xenophobia raised to the level of national purpose, as exemplified in the person of the appalling Daniel Pipes who is currently gracing us with his presence to drum up support for the campaign to eradicate Islam.
The forthcoming 2020 Summit asks participants:
How should Australia maximise its cooperation with its long-standing ally the United States?
Talk about asking the wrong question.
Posted in GW Bush, International affairs, US issues |
April 16th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I am surprised more attention hasn’t been paid to this issue in the past. It’s simply mind boggling, at least Kissinger and Nixon, Machiavellian assholes that they were, could locate ‘nam without the assistance of State Department wonks. What does it say about our world, when international studies undergraduates are required to know more about the basics of world geography than the POTUS, who as we all remember, didn’t even have a passport before he became President!!!!!
You’re right, they don’t care, an MBA doesn’t teach you to be curious about the world around you. How can any person be inspired to seek out answers to social ills when you’ve been showered in privilege your whole life, through oil revenues and baseball teams. And its not just Bush, there’s a whole clique of these ignoramuses, and to have them occupying the halls of power suits the defence contractors and energy companies and big time Republican donors very well, thank you.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Ken says that Americans don’t have much interest or knowledge of the world outside the USA.
Thats’s not quite right, not ALL Americans, Ken. A recent survey in America asked people in the street to point out Iraq on a globe of the world (with no writing on it). Over 70 percent could not point at the country with whom they are at war. So that means about one third of them, Ken, can point to it, and this further means that while 7 out of 10 parents haven’t got the vaguest notion where their beloved son/daughter might be shredded by a suicide bomber, at least three sets of crying parents can.
Excuse my toffee-nosed arrogance, but should I happen to have a son/daughter fighting in this self-induced battle far away, I’m sure I would take the trouble to enlighten myself where the hell my said son/daughter was to be shredded - wouldn’t you?
But it doesn’t seem to interest the bog-ignorant yanks who also scored woefully in the same poll when asked to indicate Great Britain on the same globe. Less than fifty percent of the ignoramii could point to their greatest ally, from where most of them originally ventured.
Yes, it’s very hard to show where England is on a map, I suppose, because of all that damn fog and rain. But don’t laugh yet, the best is yet to come:
In exasperation, the interviewer finally asked passers-by if they could indicate the USA on the globe; fifteen percent could not even do that! Why, because the USA IS the whole world to them, there exists nothing more.
Surveys like this one bring endless enlightenment, entertainment and joy to many of us, rejoicing that such a knowledgable nation is in charge of our ultimate destinies.
Me, I’d just reather read about that other survey where over 40 percent of Americans believed they’ve been kidnapped by aliens and had sexual experiments performed upon them. While the sexual cosmetics may have succeeded in giving them elephants’ balls to conquer the globe instead of sterilising the frigging lot of them, the primary school geography education seems to have been a resounding failure by their alien abductors.
Meanwhile, let’s keep the location of DownUnder Australia a top secret, as absolutely no Americans would know the answer to that, and tell our idiotic tourism bureaux to stop screeching insanities like “Where the bloody hell are you? We’re down bloody here!”
Sshhhhh !
April 16th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Ha Ha Ha Argus Tuft
I lived there for over 10 years and it is all true. If they want to go overseas, they can go to Hawaii.
April 16th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Then for christs sake don’t tell them about Van Diemans Land.
April 16th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
At the commencement of Gulf War 11, (GW2) the huge American command post proudly displayed a giant electronic map of the whole world up on the wall, showing all those nice places like the USA, the USA and, ah, the USA.
Nasty nations like Iraq were certainly highlighted like neons in Times Square. But to be fair, the rest of planet earth’s nations were also shown - even dangerous Russia, and commie China, for hell’s sake!
Except for one. When the Australian military commander was shown into this crucial control centre he almost fainted from astonishment. Missing from the giant map of the world was just one, tiny dot of a country called Australia.
Yes, so small it’s only the world’s largest island, as big as Europe or half of Russia, about as big as China . . . but miniscule Australia’s 7,692,024 square kilometres was thankfully missing from the Americans’ brilliant world display in their pathetically stupid war bunker.
Jayyyyzeuus, how could we be so lucky!
April 16th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I’m not sure whether it’s Daniel Pipes or Pat Robertson who embarrasses conservatism more.
Pipes was given a run in The Australian yesterday. Apart from that, his only duty for this trip is to speak to a bunch of sad simplistic Australian neo-cons.
But a failed academic can make quite a handy living out of xenophobia and racism. He should catch up with Windschuttle to swap notes.
April 16th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Keith Windschuttle is an admirable human being.He is now sadly right-wing,but speaks and acts intelligently.If,I had to trust someone, other than the appalling lot mentioned here it would be Keith.He doesnt display an overboard friendliness to the U.S.A.In fact, he may of been discovered over there already,and the buggar hasnt sold his soul yet.I just had a conversation over the phone re similar to this website,where I said over the phone, that some Americans are so dangerous,we will have to have an agreement with their Security people,that we will shoot some of their security people..because they have gone beyond the point of most criminal behaviour..money.And just like killing.I followed a story from a website about drug imports into the U.S.A. through the south,but from other places too.A name popped up and I read everything I could about him as a suspect organized criminal figure.I smelt with the curse of being honest,this bastard was also on the government payroll.My instinct told me,which at times is something I have to accept is more honest than any reasoning..That given half a chance I would kill this person,without any sense of losing my humanity.Eventually,I think it will come to pass that we will have an agreement with the U.S.A. government and its Security people,that their operatives will be shot on sight,without any further necessities required.I suspect that A.S.I.O. doesnt attract insights like mine,but as honest Australian citizens cursed with the problem of being Australian,they have to occasionally deal with a type of dishonesty..that has appalled me and others..even to the point of having to tell A.S.I.O. be careful.I sense something,that isnt of the moment of the imposition of my attitude on them…but,something in the confidence of some expression of mine is a indicator.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Stephen Hadley is no fool. He’s got everyone talking about him instead of potential “boycotts”.
He’s a Vulcan…
“The Vulcans were led by Condoleezza Rice and included Richard Armitage, Robert Blackwill, Stephen Hadley, Richard Perle, Dov S. Zakheim, Robert Zoellick and Paul Wolfowitz. Other key campaign figures including Dick Cheney, George P. Shultz and Colin Powell were also closely associated with the group but were never actually members.”
(wikipedia: The Vulcans)
Vulcans are far from dumb…& they know their maps…particularly where resources can be found & who can be manipulated in order to gain or contain said resources.
Think about “Bush’s War”…the doco on SBS…plenty of hints.
Do you really think that characters associated w/ The Scowcroft Group are that ill-educated?
speaking of Hadley:
“A Pentagon aide to Wolfowitz in the [George H.W.] Bush administration,” serving as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy from 1989–1993. In that position, he had responsibility for defense policy toward NATO and Western Europe, on nuclear weapons and ballistic missile defense, and arms control. He also participated in policy issues involving export control and the use of space.”
and
“Bush, at the advice of Hadley, also proposed greater nuclear arms reductions than Gore. Hadley’s plan proposed unilaterally reducing the number of proposed long-range nuclear missiles to around 1,500-2,000 from the then 6,500-7,500, but caveats to this included the abandonment of attempts to get the Senate to ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the development of new low-yield bunker-busting mini-nukes for actual battle-field use.”
kapow!!! Iraq & Lebanon could’ve been practise targets for upcoming tactical nukes…we know where.
SHOCK & AWE & A LIMTED FALL OUT ZONE…& the end of a threat (temporary reprieve) to Israel…& other regions that are now home to those who Fundy Islamics see as their “natural enemy”.
Imho, whilst the THREAT is OUT THERE I doubt the Democratic Party will get the likes of Daniel Pipes, and others more moderate but just as understandably freaked by the memories of the Holocaust & Eastern bloc Communist abuses, back on their team…unless they become the new “nuclear facility busters”.
And don’t they know it.
This is worth a read to get a sense of why so many Democratic allies w/ useful influence & money have turned away…lotta fear & persecution phobia involved…& can you really blame them?:
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1759
And furthermore on “Bush’s War”…look how much crap in Iraq, including de-Baathification occurred under Paul Bremer…yet, he was no idiot…he was even managing director at Kissinger and Associates in the 80s…yet…
Let’s face it…these guys & gals aren’t dumb…but sometimes the perception of such is a useful strategy…”don’t ask don’t tell” & “I know nothing” & “which tribe?”…& “The President preferred not to be informed”…etc. can come in real handy when you’re walking the tightrope across “War Criminal Canyon”.
Still, this motley crew of pretend “dumbos” apparently don’t mind taking the World to the brink of destruction in order to prove a point, grab a buck or two, keep a few corporate mates happy bathing in Gulf State tea, and help out a traumatised ally.
Somehow the altruistic objective just doesn’t gell w/ the rest. But there’s no convincing some people.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:31 am
If the US and these neocons are so ignorant of Australia, then how come Haliburton has Australian headquarters in Adelaide and extended the Ghan right up to Darwin? How come they eavesdrop on the world from Pine Gap and our government doesn’t even have access to the intelligence they gather there?
The military industrial complex has an interest in keeping the mass of US citizens ignorant, watching news of celebrities, while they profit.
What is the role of Cheney and other neo cons in all this?
April 17th, 2008 at 10:11 am
These silly pricks are so ignorant, they don’t even know who they are fighting against in the name of their type of Democracy. No wonder why the rest of the thinking world doesn’t want a bar of their democracy, and some even have the conviction to fight against it…they are the ones they call terrorists. How could a bunch of stupid pricks like this, fool the children of the empire for so long
and the Bush deciple Mc Cain looks like keeping the status quo after the next election. The ignorant children of the empire will vote their way into a war they can’t handle or pay for, and an economic mess that will bankrupt them…and they bloody well deserve it.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
How’s this for naivete…?
“Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will America’s heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.”
~John Quincy Adams speech to Congress in 1821
It’s amazing how many people in THIS country roll their eyes or scoff at the ides that America is an empire. For some reason grasp the idea. America is supposed to be somehow above all that. The Romans, Chinese, Mongols, Persians, Russians, Ottoman, Spanish, Dutch, British, French, Greeks and Egyptians were obviously some sort of aberration!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:53 am
I was disgusted…outraged…watching sequences from the ABC (American TV) Democratic Party debate tonight…there were so many displays of “ignorance”, bias, nepotism, intimidation & propaganda on display that it said volumes about how the Corporations have constructed another America…one some of those Founding Fathers & Mothers & their supporters would’ve been dismayed by…
not “America the brave”, or “America the free”, or an America “where anything is possible”…but rather an America where the ruling class dominate by way of their shareholdings, their wars, their judiciary, their “bought” Congress & their MEDIA…
A CORPORATE MEDIA who these days do the whippings for their MASTERS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBY9m5SJYy4
(Kunta Kinte Whipping Scene - Roots)
“You will wear the flag pin Obama…you will betray your Pastor & friends Obama…you will be EVERYTHING we tell you to be!!!”
Fight them Obama…w/ every ounce of energy & integrity in your body & mind.
YES YOU CAN!
April 18th, 2008 at 9:19 am
They need no whipping any more:
note the message on the blog beneath the youtube of the Kunta Kinte Whipping Scene:
“this is so sad cos back then black africans actually wanted to keep thier african names..these days an african comes from africa to englad or the us and change thier own names to fit in like my mate call odilly owankio now calls himself peter and he didnt even have to get whipped..its like nowadays african are ashamed of their given names..if only kunta kinte could see us now boy..and by the way my name is otena olusuni and i am proud of it god damn it.lmfao”
Good that Barak Obama, called ‘Barry’ at school, then declared a wish to be called Barak.
So just maybe he will fight Corporate America
April 18th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Cheney & Rumsfeld have been hanging around the White House on & off since the early 70’s.
It’d be nice of we weren’t on the map in the war room (”No fighting in the war room!”), we could just back away quietly and pretend we weren’t home.
As to that question for 2020 Ken, not loaded much eh? Give Cate a texta and ask her to cross out the opening “How”.
Lastly though, and I hate to be the devil’s avocado, but if you did a random vox pop how many Aussies do you reckon could find an unmarked Iraq? No not in Lakemba, be fair.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Yes, Sean, old Cold Warriors, and Rice was an academic specialising in the Soviet Union. This is more representative of the problem with the Bush administration’s approach to foreign policy than simplistic rants about maps. Bush didn’t care about foreign policy up to September 2001. He was about securing tax cuts for the wealthy and industry-friendly gutting of environmental policies, among other reversions to Reaganomics, all of them poorly understood and badly implemented. Once he did go to war, he did so with these ex-Cold Warriors in place, attempting to implement a “sole superpower” vision of engagement. Now that Rumsfeld is gone and Rice moved out of the national security agenda, Bush has replaced them with incompetents, as he’s done with various other important roles under his aegis. Remember Brownie and FEMA? It’s typical - he doesn’t care. Now that he’s on the way out, he cares even less. It might be different if Cheney was in a position to be his successor (or if Bush wasn’t just Cheney’s puppet), but even if Bush believes McCain will win in November, he hates him anyway, reducing any possible motivation to do a good job in his last months to zilch.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Steady as we go about barracking for Obama if its his real real intention to confine to Barracks the soldiers and rifles in racks.Or he maybe an unusual wordsmith as Barak conjures up stock,where you put your head and be whipped.Although it is highly unpleasant,and downright mean to do so..some of his major supporters and close staff are opiniated war-mongers of the first order,and ,if memory is so short about what is said before an election and later behaviour after,this pile of praise from Australia here and elsewhere,will be given a chance,that it may prove foolhardy.Like Al gore,one of the leading hate messagers before George Bush Senior did the actual invading,these Democrats today are a penny less than always capable of understanding nuances and complex issues.Preferring the generality,so no-one knows where the policies end up.A case in point was Obama s easy support of ethanol fuel,which is now bugging the UN.Are the Americans trying a starvation war.Granted Geo Bush has responded in some manner to this problem,or,has he!?And is the UNO always gripped by reliable statistics!? Al Gore has lost the support of his hurricane expert as supporter,whilst earning big bucks pushing the electric alarm clock about Climate Change.The future is going to be in one of the contenders hands..and I dont like them much at all.Must I be global and hurray people I suspect are only good at sounding good!? And so much that is Australian takes its Narcissitic cues from the U.S.A.That immoral land,so immoral the Catholic priests couldnt stop being influenced by it,as they grabbed the balls of young boy folk and little girls means under dresses and undies.It was on TV wasnt it,so many years of it now!?In every magazine and newspaper grab the little boys balls,tuck into the little girls whats it.!?And it was happening in Catholic schools across the U.S.A. and that is where the innocent priests of the U.S.A. learnt their trick or treat!?And the Pope a conversationalist with George Bush is coming to Sydney!And Morris Iemma knows its his bludging Ministers who are causing a backlash against the ALP.Because after all they have said,they prefer pom tourists who enter second floor buildings to steal women\’s underpants are a better be!?.So if the U.S.A. is so immoral and its leaders dont know people and places…what will the Catholic Pope say about our morality,on Australian soil,where being a Catholic,doesnt mean one is overjoyed about the failing reasons of Popes!?
April 18th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
QUOTE:
Jonah Goldberg, Michael Ledeen’s colleague at conservative National Review magazine, coined the term “Ledeen Doctrine” in a 2002 column.
This tongue-in-cheek “doctrine” is usually summarized as “Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business,” which Goldberg remembered Ledeen saying in an early 1990s speech.
The term “Ledeen Doctrine” is often mistakenly attributed to Michael Ledeen himself.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:51 am
philip said “A case in point was Obama s easy support of ethanol fuel,which is now bugging the UN.”
Doesn’t it seem rather convenient to you that the moment we have Parties taking hold of government, or are possibly incoming, that support alternative fuels we have a media exploding w/ stories about food shortages, riots etc…& many blaming the growing of crops for ethanol use, wholly or in part?…as tho droughts, other natural disasters such as snowstorms in China, corrupt governments, greedy middlemen, over-population, tarrifs imposed by protectionist govts., over-consumption by rich nations, corporate takeover of land from small farmers to fill the needs of takeaway joints or property developers, destruction of fertile soils due to over-use & salianation, the price of water, price of oil, cost of transport, speculators & so on have little to do w/ the rising cost of food.
Certainly bio-fuels can contribute to food shortages, carbon output & de-forestation if not managed effectively…but considering the relationship between energy companies & the media (tho some highly influential individuals are now supporting the shift to bio-fuels), it wouldn’t be hard to imagine the SPIN on the effects of ethanol wouldn’t always be positive.
And let’s face it, there are some benefits to a controlled ethanol usage experiment…such as diminishing subsidies to farmers because they can earn a decent income.
and ethanol can also be based on waste rather than the edible crop.
I’d like to hear people screaming more about the amount of land that is used for cattle…considering the huge quantities of water & crop feed that is used to supply fast food joints w/ patties & eaters w/ steaks.
I mean, no matter what we turn into a fuel, there is always going to be some bastard who puts profit before morality &/or common-sense…who sees that resource as their opportunity to reach the “pot of gold” & damn the environmental & humanitarian consequences.
So Obama calls for funding of Cellulosic Ethanol…& supports the use of E85…that in turn assists Illinois farmers…that doesn’t make him a criminal. It means he supports an alternative to oil…& the road to “energy independence”…maybe. It all depends on how his government would manage the FUNDING, REGULATION, SCIENCE, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT & LOBBYISTS regarding the use of ethanol (in its diverse forms) that will determine whether he is just another CON ARTIST.
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_food.html
It’s all about MODERATION…or so my Grandparents told me.