“East is east and West is
West…” and whether the “Twain” shall ever meet seems unlikely given the
apparent determination of the U.S. and the E. U. to divide the Ukraine from
Russia, meddling, as usual, in far-flung places probably not their business.
John McCain, perhaps the most
malicious and reliable meddler of all, has recently announced that “They” want
to be part of the West. By “they” he obviously has in mind Ukranians in general,
rather than merely those Ukrainians living in the western part of the country.
This I would think is true because he is obviously opposed to partitioning the
country and, in his usual simplistic black and white approach to all political
issues, is unable to deal with anything more complex than “shoot first, ask
questions later.” If he has in mind only those Ukrainians living in the western
part of that nation his claim they want to be part of the West may be true. But
if he is really speaking for all Ukrainians it is not at all true. Ukrainians
living in the East, who mostly speak Russian, and have long ties to Russia, do
not want to be part of the West, preferring to stay more closely tied to Russia.
In McCain’s view, or lack of view, these people are simply not important, not
part of the problem, not even relevant. McCain,
and others like him, cold war warriors extraordinaire, will do anything to
oppose Russia, no matter how unrealistic or irresponsible. There is a long
history of Russian/Ukrainian ties, many, perhaps even most Ukrainians speak
Russian, Ukraine is clearly within Russia’s sphere of influence, their
neighbor, unlike the U.S. thousands of miles away. Of course Putin wants to
continue his influence there, and treating him as if he has no business “meddling”
there is simply absurd. The U.S. approach to foreign policy, which consists of
meddling all over the world, demands that everyone do what it is we want them
to do, and if they do not, sanctions, or worse. There is good reason people
everywhere believe the U.S. is the greatest danger to peace. How many Russian
drones are flying over other countries killing civilians? Other countries are
not supposed to have national interests that are not in sync with ours. Susan
Rice has also made this simplistic claim, that “They” want to be part of the
West.
This use of the generic “They”
has become commonplace in American politics. Politicians on both sides of the
aisle (a completely artificial arrangement as there are so few differences
between them) commonly speak of what it is the “American people” (they) want or
believe. Of course there are no generic “American people,” so the American
people they are referring to are simply those they think or pretend are those
who they fantasize think the same way they do even, though as often than not
they probably don’t. The English language as used in politics, is a far cry
from the English language we think ordinarily think of, as George Orwell
pointed out some time ago in his famous essay, “Politics and the English
Language.”
Someone has said that “You
campaign in poetry but have to govern in prose.” There is, I think, a grain of
truth in that, but nowadays I think it is more true that you campaign in
gobblegook and then govern with simplification, obfuscation, fabrication, and falsification.
Hey, it’s the American way.
The American approach to the
world is simple: we are good, they are bad, except for the Israelis who are, of
course, as we are, always good.
Right and wrong
are determined by the people who hold positions of authority, that's the way it
has always been so how then can anyone know this truth you speak of? Don't you
see that truth long ago became a shadow of itself, it's a mere echo of the past
now... The world is one big moral gray area, it just makes you feel safer that
it can be categorized into good and bad that's not actually how it works.”
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