The Glory of Rome’s Name

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/225907/the-glory-of-romes-name/

The senile decrepitude of empires is no less bitter and ignominious than human decrepitude. And the scandal over the NSA has strongly contributed to the senescence of the U.S.

The Glory of Rome’s Name
Izvestia, Russia
By Maksim Sokolov
Translated By Jeffrey Fredrich
29 October 2013
Edited by Eva Langman

Having been made public, the National Security Agency (NSA)’s activity regarding the listening in on allied heads of state (the French president, the German chancellor, not to mention leaders of less important countries and their staff) has generated quite a long-running scandal that has stretched on since the summer — with winter now just around the corner — and shows no sign of abating.

Quite the contrary: Thanks to a shrewd dosage of disclosures, coming not in aggregate but little by little — thus does one correctly stoke a fire, by supporting the combustion — U.S. allies are kept in a constant state of umbrage and even resentment. It has been a long time, even a very long time, since American ambassadors in Berlin and Paris have been summoned to the foreign ministry for an official statement about the unacceptability of their government’s actions. Brazil and Germany’s initiative to put a resolution condemning Internet surveillance before the U.N. also has an obvious addressee with a residence in Washington.

The unprecedented nature of the reaction does not mean, of course, an immediate break with the U.S.; in the short term, it hardly means anything serious at all. They will talk it over and calm down, because a shift in one’s entire political orientation is a long and costly affair, and they are not about to take apart their entire politics over a single, albeit extremely unpleasant, incident. It is a different matter, however, that the sediment [from the situation] has left a bad taste in the mouth; in the long term, the NSA’s immoderate curiosity could prove quite costly.

Since the days of Romulus and Remus, the dominant positions of a hegemonic power have been secured not only by a direct show of might, forcing all neighbors both far and near to submit, but to a lesser extent by what is now called “soft power” in the Americans’ coinage and what was previously termed “the glory of Rome’s name.” The empire’s civic virtue allured and conquered no less than the relentless pace of the legions.