Naked emperor and a conspiracy of silence

[unhappycamper]

Naked emperor and a conspiracy of silence
By Spengler
Dec 23, 2010

America is exceptional - utterly and absolutely exceptional - because the rest of the world depends on American guns, American money and American mediation in a way that no other country or combination of countries possibly might replace. Any other power that suffered the setbacks that America sustained during 2010 under the Barack Obama presidency would have been pushed off the top of the hill. The reason America still has diplomatic currency to spend in Asia as well as actual currency to borrow demonstrates its indispensable role: no one, least of all Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao or Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, wants America to fail.

That is why a conspiracy of silence surrounds the observation that the emperor is naked. But the facts are depressingly clear.

After one trillion dollars and 5,000 casualties, America will leave Iraq with nothing to show for its Quixotic commitment to build a nation in the Mesopotamian sand. As Steven Lee Meyers reported on December 18 in The New York Times, "The protracted political turmoil that saw the resurgence of a fiercely anti-American political bloc here is casting new doubt on establishing any enduring American military role in Iraq after the last of nearly 50,000 troops are scheduled to withdraw in the next 12 months, military and administration officials say." The pro-Iranian government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will eliminate America's role in Iraq after America's scheduled withdrawal.

Four years after Lebanon's "Green" revolution, hailed by the George W Bush administration as an exemplar of Middle Eastern democracy, the formerly pro-Western (that is, Saudi-allied) Prime Minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, went to Iran as a supplicant in December to endorse Iran's dominant role in that country. Hariri's government includes men who have come under suspicion of ordering the assassination in 2005 of his father, the ex-premier Rafik Hariri. "In contrast with Iran's muscle-flexing, the moderate Arab states, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, appear weak while preparing the ground for new leadership as their rulers age. Concurrently, America's influence, as demonstrated in WikiLeaks documents, is on the wane, due to its withdrawal from Iraq, the deepening morass in Afghanistan and its domestic economic woes, " columnist Amos Harel wrote in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz on December 17.

Russia is holding America's feet to the fire over ratification of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) nuclear weapons treaty which - stripped to essentials - forces the world's only first-rate power to deal with a vanquished second-rate power as equals. Russian surface-to-air missiles and other technology remains an instrument of blackmail against the US.

[Tunkamerica]

1. Are you kidding? Spengler (ghostbusters)? And Pepe Escobar?

You think this is legitimate? you really do? The two articles you've posted tonight have been conversational at best, the site won't load with peerblock (which isn't actually that odd, though this is the first site of the night to have the problem). I would challenge you to link to an article that doesn't come from writers who name themselves after pop culture icons. It reads too much like an outlet for journalistic minded frat boys.

[Javaman]

4. did you actually read the article?

I have been reading AsiaTimes for the last 7 years.

As much as you enjoy poo pooing the messenger, Pepe Escobar has done some of the best reporting on the two wars and exposing crap that our MSM refuses to even consider for fear of upsetting the repukes and Dems.

They are two very good investigative journalists.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. The Spengler in the Asia Times names himself after Oswald Spengler

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/others/spengler.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Spengler

That may or may not be any better, but it isn't about 'Ghostbusters' or pop culture.

[Gravel Democrat]

2. Sparka och rekommenderar

[bemildred]

3. This is interesting coming from Spengler.

Though it's true there is a Democrat in the White House, so he can speak more freely, because the USA is allowed to be "weak" under Democrats.

I posted a story today that says Hariri withdrew support for the Hariri investigation.