Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall, …
Honest and aware people should always note the feedback they generate from those around them. It’s how we make those social corrections necessary to achieve desired goals without causing new problems. Few go to the extent I do to see what the rest of the world is saying about America, and generally, the picture of We, the People isn’t too shabby.
But the image of our so-called leaders leaves a lot to be desired. This does, of course, reflect upon we voters as making poor choices, but assuming that no lasting harm is done, we seem to be getting a generous helping of benefit of the doubt anyway.
For instance, Alan Cochrane of London’s Daily Telegraph reports that he finds Americans are hospitable, but seldom gullible. But then Gabor Steingart, writing for Germany’s Der Spiegel, observes Seventeen percent of Americans consider themselves part of the 1 percent of American society deemed rich.
In fact, some Americans are so self-absorbed and deluded, as newly-elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has learned, that you can’t tell a wannabee Texan from Connecticut that there is anything bigger than Texas. Comparing the land areas of both nations’ second largest states, Texas [with a land area of 261,797 sq. miles] would almost fit inside Queensland [715,309 sq. miles] almost three times.
The fact that the so-called leader of the Free World is suffering such educational exhaustion isn’t lost on most of the world, especially now that US plans for Iraq have been seriously stemmed by the Iranian intervention in the Basra Crisis. Veteran Indian Foreign Service diplomat M K Bhadrakumar observed in The Asia Times:
Both Maliki and Bush look very foolish. Out of the dramatic developments of the past week, several questions arise, the principal being that the Bush administration’s triumphalism over the so-called Iraq “surge” strategy has become irredeemably farcical, and, two, US doublespeak has become badly exposed.
Gitau Warigi, writing in Kenya’s Daily Nation, marvels at American mental density:
“It was almost unbelievable that Washington was so dense as to imagine that cleaning up its reputation was as easy as selling a soft drink. It is this sort of bone-headedness that has put the US in its present rut in the Middle East.”
Bone-headedness doesn’t even begin to describe the world’s formerly-sole superpower caught between the opposing goals of two much-smaller nations, neither of whom display much respect. In an editorial published in Saudi Arabia’s Arab News, the Saudi government expresses their disdain on how easily the Bush administration can be duped:
Maybe in the twilight of his presidency, George W. Bush is realizing the degree to which the Israelis have played his administration for a sucker. It is the Americans who are being made to look weak and foolish in this process.
Meanwhile, the Israelis are showing no gratitude for the decades of financial and military support given by the United States to keep the nation of Israel viable. Their sneering characterization of the Bush administration says it all:
No wonder that America wants to change the rules. That’s what losers do, they change the rules and declare: New game.
If only the Congress had such gonads!
The military power of the United States has been squandered by the fools on Capitol Hill, and you don’t have to take my word for it. Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen announced in a statement given at a Pentagon briefing that too many troops are tied down in Iraq to send needed reinforcements to Afghanistan this year, while other senior Army and Marine Corps officers admitted that staffing Iraq and Afghanistan have put unsustainable levels of stress on U.S. ground forces and has put their readiness to fight other conflicts at the lowest level in years. It is such a drain on American military readiness that General William Odom told The Senate Foreign Relations Committee On Iraq that rapid withdrawal is the only solution:
We have the physical means to stop sending more troops where many will be killed or wounded. That is the moral responsibility to our country which no American leaders seems willing to assume.
Dominique Moisi, a senior adviser at the French Institute for International Relations, can see reality much better than George Bush can. Writing in Maylasia’s New Straits Times, Moisi notes:
In the immediate aftermath of World War Two, most Europeans viewed the United States as both its defender against the Soviet Union’s expansionist aims and the key external actor for their deeply wounded continent’s moral and economic reconstruction.This is no longer the case. The collapse of the USSR, America’s self-inflicted wounds — particularly in Iraq — and the spectacular rise of Asia have changed European perceptions of the US. America is no longer the protector or model that it used to be, nor is it alone in terms of influence and power.
France’s Le Figaro sees this situation as a golden opportunity, provided by the incompetence of George W. Bush:
During the Bush years, the Americans witnessed a double decline of wealth and the international reputation of their country, without precedent in history. At the time when America prepares to turn its back on President Bush, will Europe know to propose a new era of Euro-atlantic relations?
Across the Rhine, Stefan Kornelius of Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung comments on how Europe has already turned its collective back on George W. Bush:
President Bush’s demand for a rapid assimilation of Georgia and the Ukraine into NATO has failed. Bush was driven by the simple, egotistical desire to make one last attempt to deliver his message of democracy and freedom to the world. Bush did this in a confrontational and undiplomatic manner… He was prepared to deceive important allies, but now must feel beaten.
At some point, practical matters must intrude into the lofty realm of geopolitics. It’s all well and fine to discuss the finer points or international strategy and diplomatic maneuvering, but when push comes to shove, will the buses run on time?
Aluko-Olokun of Nigeria attended the 52nd Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York this last March. Her experience shouts out, “No! They Don’t!”
I bought a Greyhound ticket to Detroit, Michigan to visit a friend. I was booked to travel from 10.15pm on Friday. By 9.00pm I was on the queue, [there were] whispers that the bus will be delayed. It was not until about 11.00pm that a lady came to explain that there was no bus going to Cleveland until 3.00am. They were sorry and offered all passengers waiting a meal ticket worth $6.50.At 3.00am, no bus came.
At 7.00 there was no information.
The next bus [to Detroit via Cleveland] is scheduled for 5pm, and the only bus at 8.30am is for Pittsburg. I just agreed to board the bus and leave where I was to prepare for the longest journey I have ever made in my life.
After eight years of the “leadership” of George W. Bush, I feel the same way.