First off, I would like to recommend the film "Last Flag Flying." If nothing else, the ensemble acting talent and charisma of Laurence Fishburne, Bryan Cranston, and Steve Carell should pique some interest. Amidst some charming and humorous scenarios are some very profound insights into American foreign policy today as viewed by Vietnam War veterans.
The bottom line is that the war in Vietnam should have acted as an object lesson. When Nixon and Kissinger ordered the withdrawal and cessation of hostilities, that should have been the wake-up call that George Orwell's warning from 1984 was real. The war was unwinnable. In fact, the Pentagon Papers proved that not only was there no achievable victory condition, but that both American policy makers and military authorities were fully aware that they were feeding young men and women into an interminable meat-grinder. The military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower described in his 1961 speech (transcript here) was in full effect - politicians use the government's foreign policy to justify purchasing bombs and bullets from manufacturers, who employ voters. The more bombs and bullets expended, the more employment, and thus, more electable officials.
The fact that the recent missile strikes on Syria did no damage to any military targets is irrelevant to the point of those strikes. The stock value of Raytheon, the manufacturer of those missiles, rose by almost $5 billion as those five dozen missiles crashed into suburbs and fields south of Damascus.
This leads to the real point of this particular set of ramblings: Syria.
Syria
For years now, media and journalists have been attacked as being biased manipulators of opinion. Social media has also been drawn into the fray, as Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms are accused of shaping popular interpretations of events. Every entity with an agenda has tried to shape the narrative of the conflict in Syria to their own ends. Russia wants a friendly, warm-water naval base, the Americans want an ally that borders Iraq, Europe wants a stable, secular state that can deal with the regional refugee crisis, Israel needs to balance Sunni and Shiite factions against one another while drawing international attention away from their own ethnic occupation and settlement issues.Here's the bottom line: Syria is a mess, but there are no easy answers. There are no good guys and bad guys. There are lots of weapons and loads of despicable people, and millions of innocent people trapped in a hellish sea of destruction with them.
Americans don't quite understand this. At all.
First of all, their entire society has been browbeaten into polarizing everything, particularly politics. If you are a Republican, you must be a racist believer in waging war on women's reproductive rights while you imprison the homeless, and if you're a Democrat, you're a godless baby-killer who wants to give away money to crack-whore parasites. Second, American exceptionalism means that every international problem has a uniquely American solution that foreigners haven't considered because they weren't introduced to the Founding Fathers, Liberty, Freedom, Patriotism, etc. as infants.
Third and finally, as the world's largest and most heavily funded military, Americans feel obligated to be the world's policeman in a very patronizing and condescending way.
So in a quick-bullet form, here's how we end up with the awful mess in Syria today.
- Bashar al-Assad is an awful person. No question. Secret police, torture dungeons, censorship, repression, the lot. His regime is nasty and not particularly concerned with human rights.
- 2011 sees a large populist surge through the Middle East as predominantly democratic and liberal causes unite to protest and challenge the ruling governments of Tunisia, then later Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and... Syria.
- President Barack Obama's State Department sees an opportunity to use protesting students, nurses, journalists, et aliter to further their objectives.
- Under the direction of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and following the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", U.S. security agencies begin to start supporting and funding insurgencies.
- Guns, bullets, missiles, armoured vehicles and other pieces of military hardware flood the region: rebellious forces need to get some, and repressive governments need more to reinforce their dictatorial and autocratic rule.
Long story short - with the exception of Tunisia, the corrupt dictatorships win. They have bigger and better armies with more training, better leadership, and lots more guns. But now there are tons of rebel pockets and enclaves armed to the teeth with modern weapons and feverish religious purpose.
In Syria, the rebels became allies with, and in many cases, joined forces dedicating to creating "The Islamic State." ISIS, ISIL, or whatever other names you can append to them, are the assorted sweepings of Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and other militant Muslim fundamentalist sects that have networked, found geographic areas to pool and store resources, and have created avenues and pipelines for selling petroleum products to create revenue.
The unhappy innocent civilians who were previously being oppressed and denied civil and human rights are now being slaughtered by the thousands as the various factions fire bombs, missiles, artillery shells, and other destructive munitions at one another. Countries such as the United States that acted as arms suppliers to the region are now denying refugee status to those trying to escape the ubiquitous carnage wreaking havoc there.
Right. On to more harmless things.
Random Musical Hit-List
- Walk on Water, by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Ghost Riders in the Sky, by The Blues Brothers Band
- Top of the World, by Chumbawamba
- You Bet Your Life, by Lightning Seeds
- I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, by Duane Eddy
- Before You Accuse Me, by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Cigarettes and Lies, by Lightning Seeds
Aside from the weird case of double-repetition of artists, there doesn't seem to be a clear unifying theme. There is some sort of nebulous feeling of something legal or judicial involving accusations, proof, obfuscations, authority, and punishment, but that might just be me projecting some sort of subconscious summary of late-night television chat-show monologues.
I've been feeling weird recently due to some changes in the pharmaceutical regimen, but I'll try to get back to more regular submissions to this area as well as my book reviews, including that of Trevor Noah's recently released memoir.
Until then, good night England, and the Colonies.
—mARKUS
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