Revolution Youth Coalition calls out Clinton, highlights Obama's democracy dilemma
Hooray for the Revolution Youth Coalition! by John Kusumi
(centrist)
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
It is important to understand the true friends of democracy. Today, they would say, "Hooray for the Revolution Youth Coalition!"
They are a youth group, playing a leading role in Egypt's pro-democracy Jasmine movement. This week, they very publicly refused to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit to Egypt.
Any and all pro-democracy movements are correct to be suspicious of Hillary Clinton. They sense that she is a chameleon functioning as a weather vane - that she changes her colors to match the prevailing winds. This factor makes her hypocritical and unreliable, and hence a dangerous "ally" of democracy.
Ultimately, she operates without sincerity and credibility, and she is not to be trusted. And I could have even more colorful words for her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Obama's democracy dilemma
This article's title makes reference to 'Obama's democracy dilemma,' but by existing this really becomes the United States' democracy dilemma.
Were it not for the procurement of oil, there would be no excuse for having any democracy dilemma at all. The United States was established and constituted to partake of liberty, and has promoted itself as a friend of liberty and a beacon to the world.
The natural enemies of liberty would include communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs in world power. Between the end of World War II and the start of the 1990s, the United States faced "the iron curtain" which divided Europe, and we led the free world to victory in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, which had erected that iron curtain.
In a long view of history, it can be said that the United States has contributed mightily to liberty. We overcame monarchy and established democracy at home; we overcame slavery; we gave women the right to vote; we prevailed in two World Wars and the Cold War. This much is true and fair to be acknowledged.
But after the Cold War, it is fair to ask, "What has the U.S. done for liberty in this generation?"
In fact, the U.S. has begun to wreck democracy, with programs such as Boomernomics (the globalization of free trade) and Looternomics (bailouts shoveling public money to corporations deemed "too big to fail") and the highly-questionable War on Terror (including wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, supported by torture in Egypt), with an increased security state and reduced liberties at home.
In addition to the five matters listed above, Americans could also complain about "too big to jail" (immunity from prosecution for those who promulgated the crises above), and "quantitative easing" (printing money to prop up failed U.S. finances, inviting inflation).
It may be said that Western Civilization, in its contemporary form, began with the Magna Carta establishing the right of Habeas Corpus (the obligation of the government to state a reason for detention of prisoners). One could say that Western Civilzation ended with the administration of George W. Bush, shrugging off the matter of Habeas Corpus.
In a long view of history, the United States has taken a wrong turn down a cul-de-sac. It has reversed itself on honoring various matters including Habeas Corpus, the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Law of Armed Conflict. Not to mention its own Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Emancipation Proclamation.
It will take a lot of work to restore Western Civilization and democracy. Instead, today's Obama administration invokes the non-existant right of a unitary executive to decide matters extra judicially. "Unitary executive" is a euphemism which means dictatorship. "Extra judicial" is a euphemism which means lawless.
In America, we are living through a time of lawless dictatorship, and Hillary Clinton is its foreign minister. Really, think about it -- if you were the Egyptian democracy movement, would you meet with Hillary Clinton?
The future is uncertain for Western Civilization. On occasion, in some quarters, the United States still promotes itself as a friend of liberty and a beacon to the world. That self-congratulatory self-promotion falls flat these days. True friends of democracy see through it. At this moment, Saudi Arabian troops are moving into Bahrain to put down a pro-democracy movement there. The United States could have prevented it, but they have failed to side with democracy in Bahrain.
Any pro-democracy movement could ask Hillary Clinton, "which side are you on?" The answer is "hers" -- she is on her own side. Any way the wind blows.
With rare exceptions, businesses never miss an opportunity to align themselves with communists, dictators, tyrants and thugs in world power. ("Oh, you've got slaves? Can we subcontact with you?") As we watch the foreign policy of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, we can be forgiven if we conclude that Obama and Clinton are not people; they are businesses, or representation thereof, taking sides with tyranny and against the world's citizens and the civilian non-combatants. They themselves are the clear and present danger to democracy.
When people have a lengthy history of being a part of the problem, it is useless to have faith, hope, or expectation that they will change their stripes and become a part of the solution. By that token, I can rhetorically ask:
Why were Bernanke, Geithner, Summers, and Rubin (Wall Street crooks) top picks of the Obama administration? --Because they were beneficiaries of the government's "too big to jail" program. They could have been cellmates in prison, but the surroundings are nicer in the president's cabinet.
Does the United States have a democracy dilemma? Most definitely. Egypt has the opportunity to re-invent Arab Civilization, and considering who has power in the ruins of Western Civilization, it is quite fitting that they do not invite Western crooks to the table, and instead develop their own democracy in a way that may leapfrog the West, thereby advancing the state of the art in democracy.
I will close by recommending the following YouTube video, appropriately titled, "America has lost all credibility."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kE6Ygj2qjI
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Posted By: Bill Gee
Date: March 17, 2011 11:16:21 AM
John,
I agree with most of what you said in this article, but I think it misses an essential point - Economics. Since the end of the Cold War, our country has been working to find its next justification for the Military Industrial Complex and found it in protecting the economic interests of the United States.
During the Cold War, the US made dubious allies against Communism. We didn't mind siding with Dictators and Absolute Monarchs as long as they were also enemies of the Soviets. The CIA actively helped to repress pro-democratic uprisings during the Cold War, and after the the Cold War was over, the gratitude of those allies expressed itself into access to oil, diamonds, and access to markets and trade routes such as the Suez and Panama Canals.
In 2001-2003 we found new enemies to fight (ironically, these were most of the same people who would have been allies of Democracy if we had supported their uprisings in the first place). The "enemies of our enemies" renewed their alliances provided that we continued to ignore the human rights abuses occuring within those countries. We even offered the hand of friendship to Lybia in its efforts against the "terrorists".
Today, the people of our allies have had enough of their repressive regimes, and it is unlikely that they will be as friendly to the US if they are successful at establishing true democracy in their countries. What happens if the new government in Egypt denies access to the Suez Canal to US ships? Will their governments be declared "terrorists"?
I wouldn't be so hard on Hilary, Bill or Obama. This situation pre-dates them by decades. They are simply trying to work with the script they've been given by years of diplomatic history that began with the Truman Doctrine.
Posted By: JohnKusumi
Date: March 17, 2011 02:05:12 PM
I think they should flip the script. I am opposed to communists, dictators, tyrants and thugs wherever they are found. I understand having tolerance for oil monarchs, but that's the only conceivable exception - and that should be temporary. The U.S. should have an Apollo like program to transition to energy independence. But, back to their script -- they should be censured if they are following a script that kills people. Why can't they find a non-murderous script?
