Duly Noted: Dictatorship International

bj-logo-handlery.gif

Some of the bits in the mosaic of our time are overlooked because we look for boulders. This column presents underrated issues that might deserve attention.
 
1. About the State of “Nuke Korea.” North Korea seems to get a better deal for disarmament that the old USSR got. Part of the difference – expressed in donations in exchange for unverified disarmament – is explained by a “nut bonus.” Equally dangerous is another divergence. It is the tendency to minimize the problem of consistent non-compliance by treating North Korea as an obnoxious funny midget. In doing so some lose sight of the fact that atomic weapons are our time’s Colt-like “great equalizer.”
 
2. Dealing with Kim by the rules he penned, the following seem to apply. (1) You are to show “respect” and avoid insulting the Beloved Leader who is also the son of the “Hero of all Ages.” (2) If you ask to verify the implementation of agreed upon measures you become an insulting provocative warmonger. (3) While bearing gifts you kowtow to these commandments, the nuclear project to extort you before destroying you continues.
 
3. It is likely that Iran’s nuclear project cannot be halted diplomatically and will not be stopped by the use of force. In this case, dissuasion, that is the threat of nuclear retaliation in response to an atomic attack, will be revived. Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) has worked while there was a USSR. Terrorists are operating without a return address and this suggests that tested dissuasion might not work as well in the future as it did in the past. Failure is almost assured unless much non-PC courage is mustered. It must be made perfectly clear that devastation will be “returned to the sender” and that certain states will be held accountable even if the attack has no official point of origin.
 
4. In Europe the piety of many Americans and the inclination of politicians – whether convinced or not – to talk about their deep faith generally elicits derision for its supposed “fanaticism.” Religion tends to have in Europe another definition than in the US. The result is not devoid of oddities. Organized “religion” produced an interesting mutant in Europe. In many countries here, people support with their taxes the recognized churches – and their left-leaning ministers. Where I live, the payments are automatically collected by the state from those who, when registering with the authorities, admit to belong to a religious community. Those who can prove with a statement issued by a church that they have left that organization, receive the status of having “no confession” and need not contribute. (In Switzerland, business must also pay without having the option of discontinuing their membership.) However, in smaller communities the act of “resigning” can become public and that creates a stigma. Could this have something to do with the empty churches? Understandably, where many claim, “I am a good Christian since I pay” the participatory commitment of Americans raises eyebrows.
 
5. Tell someone that out of the three hundred American Nobel prizewinners seventy are foreigners. Those who find this a pleasing negative that shrinks the US come probably from an unsuccessful society. The contempt is symptomatic of underachievers because it testifies to their inclination to overlook success-strategies while, on occasion, these approaches are even resisted.
 
6. Audaciously asserted. The modern state that emerged from medieval chaos was a “security state.” Its initial task was security within its borders. Subsequently security was extended to include protection from other states. In this process, state power grew and became authoritarian (except in places such as England, Switzerland and America). Later the state assumed an additional duty and the “economic security state” emerged. It was to protect against the hazards emerging with industrialization. While providing social security, redistribution developed a pressure group consisting of the recipients and those manning the organs of bureaucratic distribution. Nowadays, in developed societies securing survival is a receding need. The political organization emerging could be called the “opportunity state.” Its responsibility will be to guarantee to all access to the tools required for the effective pursuit of individual happiness. Additionally, this nascent political community has the purpose of securing the environment in which the opportunities to be exploited can unfold unhindered. The crux is that this process implies the cutting back of the state intervention that we – and the negatively effected bureaucracy of “social engineers” – have become accustomed to.
 
7. To serve the future interest of the community, the new public policy has to jettison the old practice of legislated equality. Equal opportunity and therefore the accepted and appreciated inequality of end results are called for. Our prevailing practice uses the ideal of equality to equalize the results of differing inputs. This attempt to make equal what is different has always been an abuse and belongs, by the demands of the future we can have, into the trashcan.
 
8. A time-proven success strategy can turn into a handicap once it is applied under changed conditions. An example from industry is Detroit’s sticking to the once beloved large gas-guzzlers regardless of falling sales. The rule is also applicable to the world of politics. On April 11, Clinton had to back off the attempt to revive a face lifted version the Tuzla sniping fire story. This came with an accusation that the media is treating her like a bank robber. So, by the wish of the embarrassed Clintons –but not the electorate – the issue is to them unilaterally “closed.” Lucky for them if it flies. Some pretend that Hilary has repeatedly told the sniper story. Therefore, the excuse of exhaustion becomes even less convincing than previously. The unabashed and careless distortion is no surprise. In the past, the Clintons have gotten away with fibs that were more brazen. As stated, assuming that old tricks that worked in the past will still score is typical. So is the failure of the old parachute to open again.
 
9. Transcribed from “newspeak.” Zimbabwe had an election. A secret election at that. It was, in a way that gives the term a new Orwellian meaning. Three weeks after the balloting, the results are still a secret of the ageing dictator. For good reason. In his self-delusion, Mugabe apparently underestimated his unpopularity. Thus misled, he failed to counterfeit enough votes to make it over the top. Further innovative elements can be discovered. Until now cheating meant that individual ballots were removed or smuggled into the count. To steal, lock, stock and barrel, an entire election, adds a new twist to an old practice. Expect new absurdities to emerge on this front in the coming week.
 
10. Africa’s problem is an underdevelopment that is anchored in a cleptocratic authoritarianism whose operators benefit from backwardness. (Some dictatorships have not prevented modernization. China on the left and Taiwan/S. Korea on the right have not used state power consistently to suppress advancement. In the latter, economic growth created conditions for a political process that led to democracy.) The “age of the soldier” that followed the “age of colonialism” is hard to overcome. South Africa‘s role in the Zimbabwe crisis partly reveals why. Against dictators whose pigments fit, even the relatively democratic politicians of the continent are reluctant to act, as their means would allow them to. Meanwhile, effective outside pressure is meek as that amounts to “colonialist interference.”
 
11. One hand washes the other. 12 April. In Harare Mbeki met Mugabe prior to the gathering of concerned African leaders. (Being busy with other things, Mugabe refused to attend.) The visit led Mbeki to the original conclusion that “there is no crisis.” The “secret elections” are a “normal electoral process in Zimbabwe.”
 
12. Dictatorship International. The foregoing is not singularly an African problem. Burma’s rulers are also propped up by the solidarity of her neighbors. Notable is the China plays. This is hardly a surprise if we consider how China is ruled, Peking’s comfortable veto in the Security Council, and the return from dealings with otherwise isolated regimes.
 
13. Good opportunities to establish a Palestinian state were let go unused by the chief beneficiaries of its creation. In part the chance was missed because of the record created in the areas already under Palestinian control. One problem is that there is no one to negotiate with as Palestinian institutions do not function reliably and lack permanence. Connected to this is the corruption of the organizations active there. This condition is a cause of the wobbly institutional framework and also its consequence. Since an agreement involves the survival of Israel, the security guaranteed needs to correspond to the risk she takes by entrusting survival to Palestinian promises. It is not convincing when bad governance is attributed to the “occupation” – which only partially exists. Germany and Japan were also occupied. Sovereignty was only returned once local government functioned. The Baltic states under the Soviets had it much worse than the Palestinians. In part independence came because the occupied created good governance wherever the occupant‘s grip could be loosened. Contrary to what the writer heard a commentator say, corruption is not caused by the “Zionist occupant.” Blaming the Jews suggests that if Israel disappears corruption will not be gone – only a good excuse for it will be missed.

@Atlanticist911

My wish for Europeans to stay the hell out of America does not include you.

You are welcome any time. And if you should find that you wish to emigrate, you have a friend here willing to assist.

Good luck, friend.

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” – Thomas Paine

Dictatorship  regimes

Dictatorship  regimes usually are bad because lack of dynasty. Dictator does not care about the country to pass to his child in good shape, he prefer to have fun to the end of his time. Also a dictator often originate from social bottoms and gained followers because of some demagogy.

NewSpeak and EU Dictatorship

"Transcribed from “newspeak.” Zimbabwe had an election. A secret election at that. It was, in a way that gives the term a new Orwellian meaning."

 

He is "President" after all (smily face).  Remember, Bush stole the election in 2000 (sardonic smily face, don't mind that he won again in 2004) so of course we are not allowed to comment.

 

If anyone doubts that the EU is rapidly moving into EUSSR lite check out this link http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/arts/music/20noise.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Like good Stalinists the EU is falling all over itself to fix all the nasty things in the EU.

Re Zimbabwe

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." This from noted philosopher Joseph Stalin.