George Handlery about the week that was. Peking documents womanhood. The wrong lesson: is the US predestined to prevail? The wrong idols for Russia? Humbled-down origins and success. The financial turmoil and the political class. At long last, Pelosi live. Root for moderate Islam. The Dictator‘s Tantrum #4.
 
1. It was inevitable. The officialdom in charge of the Olympics has decided that the contested Chinese women gymnasts were old enough to participate in the games. The decision rests on documents presented by Peking. In this case you are again being asked to believe something that is obviously false. Supposedly those doubting the girls’ age lack exposure to Chinese women. Peking assures us Chinese females, look much younger than they really are. In some parts of the world Han Chinese are less than a rarity. From that sample one might conclude that even the Chinese look their age. Those gymnasts represented a government that is eager to score on the PR front. Could it be that, since it is the same government which also issues IDs, might have created documents to prove, if not the actual facts then the politically necessary fiction?
 
2. In the late fifties, a Chinese professor of mine held a Pearl Harbor lecture. As he drew conclusions he pointed out that some of the shame (as in “infamy”) also falls upon the US. To him it was shameful that such a thing would happen to a great power. As this implicitly equivocated Japan’s infamy and went counter to the accepted public morality of the day, the lecture hall loudly proclaimed its outrage. For my political education the incident had consequences. I realized that the US believes in fairness. More importantly, putting her trust in a moral code, she also inclines toward negligence in guarding her interests and security. In part, I thought, this was because America believes that she would prevail even if, unprepared, points are lost in the first round. Knowing the “other side” I realized that repeated ultimate success after botched starts creates a dangerous mind set. There might be no recovery if the match ends after the first round. I still regard as the US’ Achilles heel that her population is unconcerned as it assumes that, as in her WW2 war movies, a fairy tale ending is part of America’s God ordained destiny. The role foreign policy plays in the selection process called elections testifies to this.
 
3. Russia has just “rehabilitated” Czar Nicholas who, along with his family, was murdered by a Bolshevik execution squad. This comes after the Orthodox Church’ decision to elevate Nicholas to sainthood In actual fact the “Autocrat” – by one of his titles – was a bad ruler and the best defense of his record is his ineptness. It is unfortunate that that Russia comes up with the cult of the last Tsar as an idea to serve as an antidote to Communist rule. If it is not the Romanovs then it is a benign but conquering plebeian dictator, such as Putin, who represents the alternative. Alas, so far not classical Liberalism, laissez-faire, federal democracy or a system of checks and balances is the option that can stir the masses.
 
4. Have you noticed? With cheeky aggressiveness the US intervenes in Russia’s internal affairs and she does so in every country around the globe.
 
5. Throughout the developed world we observe a tendency for public persons to portray themselves as representing some group to which one belongs more by the accident of birth than by choice. If the group can claim by some contortion victim status this is transferred on the “outstanding” and “leading” whatever. Being cast in such a role creates an immunity. Criticizing such individuals raises the shadow of “racism” or some prejudice against some group with bad habits or a special feature. Once that charge is made to stick, by common consent the critic will become a belly-up fish in the water. So people run as gay, colored, as women, as Mayas and so on. If none of such wrappings can be used one “proletarianizes” oneself. That is done when someone of a better-off background pretends to come from the slums. Nowadays most people in the industrialized countries do not have to live under deprivation. Nevertheless, the rising star from the claimed gutter is proclaimed to have a special affinity for the crushing problems plaguing the common man. Early in my American career I was asked what I want to become. Not being able to anticipate the future, I answered with a negative. It was that I do not want to be a “professional Hungarian.” Being one “paid” in the 50’s. In many cases today, defying logic and all earlier demands for equality, being a “full-time professional xyz” nets an unearned advantage.
 
6. It reflects on the rational quality of the public debate that you rate as an extremist if you oppose movements that are antidemocratic or defy reason once they are linked to an ethnic/religious/national background.
 
7. On policy. Offer a special, rich-in-votes group more support than it might already be getting. Having done this, and in case you really deliver, you can be certain that it will soon really require even more help.
 
8. Some of this might not be what you want to hear. The financial turmoil does not prove that the market has persistently malfunctioned as a regulator. It is more like that the regulators and the regulations have (possibly foreseeable) failed to serve their purpose. Only the absence of some of the tremors we witness would prove a basic failure of the market system. One could also talk here of a failure of the political class. Even the administrations preceding Bush have done much to trade financial sanity for political gain. In the USA an initial three page proposal for intervention swelled to four hundred in volume – and lost much of its content in the process. The vicissitudes plaguing the economy only demonstrate that, until they are “caught,” crooks and nincompoops find and slip through the gaps of the mesh created to protect the public. Meanwhile, through the initial refusal to pass the 700 billion stabilization package, the House Republicans have lost the election. Thanks to the delay, the decisive psychological “bang” effect of the de-clawed intervention was weakened while pork gained. A general sense of stabilization will not emerge in time to calm the disoriented voter. The myopic view of some GOP representatives made them vote strategic ideology over tactical expediency. This makes the defeat deserved. The worse things are, the better for the Democrats. They will win. Undeservedly.
 
9, October 3. Several local stations and all the international channels broadcast the House vote. For this writer it is the first chance to experience Pelosi live. The impression in one word: Underwhelmed. It was stunning to witness the superficiality and the mindless partisanship exhibited in favor of an allegedly bipartisan cause. Watching the performance, the question arose whether in secret she wishes for the failure of the bill. If so, the irrelevancies, propaganda and partisanship she engaged in make sense.
 
10 America’s haters abroad are about to hit on hard times. This will happen soon after the election of the new – presumably Democratic – President. Here a talking point to those who got punished by getting what they had wished for. In order to protect your pundit-status claim that Obama got “kidnapped” by his advisers.
 
11. About constraints. There is no credible European defense without a sizeable US presence in Europe. Furthermore, there is no effective European diplomacy to contain and to “educate” Russia without German participation supported by the legislative majority and the opposition.
 
12. It is the interest of the advanced world to further the cause of moderate Muslims. The outcome to pursue is that societies with Islamic roots shall develop the ability to coexist with and participate in the system that makes the modern world function. Failing at this we are all condemned to a perpetual struggle. If the Islamists win they will destroy us. In case industrialized societies prevail they will be burdened by having to revive an uprooted civilization placed on a pile of rubble. In the case of Bosnia and to some extent Kosovo, the West has used the opportunity to demonstrate that it does not oppose Moslems as such. Unfortunately, in the Caucasus Russia provokes local resistance. Needing outside help, indigenous Moslems are forced to do two things. One, they define their cause as a Moslem one. Since they are engaged in combat, their version of Islam will tend toward Islamism. Second, small peoples under pressure need support that is not readily available. Their antagonist is Russia that claims that the matter is her internal business. Therefore established states are reluctant to inject themselves into such disputes. The support that is available comes from the “NGOs of terrorism,” the stateless radical Jihadists. The upshot is another victory within the Moslem world for the radicals.
 
13. The “Dictator’s Tantrum” #4. Libya still insists that the Swiss apologize for the arrest of Hannibal who beat up his servants while in the country. The understandable reluctance to admit guilt for applying the law has provoked Gadhafi. Therefore, Libya withdraws the eight billion it holds in Switzerland and will refuse to sell fuel to that country.