The world will forget. Sad but true. America is a superpower and people will be overjoyed when it returns to sanity. European leaders will be trampling to meet with the sane new overlords of the US and will be widely praised by 'serious' journalists in their own countries for working on favourable relations. A few bloggers will be kvetching about putting the old criminals in prison, but no-one will listen to them. Rice will become the new Kissinger. In 20 years a drunken British journalist will publish a takedown piece on her which gets famous, after which said journalist will switch to the dark side and publish increasingly incoherent rants about the buddhistofascist threat.
Anti-Americanism in the '90s, for instance, was in my estimation not caused by the country's war crimes in Vietnam back in the 60s and 70s, it had to do with policies the US was enacting and promoting worldwide (neo-liberal transformation) and the effect they had on the environment and people's lifes. Plus those bases in Saudi Arabia, for some people. The same will be true 20 years from now (assuming that America pulls out within the next 2-3 years).
We Europeans should be careful about the mote in the US's eye. -----sapere aude
Another problem is that America is not fighting a clearly ideological entity. In Vietnam, the enemies were Communists. Or so the narrative goes. Currently the enemy is Al Qaida, Baathists, Islamofascists, sometimes Sunnis, sometimes Shi'ites, 'rogue states', etcetera. A lot of these are ethnic and religious categories. This may lead to a longer memory.
On the ground, Vietnam was still worse than Iraq. But there was no official endorsement of torture in Vietnam, which also changes the story of the war. And there are plenty of opportunities for Iraq to escalate even further, unfortunately.
will publish increasingly incoherent rants about the buddhistofascist threat.
That made me laugh! Excellent turn of phrase there, nanne.
A pleasure I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude
You can't run a superpower like a vendetta, or like a court room. Laws are not holy, and there are many far more important things than revenge.
Or justice.
And people won't forget. At least not people in the European bourgeoisie. I know many European Cold Warriors who have become incredibly anti-american. Thinking Bush is almost the equivalent of Hitler or Stalin. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
Regarding impeachment.. I would prefer him to be judged outside the US in a world Court after US Congress investigation ...slow congress investigation taking two years...combined with a Democratic program in COngress.
SO, on the no impreachment I agree with you. At the same time I completley agree with Jerome diary.. it is one of those non-logical things.. it is a narrative stuff..so it perfectly fine to hold contradictory positions.
And whenever I see the picture of this man I feel full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes!
But sadly, emotions have no place in policy. At least not in this kind of policy. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
Clean out the Corruption and bring Justice with fire and sword, and all that. Very dangerous.
Let's have a war. We need the space. Let's have a war. Clean out this place.
Veeery dangerous. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
I think many of these people we're ready to give the American people some slack, considering Gore got more votes in 2000.
But Bush was reelected! In spite of policies that seemed to be printed by a create-maximum-damage machine! That was the thing that tipped the scales. We won't forget that. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
If that incompetent crew doesn't get what it deserves, the next controllers of the US presidency will use its powers (greatly extended by that incompetent crew) in similarly reckless fashion. And in that situation, it is by no means obvious which is better: if they are competent or not. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I'd much rather see careful (and after Iraq disaster, they won't rock the boat) half mad people in charge than raging insane people with a cause. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
Hmmm. Things could get a lot worse.
Actually I half agree with the 'don't impeach' crowd, because as long as Bush is hemmed in by Congress he's not going to do much.
Cornered, he may do something really stupid. Like invent, arrange, or discover a pretext for martial law. Or something equally ugly.
But I also think the issue will sort itself out early next year.
Once Waxman or someone asks for information under subpoena, and Bush or Cheney refuse (probably citing National Security), you have a constitutional crisis which is going to occupy everyone's attention no matter what they currently have planned.
Kos, and apparently the rest of the Dems, are naive if they believe that the next session of Congress is going to be all about passing nice progressive-ish bills, and not a tug of war over the constitution and the powers of a wannabe unitary executive.
Think you, unfortunately are right. "When the abyss stares at me, it wets its pants." Brian Hopkins
Also, think beyond twqo-six years. What if the raging insanes return to power after the half-mad ones, and they still can rely on extended executive power?
Oh, and "it can't get worse than this" is almost as bad as Panglossianism. Of course it can get much worse. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Can and will. I don't think you quite understand what is happening here in the US.
Return to sanity is not on the agenda.
Maybe we will all be surprised when the Dems take office in January. But the way they are talking now, I wouldn't hold my breath.
It is all about oil. And that hasn't changed and will not change (except to get worse.)
If you think the US is dangerous now, consider what happens when we replace the incompetent madmen with talented madmen.
The world is not about to become safer. The Fates are kind.
It is all about oil.
The US economy is completely and utterly dependent on cheap transportable energy which is gasoline (petrol.) 1/6th of the US economy depends directly or indirectly on the automobile. The last 50 years of Real Estate investment has been dependent on the automobile. The last 4 years the US economy has been driven by a Real Estate boom, fueled by cheap money, in the context of ever expanding suburbia, dependent on the automobile.
With economic dependence (addiction?) comes a corresponding cultural adaptation. The car becomes more than a cog in a mass transit system. The car takes on, attaches to, resonates with various mythos: symbol of freedom, symbol of independence, socio-economic status signal, sub-group adherence signal, e.g., VW Microbus.
The one unity of life in America, crossing all ethnic, racial, gender, sexual preference, social, economic, class, and geographical division is the car.
Economy needs cars. Cars need gas. Gas comes from oil.
The world is running into Peak Oil. The US economy is running out of cheap gas.
If you think the US is dangerous now, consider what happens when we replace the incompetent madmen with talented madmen. The world is not about to become safer.
The world is not about to become safer.
Yup.
Excellent.
(I wonder what division it doesn't cross? Religion? No, seems to fit right in. How about NYC Upper East Side / Greenwich Village intellectuals? No. Honestly, I can't think of anyone except the Amish.) -----sapere aude
There could be a major split over the Iran issue, however.
This assumes, of course, that the American people remain sensible enough to vote in the Democrats.
