Dumb foreign policy and simple eloquence

Malcolm Pollack is not a Neutralist, but his blog is always interesting.  Today, he hit a neutralist pitch out of the park.

Title of his post:

And The Burnt Fool’s Bandaged Finger

Body of his post:

… goes wabbling back to the Fire.

Mr. Pollack linked to an article in The Washington Post with the title, U.S. moves toward providing direct aid to Syrian rebels.  No need to read the article.  Pollack said it all.

The Neutralist is suspending its fundraiser in favor of antiwar.com

We suspend our fundraiser

The Neutralist occasionally announces a fundraiser that is known mostly for its failure. The terms are a minimum $10million per donor. This year, we are again suspending the effort in favor of antiwar.com.

Antiwar.com is holding another one of its begathons and unlike public radio, they have earned support. After all, public radio has never forced the establishment to retreat if only because they are part of the establishment.

Of course, if you do have that spare 10 big ones lying around...........

The Neutralist takes Mencius under our protection

I accidentally found that way back in the blog stone age of mid 2009 one of the giants of the blogosphere had linked to me in a post.  Unqualified Reservations, the vehicle of a Mencius Moldbug cited my views on American policy as regards Israel and the Palestinians.  He actually agreed with it.  This is not better than the young Marilyn Monroe asking one to come over for drinks, but I'll take it.

To be honest, I am intimidated by MM (Mencius not Marilyn).  I start reading his offerings and they go on so long that due to laziness or an intellectual deficit, I stop.  They are always intriguing and easy to start, but mea culpa, I can't keep up.

Never the less, if someone of his qualities mentions me favorably, he has my loyalty.  I don't care if the next week he trashes me, The Neutralist is nothing if he is not a nepotist.  So watch out.

Blog Post of the week-The Paks are not feeling the love!

Dennis Mangan noticed the Gallup that sampled the displeasure the Pakistanis have for us.

Dennis succintly notes the fighting them over there so we won't have to fight them over there is ridiculous

But, but, these are terrorists! Maybe, but last I checked they have no navy or air force and thus cannot invade the U.S. The only reason some of them might be able to get to us is because we're letting them in.

We have been making that point since we started.  Reinforcements, however, are appreciated.

Getting to Dead, Algeria shows the way

There is an industry of hostage negotiators and I've heard some interviewed and they sound a reasonable tribe.  Through talking and empathizing with the hostage takers they save lives.

There is an alternative theory.  The book, Getting to Yes apparently has not been read in Algeria.  the rulers of that country fought the French and despite getting handled roughly, refused to admit defeat sufficiently that the Gauls ended up doing the admitting.

Not so long ago they fought and defeated Islamists in a bloody conflict.  I know a little more than the average American about the Algeria and it's conflicts.  That is to say, I know a tad north of zilch.  What I do know is that these are a crew that don't roll over.  US style Rodney Kingism is not their method.

So in the recent hostage event, the algerians were not interested in compromise.  They were brutal and they won.  I wonder if they were also sending a message to us like screw you and the Arab Spring bs.

I was pointed to this article by Malcolm Pollak.  I know about as much about The American Interest as I do about Algeria.  Still, it rings true and I recommend it.  Mr. Garfinkle may not be a Neutralist, but the piece does not harm our beliefs.

All must have prizes-women can kill!

Women are now to be allowed in the front lines.  the belief in absolute equality has reached the reductio ad absurdam.

I commend the article "Women in Combat" by Stephen Browne.  I disagree with him in some matters and he is certainly not a neutralist.  His article is a concise examination of the question.

He points out women have served well in places, amongst other duties as Soviet snipers.  I don't know if he is aware of the "Night Witches" an amazing group of flyers who terrorized the Wehrmacht.  These lasses beat the Germans in biplanes.  The Neutralist does not believe in equality, but hardly denies that the heroism and effectiveness of, as the Brits say, horses for courses.

The Neutralist sees this integration as part of the gender spoils system.  As such, it will not enhance military power.  A degradation will ensue.

One might say, the Neutralist would be encouraged by such a development.  It can only hasten the day when the imperialist absurdity crashes.  We don't.  The crash due to our forces deteriorating can only be horrible.

note:  I first became aware of Mr. Browne reading his article on the Saudis.  Maybe his writing is a lie, but it sounds logical, if not brilliant, to me.  I thank him for saving me the necessity of a trip to KSA.

John Kerry moves up. There is not much to say.

The last standing big local talk radio show in Boston has dredged up all of the clips of John Kerry's Gaffes.  The man is at Joe Biden level.

I get pilloried in describing my mechanical ability as "hire the handicapped, they're fun to watch."  Insensitive to the disabled, but in my case accurate.

On the diplomatic level, Secretary Kerry should be a laugh riot to watch as he tries to secure his legacy as a statesman while living high on our dime.

See my memory of the man here
.

What's it all about,Gaza?

So our pres in Thailand is standing up for right and justice, “There’s no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders. We are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself.”  Are those crazy Palestinians lobbing missiles because they are a nation of nut jobs?

Justin Raimondo disagrees.  The current contretemps is the result of an Israeli desire to stop a push for peace.  Those Hamas missiles seem to have no accuracy and do almost no damage, what really set them off?

Raimondo posits that the Hamas military honcho, Ahmed al-Jabari, was about to push a peace deal and thus had to be eliminated.  As to the peace deal, he cites  Gershon Baskin, initiator and negotiator of the secret back channel for the release of Gilad Shalit, that the deal was in the works.

Justin writes that the aggression was the result of the Israeli PM's desire to avoid peace in the quest for a greater Israel.  To read Justin's article go to antiwar.com.  

The Neutralist cannot vouch for what Justin writes.  Obviously we do believe it is not in our country's interest to be involved on either side of the conflict.  President Obama's statement about poor Israel having to defend itself against the joke rockets is, in itself, a joke.

Antiwar.com is having another fundraiser.  We wish them luck, and unless you have some spare millions to donate to us, here is their link.

Over at Sic Semper Tyrannis

I have been reading Col. Lang's Sic Semper Tyrannis blog for some time now.  A writer at another website said his info was reliable.  I am not the person to judge, but what he writes always seems to have the ring of truth.

Not that I always agree.  For example, there is nothing kind I can say about his support for the Libyan uprising.

It is with some joy that I read what he wrote at the end of a post on November 8th.

We can't afford this Defense Department.  Change the foreign policy, kill the acquisition contracts, pension people off after shrinking the ground forces and come home. 

I would guess Col. Lang takes some pride in his career and has done his best to serve his country.  Still, as our situation reduces to its absurd, some conclusions are inevitable to the sane mind.  

Read Sic Semper Tyrannis.

George McGovern, RIP

George McGovern has died and the deification has taken place in the media.  For his stature, it is strangely muted.  It does not seem to have reached Tim Russert level.  Needless to say, as he was most known for the foreign policy aspect of his failed presidential campaign, it is incumbent on the Neutralist to comment.

 As to his redistributionist economics and his dietary regulations, the Neutralist does not comment other than to express doubt.  On his "Come Home America" slogan, he was profoundly right.

When he said that, the Neutralist was on active duty and had drunk the Kool Aid by the gallon.  The bogeyman would be at the gates if we did not stay the course.  All this while the Nixon-Kissinger team was looking for a face saving bug out.

We did bug out and it was better for us that we did (see America's greatest 20th century victory).

Unfortunately, we never got the message.  I was just listening to a debate reprise where Romney was talking about being able to fight two major wars.  Heck, we couldn't even handle both Iraq and Afghanistan and they were hardly the Wehrmacht or the Imperial Navy.

In honor of George, the Neutralist says proudly, "Come Home America."  We hope the late senator has found peace.  Unlike his country which is no where near it.

World reaction to Turkey's retaliation does not pass the smell test

Pretend you're the president of a country embroiled in a civil war.  Let us also pretend that you are not completely insane.  In our what if scenario, let's also speculate that you have a neighbor to the north with a large and highly professional military.  Would you call up your troops on the border and say, "Okay lads, lob some mortar shells over the line and see if we can get those SOBs to retaliate.

So the western press is talking up how the Turks are righteously resisting those dirty Syrians.  The plot continues.  It continues....predictably.  One has to be naive beyond imagination not to suspect that this is contrived in the manner of, oh, maybe you want to look at the last post, "Since 5:45 a. m. we have been returning the fire..."

The fix is in, maybe.  Maybe Russia and China and Iran and Shiite Lebanon can hold things together for awhile.  If Saudi money and influence proves decisive, their will be a lot of dead Alawites and Christians and some Druze as well as a Kurd or two.

Then again, as a Neutralist, I don't see it as our problem.

For a more polished view of the situation, Eric is the man to read.

"Since 5:45 a. m. we have been returning the fire..." was it a Patrick Clawson moment?

The words of the title are the words of Adolph Hitler before the Reichstag.  His operatives had contrived a fake Polish attack and he used it as the immediate cause of the war.  His words:

I will provide a propagandistic casus belli. Its credibility doesn't matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth.

Are the sentiments of an aggressive foreign policy.  No decent person would agree that they express a moral sentiment, but some people have assimilated the message.  In fact, one man on Planet Think Tank has been so bold as to, in a way, channel it.

Of course, no one would ever say something like "I follow the Hitler method" because Dolph didn't invent it.  Any one who has ever wanted war and did not want to appear to be the aggressor had to at least make it appear that they had been attacked.  Der Fuhrer took it all the way by dressing his men and having them feign an attack on German border positions.  We would not do that.

Except  maybe Patrick Clawson thinks we should,

One can combine other means of pressure with sanctions. I mentioned that explosion on August 17th. We could step up the pressure. I mean look people, Iranian submarines periodically go down, some day one of them might not come up, who would know why? We can do a variety of things if we wish to increase the pressure... We are in the game of using covert means against the Iranians. We could get nastier.

Left out of the quote, he did say he was not advocating that, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

It's pretty obvious that there is a desire for war on the part of neocons though they usually don't say that.  Thus it is refreshing to see some honesty even on the part of a chickenhawk wonk.  There is no hypocrisy in the sense of Rochefoucauld's aphorism.  Not a pretense at all to any virtue.

His sinecure is safe.  He will be able to continue to perform his duties as deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP).  No one will cross the street to avoid being associated with a war mongering nut case.

The Neutralist Institute is thinking of starting a subsidiary think tank inspired by the need to keep watch on Clawson types.  So far the only name we have come up with is Boyish looking clowns who want wars someone else will fight Watch.  It is overlong and needs work.  We are open to suggestions.

Hat tip to Sic Semper Tyrannis.  Also see Zerohedge,  Quote above from Business Insider.

The Seance

The year is 2112 and a seance is in progress.  A medium and several attendees are holding hands and the medium feels the spirit of a deceased person is trying to contact them.

"Oh spirit, we do not ask your name, but do tell us about yourself."

"I was the prime minister of a middle-eastern nation a hundred years ago."

"Oh spirit, why do you speak to us?"

"I come to warn you."

"Warn us of what?"

"Iran is within months of have weapons grade fissile material."

The Persians are close to getting nukes and always will be according to some.

The Whole Truth

Was it the movie by that Copt?  Was it pre-planned?

Who knows?

Who really cares?

Let's just cut to what we do know.

I was about to read an article on one of the cutting edge web sites (aren't we all?) when it hit me that no one was bringing up one fact.

If Gadhafi were still in power the ambassador and the other victims would be alive today.

Without US Intervention, He would still be in power.

You are permitted to draw your own conclusions about the mindless foreign policy of the Bush-Obama administration without interference from the Neutralist.

Ringing endorsement of the Neutralist at LRC Blog

Okay, they did not mention The Neutralist at the LRC Blog, but c'mon folks, read between the lines,

Title of post by Laurence Vance:


The Answer to Libya (and Everywhere Else)

The post itself:

Simple: neutrality and nonintervention.

We grant  Mr. Vance our not-coveted Neutralist of the Week award.

Keep up the good work LV.

Come back Muammar

All is forgiven.

American foreign policy will always be dopey.

The Empty Pantsuit

how could this happen?  How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction?  This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, how confounding the world can be.

Lassie, if you are just finding out how complex the world is, maybe you should be back teaching chick studies at Wellesley.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81108_Page2.html#ixzz26J7lI9Bk

Put a band-aid on it. Nobody really cares about the troops in Afghanistan

The adventure in Afghanistan is coming apart, but no worries.  There is always a band-aid available.  Rather than ask if, oh, maybe there is no point to trying to secure a landlocked place that more and more resembles Stalingrad, let’s pretend there is only a glitch.

July saw 38 troops take their own life.  This is the highest monthly amount yet.  Is there evidence that anyone is taking this as a signal there is a grave and deep problem?

Not by the proposed answer.  The pharmaceutical solution has been suggested.  Let’s not consider that depression is a sane response to an unwinnable war and that maybe the troops are on to something?  Or maybe they need nasal spray.

Per CNN, Dr. Michael Kubek of Indiana University will get an Army grant to “to dig deeper into whether a nasal spray could be a safe and effective way to administer a specific antidepressive neurochemical to the brain and help calm suicidal thoughts.”

The US is not the first country to try to keep a war going with a medical fix.  Not to overdo the Stalingrad analogy, but didn’t the Germans use amphetamines so their troops could fight longer between rests?  Better living through chemistry?  Maybe Les Allemandes should have realized that when you have to resort to such tricks the game is up.  No they didn’t according to Der Spiegel when there go to drug, Pervitin, was not enough, they looked to a super drug to keep the overextended servicemen fighting,

“Toward the end of the war, the Nazis were even working on a miracle pill for their troops. In the northern German seaport of Kiel, on March 16, 1944, then Vice-Admiral Hellmuth Heye, who later became a member of parliament with the conservative Christian Democratic party and head of the German parliament's defense committee, requested a drug "that can keep soldiers ready for battle when they are asked to continue fighting beyond a period considered normal, while at the same time boosting their self-esteem."

How barbaric.  We know meth should only be given to school kids to calm them down if not “boost self-esteem.”

There is another signal we might be missing.  With some regularity, our troops die, not at the hands of the enemy, but the ally.  It’s a new twist on “friendly fire.  Badly aimed rounds that go astray and strike the home team happen.  The perfectly sighted bullet from our protégés should tell us not all hearts and minds have been won.  Do we get the message that maybe we are subtly being told we have worn out whatever welcome there was?  No, not at all.

All we have to do is take a few precautions and all better.  The proposal is for a “Guardian Angels” option.  No, it will not be some red-hatted self-promoter going to the war zone.  Rather it will be one guy “who stands to the side so that he can watch people’s backs and hopefully identify people that would be involved in those attacks,” according to Sec/Def Panetta.  The other lads might want to keep a clip in their rifles to show trust.  Oh and the Afghans will do a little better at vetting recruits.

Ah well, maybe that will do the trick, General Allen the commander in Afghanistan according to NPR has no ready explanation for the attacks.  Hmmm.  When your top guy is clueless, you ain’t winning.  That no clue thing bespeaks a vast Intel failure. 

Does anyone think that a US sympathizer opens fire at a Taliban confab?

Today, just as this is being posted, antiwar.com reports another two dead by a fraternal ally.

But it’s all good, cue an American Soldier by chickenhawk Toby Keith and just keep saying support our troops.

If we really loved the soldiers, we'd bring them home.

Forget October, we need an August Surprise!

It seems that daily there is an announcement that Mitt Romney has committed some peccadillo.  NPR and mainline radio snootily tell us about the deformed soul of the man. 

Of course there is Seumas the dog that got to ride on the top of the family car during  vacation.   To your average public radio lover, this is a crime deserving a warrant for a trip to the Hague.  As they fervently pet the dogs they rescued from the shelter, they think about the charge of a Crime against Dogmanity.  As the clincher in the Mittser’s Satanic canonization it was a fizzle.

We do love dogs in this country.  Heck, I have a shelter dog too.   So the caninineites not enamored of Mitt had some right to think this might be the kiss of death.  Surprisingly, outside of the NPR crowd, it had little traction.  Could it be that everyone is bored by Romney and fail to register an awake state the minute his name is mentioned?  Alternatively, non bien-pensants realize the cool people would be less upset if la famille Mitt had strapped a kid topside.

He has not made many of his tax returns public and the nation is yawning.  Should this be a story?  After all that went on to get Obama to share his papers with the “Birthers” and zzzzzzzs.  Besides, if the “Tax Returners” keep it up, Romney could say, “sure, let’s see your man’s SATs.”  Not going far, that.

It’s not a scandal that he wants to increase military spending to behemoth levels that would bankrupt the country.  After all, military spending is at behemoth levels and bankrupting the country.

Also not a contretemps that, while governor, he let the innocent Tookey Amirault rot in jail because pedophilia is horrible.  He could probably spin it to a plus on the campaign trail.

Maybe he doesn’t put the cap back on the tube?  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Supposedly, there is an effective Opposition research team in Obama’s corner.  Sort of a vast left wing conspiracy (VLWC).  Yeah, they find a lot.  All of it is probably true.  Yet nothing hits the mark.  It is so constant that if Mitt shoots the Pope, the scandal fatigue will render it meaningless.

It is with this in mind, I’ve decided to write in these pages to the people who could do something to save the Republic as much as they don’t mean to.

Dear VLWC,

This is an open letter because I do not know if there is an official opposition research group, but I am sure an entity to get the dirt exists.  Now, normally I view dirt mongers as not people I like to be associated with.  Still, we need you.  Desperate times you know. 

Mitt Romney is in danger of being president through no fault of his own.  Yes, he spent oodles of cash and all that, but his opponents dropped like the seasonal fruit flies they were.  The party leaders would rather gargle razor blades than see his only real opposition get the nomination.  So, he was the last (acceptable) man standing.

Most in your camp feel a Romney presidency would be a disaster.  Moi, I agree.  Certainly, our reasons for this differ.  You doubtless believe the former governor would bring about a fascist regime with even such atrocities as daily sexual assaults at airports, or something.

I do not believe the Romney administration would be a disaster compared with your beloved incumbent.  Worse in degree, but what he promises, a bigger military, carte blanche for the mongers of a Persian war is what we might get in the second Obama take.  No one believes a re-elected Obama would reign in the banks or the Fed.

It appears that you are not doing the muck job very well.  Of course, what do I know?  You may be holding the trump that will be thrown a few days before the election.  You probably have to have something close to the vest for any hope of winning.  Your guy as things stand, has no chance even if there is not that much difference between him and the Romnster.

Don’t think so.  Remember “It’s the economy, stupid.”  Well, they can’t vote against Bush, but they can cast ballots against an incumbent.  The saying, “nothing wrong with the Republican Party that 20% inflation couldn’t cure” has been attributed to Ben Wattenberg, among others.  We are not talking about the price index, but the unemployment rate will do.  Romney could do worse, but the electorate will feel he would have to work hard at it.

So how can you help me and why should you?

First question first.  You must redouble your efforts and understand the goal.  It is not some fact about the presumed nominee that might bump up poll standing.  We need the hole that a truck can drive through.  More specifically, a thing that if made public, would cause him to drop out of the race.  Bane sending jobs overseas hasn’t done it and won’t.  There are no affairs and the Edwin Edwards “live boy, dead girl” may no longer matter.

That’s why I am appealing to your professional expertise.  If there is anyone who can get me a magic bullet, it is mad dog democrat operatives., no offense.  This is got to be a problem, but also an opportunity.  After all, if both Obama and Bush had their innings with coke that doesn’t come in a bottle, well there is a new departure as to what disqualifies. 

It has to be beyond political correctness.  Romney is for traditional marriage and you don’t like that.  Unfortunately, other than your crowd, the country is okay with that, and he is not about to eat at chick-fil-a.

So creativity is the order of the day.  I’m pulling for you.

Now why should you help me.  In truth, it is not moi you would be serving, but your country.  I know that class holds more sway with you. 

Yet there may something a bit more primal in the team and one hopes that stirs your heart.  Yes, we have to go all the way back to George McGovern and “Come Home America.”  Les hommes et dames a la gauche used to be the base of bringing the troops home.

Your leader even called the Iraq war a dumb war until he waged it unsuccessfully, proving the original point.

Before the Iraq invasion, an upstate NY public radio station was anti-war all day.  Now, with Obama in office, it feels as if they are on the war team.

C’mon lads, lasses, all we are saying is give peace a chance.  Now, there is only one peace candidate.  If ever you truly believed in it, now is your chance. 

The Republican Convention starts August 27^th.  If there is something that causes the withdrawl of Mitt, Ron Paul is the last man standing.  Granted, the party moms and dads would rather call on Herman Cain, but it will have moved beyond them.  The Paul campaign is still alive and organized.  You can make that happen.

Again, why should you?  You can make Obama a better candidate.  He may not win, but he is losing now.  If Paul is his opponent, he can be more of a peace candidate.  If Mitt is his opponent, he will try to be a bigger war monger.  Do you really want that?

From Antiwar.com, US Claims ‘Al-Qaeda Number Two’ Killed Yet Again

Headline says it all.  We keep getting more of these guys and yet it leads to nothing.  It's like the drug seizure headlines of record haul.  How close are we to winning the War on Drugs?  Despite the success, not at all.  How close are we to winning the so called War on Terror?  It has already been lost.

Russia is ahead on points

Stratfor has an article, Russia's Strategy that gives the devil his due.  Russia is no longer on the ropes.  They are not where they want to be, but their strategy is sound.  That strategy is to keep the US distracted.  It seems to be working.  Well, maybe.

We seem to be pretty good at keeping ourselves distracted.  Okay, we left Iraq in a huff because they wouldn’t give us a status of forces agreement that treated us as gods.  Still, we found a way to get involved in Libya and are trying to get into the Syrian mix.

Stratfor sees that it is the Russian goal to keep us tied up so we can’t un-distract ourselves.  With all due respect, to the very well informed fellows at Stratfor, the Russkies have several years, if ever before we de-distract.  Oh, maybe sanity could attack and a sensible rapprochement between us and Iran could occur, but that will take awhile.  Then again, Romney has promised to up any Obama ante so that’s a problemo there.

An interesting point made by Stratfor is that the Russians, either as empire or union was economically always a loser, but imperially, more often than not, a winner.  

The last paragraph recaps well enough.

Russia has come far from where Yeltsin took it. The security forces are again the heart of the state. Moscow dominates Russia. Russia is moving to dominate the former Soviet Union. Its main adversary, the United States, is distracted, and Europe is weak and divided. Of course, Russia is economically dysfunctional, but that has been the case for centuries and does not mean it will always be weak. For the moment, Russia is content to be strong in what it calls the near abroad, or the former Soviet Union. Having come this far, it is not trying to solve insoluble problems.

Even if we don’t do stupid on Iran, as long as we are bugging China, we are distracted from Russia.  The Russkies may not have forever, but they do have time.

Russia is the most successful loser ever.

Iraq; The final scorecard-A seven year enema

The Neutralist was moved to write today because of John Glaser's post on Antiwar.com's blog, ‘Lasting Pride’ For the Hell We Left in Iraq.  If you remember, we were going to bring democracy and good government of Mesopotamia.  Last year, our troops pulled out not with bands playing and applauding locals lining the streets in gratitude, but in the dead of night without telling the Iraqis.  This is not accounted as the recognition that we had lost something, but as Glaser quoted,

“We’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people.” – President Barack Obama, Fort Bragg, N.C., December 2011

“You will leave with great pride – lasting pride.” – Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to U.S. troops, December 2011

Mr. Glaser than states the obvious,

I’ve written repeatedly about the terrible dictatorship and lasting sectarian violenceWashington left in Iraq after the troop withdrawal of December 2011. Contrary to the lies of these indecent politicians, the enduring effects of the illegal U.S. war in Iraq are still causing havoc and bloodshed throughout the country. Iraq is neither secure, nor is it a democracy as was promised by warmongers in Washington.

I have an open question for anyone.  It would be nice if someone in government would make the effort, but if anyone would take the time to tell the Neutralist how the Iraq War was not a mindless mistake, there would be unending gratitude on my part.

There is, of course, a larger question.  How could anyone think that intervention in Syria or Iran could be anything less than loserville.  We have the recent example of Libya being a non success.  An even larger question is not why are the people running foreign policy allowed to run amuck, but why are such people considered sane.  

I remember when the Iraq war was new.  chickenhawks Michael Graham on Boston radio was exclaiming how he had Steffens like seen the future and it worked.  How anyone could not see as he had was mindlessness.  Wisely, he has moved on.  Would really like to hear from him how it was all not a mistake.

Now the right wing mantra is not that it was not winnable, but it's Obama's fault.  It's alvays Ludnendorff und ze stab in ze back, but never our fault.

Why are there NGOs?

There is a good article on the meddling of NGOs in The National Interest by its editor, Robert W. Merry.  It is titled Unmasking the Democracy Promoters and is Posted today.  It led us to think about foreign policy and why a country would fund NGOs.

When I was very young, we were in the thick of the Cold War.  The American, and I would think, the Soviet goverments felt themselves to be in a mortal struggle.  Large military establishments were maintained in readiness in case cold turned to hot.

The war was not just tank armies staring at each other across the Fulda Gap.  Proxies engaged us in Viet Nam and the Soviets in Afghanistan.  there were other peripheral side shows with varying degress of heat.

Another front was one side or the other setting up and/or funding groups not ostensibly connected with either government.  The Soviets had front groups such as the   The World Peace Council and others.     Supposedly, the CIA funded hi-brow publications like Partisan Review.  The reader is asked to do his own research.  It was such that Jay Ward, the man behind Rocky and Bullwinkle held a dinner with themed tables such as one for “All those who believe the Diners Club is a Commie Front.”

So the Cold War ended and as one historian put it, history ended.   Maybe not.  The Neutralist would have wanted our nation to bring home the fleets and armies and the air force, but it was not to be.  We found a bogeyman in Iraq, or, depending on viewpoint, he found us.  

That is not to say we left Europe.  The end of the Soviets still sees divisions billeted in Germany and our continued activity in the leftovers of the two multinational entities, the USSR and Yugoslavia.  One would think just getting the Russkies to leave would be enough.  We had promised not to run NATO up to Russia’s border, but so what.  Poland had to be Poland, even though that meant having secret rendition prisons.

But, we are the good guys.  Everyone should be good guys.  That’s where NGOs come in.  People helping people be nice.

So the US is funding lots of nice people around the world guiding people of other countries toward the light of free, open elections with governments that are run honestly.  Now I live in a state where the last three house speakers are convicted felons, so at the Neutralist, we are not sure we are uniformly the example.

To believe that we just love the world and that’s why this is going on is silly.  In fact, the Neutralist, with our characteristic lack of effort have come up with a self evident law;  No one sends lots of bucks and folks overseas without thought to the benefits accruing to the giver.  Even in such beloved organizations as the Peace Corps, we would posit that is so.  A bit murky there.  Certainly, when it started in the Cold War there was some sense of countering the Evil Empire.  Whether it still serves a geopolitical purpose, who knows, but at least it serves as kind of a continuation of summer camp for college grads who did well in Post Modern lit and can’t get a job.

So money is being thrown around to “to support what we like to call ‘universal values’—not American values, not Western values, universal values.”  according to Michael McFaul, once the NDI representative in Russia.  Don’t know about you, but Mike’s sentiments make me wanna sing Kumbayah.

The NDI is National Democratic Institute, a nonprofit U.S. agency whose mission is to promote democracy around the globe.  Now according to the TNI article, NDI gets oodles of lucre from the Uncle Sam’s coffers.  If he who pays the piper calls the tune, a doctrine we think self-evident, then why are these called non governmental organization.  Well, TNI gives out the doctrine how that is so.  “But Wikipedia helpfully explains: “In cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status by excluding governmental representatives from membership in the organization.””  Call me cynical, but isn’t that just a tad of a distinction without a difference.

I’m not the only one who feels that way.  Mr. Merry begins the piece by noting that the United Arab Emirates have shut down the NDI in the UAE.  the nerve!  Why Hilary exclaimed, “we very much regret” the UAE action and adding that NDI plays “a key role in supporting NGOs and civil society across the region, and I expect our discussion on this issue to continue.”  That last part, after the conjunction, “I expect our discussion on this issue to continue.”  sounds a bit ominous.  Was it slightly threatening?  Why would the sheikhs not want something so helpful in their midst?

Mr. Merry has a reasonable suggestion, “But perhaps there’s merit in stepping back just a bit and seeking to look at it from the perspective of the receiving country.”  Novel that.  someone might have a different perspective than Foggy Bottom.

The truth is, NGOs are great meddlers. No one likes a meddler (unless, maybe they are on the take from said meddler).

Mr. Merry has it nailed, “For anyone trying to understand why this anger is welling up in those countries, it might be helpful to contemplate how Americans would feel if similar organizations from China or Russia or India were to pop up in Washington, with hundreds of millions of dollars given to them by those governments, bent on influencing our politics. One supposes it would generate substantial anger among Americans if these groups tried to tilt our elections toward one party or another. But suppose they were trying to upend our very system of government, as U.S.-financed NGOs are trying to do these days in various countries—and have done in recent years in numerous locations.”

One would think the push back long overdue and should not be surprised if the various targets compare notes and work together on dealing with all the little sinecuristas in their midsts.

Mr. Merry ends the article by writing, “crusades on behalf of presumed “universal values” have a way of going awry.”  Didn’t we just “celebrate” the 95 anniversary into the “War to end all wars?”

*Mr. McFaul is now ambassador to Russia where one hopes he is behaving himself.







Published on The National Interest (http://nationalinterest.org)
Source URL (retrieved on Apr 5, 2012): http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/ngos-not-beyond-reproach-6719



Source URL (retrieved on Apr 5, 2012): http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/ngos-not-beyond-reproach-6719