Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Piled Higher and Deeper



Get out the shovel….

Robert Kagan has written a piece entitled “Backing into World War III.”  Kagan instead prefers a headlong rush into human oblivion.

Who is Robert Kagan?

Robert Kagan (born September 26, 1958) is an American historian, author, columnist, and foreign-policy commentator. Kagan is mainly characterized as a leading neoconservative, but he prefers the term "liberal interventionist" to describe himself.

“Liberal interventionist”; a label right out of The Department of Redundancy Department.

A co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century, he is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations….Kagan left the Republican Party in 2016 due to what he described as Donald Trump's fascism, and endorsed Hillary Clinton.

A better label would be “warmonger.”  He didn’t leave because of Trump’s fascism (Kagan has obviously never met a fascist); Kagan left because he is a liberal interventionist.

Kagan is married to the American diplomat Victoria Nuland, who served as Assistant Secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs in the Barack Obama administration.

“F*ck the EU” Nuland.  They all get mad when Trump badmouths the EU, but nary a peep when a warmonger does.

OK, so what of this piece by Kagan?

He sees, and laments, the upswing of Russia and China; he sees, and laments, the downturn of the United States.  Of course, his Project for the New American Century is one of the prime reasons for this US downturn….

…we will reach the moment at which the existing order collapses and the world descends into a phase of brutal anarchy, as it has three times in the past two centuries.

While it is 100% certain that the existing order will change, it need not “collapse”; instead, it can transition somewhat smoothly.  The State Department has something around 70,000 employees and a budget approaching $50 billion.  Try mixing in a little diplomacy once in a while.

But no; we can’t have any of that diplomacy stuff!  Instead, we get “collapse” as the only possible outcome.  Thereafter we get “brutal anarchy.”  Brutal anarchy for whom, one might ask.  It has certainly descended into brutal anarchy for those on the receiving end of the Project for the New American Century.

History shows that world orders do collapse, however, and when they do it is often unexpected, rapid, and violent. The late 18th century was the high point of the Enlightenment in Europe, before the continent fell suddenly into the abyss of the Napoleonic Wars.

One might ask: was there a relationship?  How could the high point of the Enlightenment coincide with the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars?  Is this a fair question?


The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and came to advance ideals like liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.

Man’s reason, not God’s laws, was the primary source of authority.  Could this have something to do with this reality?  Now, before all of my atheist libertarian friends get up in arms…someone or something will make the laws.  This is an unavoidable reality of history.

When it was God’s law, there was no doubt that all men – even the king – were below the law; for more or less 1000 years, some form of just such law was to be found in the Germanic Middle Ages.  When it was man’s reason, well the man who made the law made sure he was above the law.

We bow to the gods of liberty, equality, fraternity; yet these gods coincided with the “three times in the past two centuries” lamented by Kagan.  Look, I didn’t offer up the comparison; blame Kagan.

Returning to his essay, Kagan laments the actions of the Trump administration to date:

The further accommodation of Russia can only embolden Vladimir Putin, and the tough talk with China will likely lead Beijing to test the new administration’s resolve militarily.

This is the first place in the essay where I lost it.  Accommodating Russia leads to war and playing tough with China leads to war.  Idiot.

China and Russia are classic revisionist powers. Although both have never enjoyed greater security from foreign powers than they do today—Russia from its traditional enemies to the west, China from its traditional enemy in the east—they are dissatisfied with the current global configuration of power.

Has Kagan ever looked at a map of Europe?  Has he studied NATO expansion toward Russia?  Either he is a dolt or he treats his readers as dolts.  Or both…that’s my bet.

As to being “dissatisfied with the current global configuration of power,” for China, with an economy quickly approaching that of the largest economy in the world, what do you expect?

Both seek to restore the hegemonic dominance they once enjoyed in their respective regions. For China, that means dominance of East Asia, with countries like Japan, South Korea, and the nations of Southeast Asia…

What?  How many centuries ago did China enjoy “hegemonic dominance” over Japan and South Korea?

For Russia, it means hegemonic influence in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia…

Has Kagan seen a map of Europe circa 1989? 

Let’s get down to brass tacks.  The Warsaw Pact was made up of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

Out of these countries and excluding Russia, Russia has military bases in eight of these – if you count Crimea as “Ukraine” (which I am sure Kagan will).  Guess what?  Eight of these countries have joined NATO (nine if you count the now decentralized Czech Republic and Slovakia separately; ten if you include East Germany).

One wonders exactly which country – Russia or the United States – is exercising “hegemonic influence in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.”

Further, in case it needs to be pointed out, many of these new NATO countries border Russia; at the same time, these new NATO countries are up to 5000 miles or more distant from Washington, DC.

Returning to Kagan: much of the remainder of the essay contains the standard false history of wars and neocon-driven bromides.  Nonsense piled on nonsense.  Piled higher and deeper.

Conclusion

Just look at both China and Russia: Never in the past two centuries have they enjoyed greater security from external attack than they do today.

Has Kagan never seen this map?  Perhaps they do not understand that the United Sates is surrounding them with military bases in order to protect them.

In any case, never at any time in the last two centuries has the United States ever had to fear an existential external attack.  The most one can say is Pearl Harbor – when Hawaii was not yet a state, and anyway…FDR and all that – and 911 – when…well, we don’t really know what happened, do we.

The candidate [Clinton] who spoke often of America’s “indispensable” global role lost…

Yes; may I explain why?

America First.

8 comments:

  1. {“Liberal interventionist”; a label right out of The Department of Redundancy Department.}

    LOL. Good one. I do so enjoy the lighter moments of deep, dire discussions.

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  2. Kagan and all the other Neocons are confused about winning versus losing. Because in 1971 the USA won by opening relations with China. In 1989 the USA won with the collapsing Soviet Union. In 2001 the USA lost A BATTLE. In the succeeding 15 years it lost the war through a series of minor wars. And in 2014 it lost a minor war in the Ukraine and in 2015 it lost a war without a shot in the South China Sea.

    But to a Neocon all the above victories are actually defeats and the one BATTLE lost is a victory and the aftermath of blood and expense is victory. And the two biggest victories are Ukraine and the South China Sea as they thought they could leverage these into massive expansions of the Military-Intelligence-Spy State Complex.

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  3. Kagan is a lying jew. Kagan's wife is a lying jew. These are vermin absolutely incapable of telling the truth to the "goyim." Why should they? They have been able to rely on the media to sell the average person on this BS. However, that time is coming to an end and they aren't happy.

    Reading through Kagan's "article" is hilarious. It is written entirely in strained euphemisms meant to convey a facade of cool-headed statesman-like judgement, in other words- typical of what you find on FP and other insider publications. When the reality is just as you say. Kagan prefers oblivion to the freedom of the "goyim".

    Lets see:

    "revisionist powers" = countries not fully controlled by Zionists (they literally just made up this terminology to sound like it has basis in something beyond a ruthless quest for world domination}- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revisionist_State)

    "The other is the declining confidence, capacity, and will of the democratic world, and especially of the United States, to maintain the dominant position it has held in the international system since 1945" - Washington and Moscow created this world order through the savage conquest of Germany, and the establishment of the "Democratic" state of Israel (seriously what is more obviously euphamistic with these people than "Democracy?").

    "brutal anarchy"- a world not run by Zionists is brutal anarchy. NEVER FORGET THIS.

    "History shows that world orders do collapse," - They want to pretend like this farce is just par for the course, when the world has never seen anything like this before.

    "As autocracies, both feel threatened by the dominant democratic powers in the international system and by the democracies on their borders"- HAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

    The ONLY WAY that statement makes sense is if autocracy and democracy are euphemisms.

    "History is returning with a vengeance"

    We will have our revenge. To quote my present avatar, FP Yockey-

    “Did you think it was over? Do you think that your misery and shame will remain securely forever on a world-stage which has seen true heroes upon it? In the war which you let loose, you taught men how to die, and thereby you have freed a spirit which will engulf you next, the Spirit of Heroism and Discipline. There is no currency that can buy this spirit, but it can overcome any currency.”

    America First, Death to the Empire, and LIBERATE EUROPE.

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    Replies
    1. Wow. The PC police was sleeping? How did they let you publish such IN YOUR FACE comment. I thought Trump has a 50 pounder, but, you must have a 100 pounder.

      There are very few Americans who know Nuland or Kagan, or even the word neocon. As a matter of fact the word deep state which is currently a household word was never uttered a few weeks ago. Our presstitude will be bankrupted soon as more and more people learn they are lures, and better sources of information exist on the internet. Again, bravo!

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  4. From Kagan's paper:
    Subsequent Russian actions that increased the refugee flow from Syria into Europe also brought no American response, despite the evident damage of those refugee flows to European democratic institutions. The signal sent by the Obama administration was that none of this was really America’s problem.
    Surely he meant to say, "subsequent United States actions..."
    And as for the Obama administration signaling that all this was not America's problem, didn't the Obama Administration create this problem?
    Indeed,it is piled higher and deeper. Hold on while I put my shit boots on.

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  5. "Man’s reason, not God’s laws, was the primary source of authority. Could this have something to do with this [brutal anarchy] reality?"

    A Randroid, Rothbardian, and Catholic monarchist walk into a bar: two rationalists and one Sky Wizard obscurantist. As Natural Rights theorists, all three agree Rights are objective, discoverable, and rational.

    The Randroid and Rothbardian insist a woman has "a right to choose," much to the consternation of the Catholic monarchist. The Rothbardian and Catholic monarchist insist no nation--not even a "civilized" one like the U.S.--has the right to target "savage nation" noncombatants in wartime, much to the consternation of the Randroid. Nobody can come to any agreement on intellectual property, slant drilling, or the morality of the income tax.

    The rancor generated by their conflicting versions of Natural Rights prevents them from enjoying a pint together. That "objective, discoverable, and rational" thing doesn't work for them. Stupid metaphysicists.

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  6. I am a republican, but not a war monger. I associate myself with lots of highly educated and informed Republicans. About a year ago in party as we were smoking cigars and talking politics about Obammer, I floated this question: how many of you knows who is Victoria Nuland? There were about 12 people in their 60s, doctors, lawyers, engineers, Rush listeners, ZERO answered. I concluded for myself silently ANYONE WHO DOES NOT KNOW THAT NAME SHOULD NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE. Now, can you imagine how harsh was my assessment of my friends, the republicans! You don't want to hear about my assessments of the rest of our citizens.

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  7. The National Security Advisor that replaced General Flynn, H. R. McMaster, is an acolyte of Kagan, and competes as Trump's worst pick with Nikki Haley.

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