Conversely: http://www.psybertron.org/?p=6729 Ian
On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 8:37 PM, John Carl <[email protected]> wrote: > In June 2001, George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin ended their first > face-to-face meeting with an outdoor news conference beneath a craggy > mountaintop in Slovenia. "Is this a man that Americans can trust?" Bush > was asked, as Putin glared at the reporter. > > "Yes," Bush > replied<http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/06/18/bush.putin.transcript/>, > before allowing Putin to answer a separate question. A few minutes later, > the American president elaborated: "I looked the man in the eye. I found > him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good > dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to > his country and the best interests of his country," Bush said, adding a few > sentence later, "I wouldn't have invited him to my ranch if I didn't trust > him." > Putin hadn't the experience then that he has now and by that I don't mean > he hadn't enough gravitas. Any leader of the largest country on earth has > automatic gravitas and Russia's got the Real Estate. Power comes and goes > but Acreage is permanent. > > No, I mean Putin hadn't had yet the experience of seeing America's > reactions and actions in this post-war age. To the extent the US "won" the > cold war, a certain power was given to wield her powerful economic system > toward a better world of open democratic freedom. I'm sure the world was > watching to see if, in fact, the nation could live up to it's purported > ideals. But if the US could ask for a less-likely representative of our > collective love of freedom, than George (W) Bush, It would have been > somebody else from Texas. Texas as a regional power of North America flies > a unique flag. Unlike all the other states, except California, Texas was > first it's own Republic. A republic that had had more fighting and fiercer > Indians and a constant enemy just over the border and cut-throat capitalism > to outsiders and a fierce loyalty to friends. The cold war was ended by > a Californian - but the opportunities gained, for a world worth living in, > were all lost by his vice president's scion - that Texas Jungle Capitalism > combined with Yankee ingenuity. I was especially sensitive when all this > happened because as a Californian, I'd felt the harsh end of the stick with > Texas on the other end beating us like a gong. The California electricity > crisis, a situation in which the United States state of California had a > shortage of electricity supply caused by market manipulations, illegal > shutdowns of pipelines by the Texas energy consortium Enron, and capped > retail electricity prices. > > We in California couldn't do a FERCing thing about it since W he won the > election and the regulatory board of the Federal Energy Regulation > Committee all understood - there's a new sheriff in town. Nobody > remembers much about 2001 except 9-11, but that attack showed up the > shenanigans of companies like Enron and then the corruption of companies > like Halliburton. Not that it did any permanent harm to Halliburton. They > did pretty well off the wars, I'd say. and that process you've heard > about? Fracking? That's a Halliburton invention. > > Such openly naked grabs for power are obvious to anybody who has not been > brain-washed by the corporate media conglomerates and Putin isn't stupid. > The thing called "moral license" is given by example. "Do as I say, not > as I do" does not happen in the real world. Russians always love a strong > leader and the more Putin gets in the face of Americans the more they love > him for expressing their disappointment in America's politics and > self-serving foreign policies. Or I should say, coporate -interest- > serving. And since America does enjoy an enviable material comfort - which > all people desire, she inspires emulation of her worst traits and little > understanding the true underpinnings of freedom and democracy. > > To a thinking man, able to read the signs, America has suffered a huge > moral failure and I mean that in the MoQ meaning of the word. People who > worship social celebrity and denigrate intellectual pursuits, like > philosophy, are actually following a philosophy. A social-oriented > philosophy, altho they don't know it. At the root of this Socially > -oriented philosophy lies (!) A Subject/Object Metaphysics which helps > guide a world filled with subjects to authority who spend their mental > energy competing for objects. In this world, all intellectual pursuit is > pragmatic - aimed at social goals. Such naked self-interest is catching. > When you show self-interest to be your guiding motive, you inspire others > to do the same - and quickly you have destructive conflicts between > competing states and that is in nobody's interest. America has become an > ineffectual giant. Sure, she can roar and swat at terrorist flies, but she > can't do anything effective to help bring a better world. Her words are > empty and her emotions, shallow. I fear a reaction. I fear Obama was all > along, a mere scapegoat and next election it's going to be another Texan > and this time its going to be a complete disaster - like when LBJ told the > boys going to Vietnam, in effect, "you good ole boys come back and we'll > nail them coon's skin up on the wall" > > Putin learned the lesson of the Texan power policies. He owns the NatGas > supply that runs throughout Europe and with his hand on the shut-off valve, > he gets his way - especially within the formerly Soviet States. He's > operating by new rules. If the normal rules of war are no longer > expedient, throw them out. the important thing is results and whatever it > takes to get me and my people in power, is good. Once Ukraine is back > in the fold, Belarus would be next. Belarus would love to rejoin Russia > and trade "Belarusian kisses for Russian Oil" and from then on, all it > would need is some sort of popular uprising, soon to be supported by > Russian tanks and state by state and empire would be rebuilt. Nobody > would care. Or if they cared, it would pass quickly. Once the gruesome > videos are switched to another showing, people forget the past. > > Once upon a time, this country broke up the monopoly of the railroad. > 1988, Texas bought SP and controlled the rails. In 1982, the country broke > up the monopoly of ATT over then nation's phone system and slowly Southen > Bell bought up the baby bells one by one and then finally the old parent > company - ATT. A monopoly reborn. But now in the hand of Texas. > > I'm just glad Texas doesn't own many tanks and it's pretty easy to quickly > block the few passes over the Sierras. We're safe for now, but I don't > hold out much hope for Ukraine. > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
