It’s all rather difficult to gin up authentic enthusiasm to one henchman’s departure, however malefic. First, the damage done to the democratic project is so vast, so deep that its future at best is stained and marred. Karl Rove the vandal departs now? A minor footnote.
Second, it is fitting that this formally uneducated, political savant studied in the arts of the Street and the S.A. is being covered in revolting montage of the personal. How emblematic that he is yet another protean morsel in our daily degraded of public intellect slop. The superficial imagery of the personal transcends all; within one news feed, an operative departs, a hanger-on to a drunk pop star is served in a divorce proceeding, a car bomb somewhere, another anorexic personality not older than 20 years back in rehab.
The cosmic ideal, of course? The operative resigning during Shark Week!, or perhaps because of an encounter off Kennebunkport during Shark Week! We won’t add to the verbiage. Our only note is surprise that Grover (so far) tap danced his way out of indictment or other serious entanglement. We would have put a modest sum — $10 or so — on that chip. Meanwhile, the world could care less about all this. Most interestingly:
In July 2007, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (S.C.O.) — consisting of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan — founded a so-called “Energy Club” to coordinate energy strategies. On August 16, the heads of state will hold their annual summit, this time in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. After the summit, they will travel to Chebarkul, a city in Russia’s Urals, to attend the closure of the S.C.O. military exercises. The rapidly developing activities in these three security dimensions — energy, politics and the military — gives the impression that the S.C.O. is firmly on its way to mature into a full-fledged security organization.
We’ve been following the SCO for some time. We don’t see it an anything close to a new Warsaw Pact. Rather, the SCO is developing in a careful, programmatic fashion to become a major strategic counterweight to the Warlord’s ill-conceived, untenable, spastic U.S overextension across the Central Eurasian land mass. A U.S. retreat to at best a marginal balancer role is inevitable in some form as we have neither the political, economic or cultural capital to be a dominant long term player. This outcome – and its visibility to all – may have longer term strategic consequences than even the Iraqi debacle.
We’ve been reading some earnest think tankers trying to think of something new to say about U.S. power in the Post-Warlord World. The usual salon (small “s”) finger food bon mots like “council of democracies” and all that jazz. What they all miss (and missed under the Warlord, too) is that Power is an immutable thing. It is or isn’t present. Because the Warlord abused U.S. Power, it does not follow that the problem is Power, particularly Amercan Power, itself. This is something Moscow and Beijing know all to well and show via the SCO. It would be tragic beyond heartbreak that a post-Warlord reprieve is squandered by ignorant stumbling around, only to provide the foundation for Warlord the Sequel (with King Fu Grip).
We’ve always said that Dubya, like Newt as Speaker, may in fact be a mere transitional figure. And depending on vector, that should give no solace one reading this.
Dr Leo Strauss says
[Updated] —
Amen
but see this: http://www.grudge-match.com/History/ds-enterprise.shtml
Aldershot says
“I feel oddly immobilized by all these potentially defective Chinese goods staring at me — the ultimate in Mao-ist asymmetrical warfare.”
Excellent.
(Trek > Wars)
Dr Leo Strauss says
Here’s an interesting item about the Agency’s alleged fixation on altering Wikipedia:
CIA
Alongside numerous revisions about America’s national security and geography, a surfer using a CIA address also took the time to add extensive sections on lightsabre combat in the Star Wars movies.
http://tinyurl.com/2o6eeq
DrLeoStrauss says
I feel oddly immobilized by all these potentially defective Chinese goods staring at me — the ultimate in Mao-ist asymmetrical warfare. But lest people think we were exaggerating above, MSNBC reports today a Great White is swimming off the shores of New England . . .
Aldershot says
I love the idea of the SCO. The sooner people choose up sides and arm themselves, the sooner we’ll all get along. Say what you will about Russia and China, they have a history of authoritarianism that yields discipline. I wish Putin could have another term.