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Front Page » Archive » Vol
2 No 57 » here
| The
View from the Republic |
Ambivalent times
A yawning chasm has opened up between what
the people think and what they're being told. It's becoming
difficult to know what's real.
- Staff
If ever there was a time about which you could legitimately
say, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times," now is surely it.
A half-century of American arrogance and belligerence could
be coming to a rapid close as a rush of past sins confront
the Homeland all at once, at a time when America is uniquely
isolated in the world. The end of the American Empire is
certainly the best of times.
But Americans and their leadership show no signs of coping
with their new reality at all well, and, gripped by fear
and paranoia, the free-falling nation may let loose a volley
of nukes at the ghosts in their heads, atomizing a good portion
of the surface of the planet--which would doubtless be the
worst of times.
With both global tension and historic stakes at all-time
highs, opinion-makers are forced to show their colours. Hence,
we can clearly see the proprietor of The National Post,
Israel Asper, doctoring his paper's news coverage to fit
his crazed and blood-thirsty agenda for ethnically cleansing
Israel's illegally-occupied territories of all signs of previous
Palestinian occupants, for example. It's good to be able
to see where influential Canadians stand on the issues--so
this is the best of times.
But the right-wing Likud Party's project in Greater Israel
promises to involve all the major military powers in a hugely
unpredictable Middle East war that could, in this globalized
world, leave no shore untouched. It is certainly, then, the
worst of times.
A huge majority of those polled throughout the West affirm
that they would accept a US-led war on Iraq if the United
Nations security council gives it the green light. This astonishing
level of trust in the much-maligned middle-aged international
institution bodes well for a cooperative and collaborative
future for the planet, giving us all hope that these are
indeed the best of times.
But the White House threatens daily to obliterate the United
Nations, and on-message war-mongers like Mark Steyn and David
Frum in The National Post have already declared the
UN to be dead. The alternative to a United Nations-led world
is a United States-led world. It is the worst of times, for
sure.
Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chrétien ingeniously
finds a way to avoid the question of Canada's support for
a US unilaterally-declared war on Iraq by committing the
bulk of Canadian forces to Afghanistan, thus saving the nation
its date with Moral Dilemma. It's the best of times.
But warlords still rule everywhere in Afghanistan, except
for a few city blocks around Afghan President Karzid's official
residence, and they've been waiting patiently for the day
the Americans re-deploy elsewhere to re-surface and take
up arms in pursuit of ancient scores to settle. Canadian
troops will be caught in a most bewildering cross-fire, and
will be lucky to be considered worthy of becoming hostages.
It's the worst of times.
France and Germany spearhead a diplomatic initiative to
spare Iraq an onslaught of bombs by negotiating with the
Russians and Chinese--together comprising four of the five
permanent UN Security Council members--a plan to install
a UN caretaker administration in Baghdad. It's a brilliant
manoeuvre that just may avert the looming catastrophe--the
best of times, surely.
But the US responds by dismissing France and Germany, and
enlisting the support of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic,
and other minor European powers, thereby raising the spectre
of moving the front line of a looming war across Europe,
scene of the most brutal and murderous wars the world has
ever witnessed. Europe has a long history, coming right up
to the most recent decade, of enormously destructive war-making
which the Continent has a habit of involving the whole world
in, and no one should ever poke a stick into that busy little
beehive. Europe is being divided against itself again. It
is truly the worst of times.
Partly due to the Internet and other forms of modern mass
communication, people the world over are savvy to the tricks
of big media and are now ever-vigilant against lies our leaders
tell us. Before the shooting war begins, massive anti-war
protests have already repeatedly filled the streets in major
cities around the world. It seems everybody completely understands
what's going on. It's the best of times.
But the lies from the White House and from the governments
of Britain and Australia, their utter fabrications of fact,
the astonishingly ignorant pronouncements by government leaders,
and their complete disregard for history, adds up to blanket
contempt for the thoughts and wishes of the people these
government representatives are sworn to uphold. While the
people have never been louder, the leaders have never been
more deaf. It's the worst of times.
Americans have become aware of the world beyond their coastline,
and have begun to appreciate the intricacies of international
relations and the risks of careless words and actions. At
long last, it's the best of times.
But they have reacted to news of an upset and embittered
world by duct-taping plastic sheets over their doors and
hoarding food and water, and asking that their government
make the frightening world go away again. It is the most
dire of the worst of times.
US President Bush, in charge of the world's leading economic
and military power, speaks of peace and cooperation, of prosperity
and security, and emphasizes how these public goods are the
foundation of a progressive society. It's the best of times.
But he has brought the world closer to the brink of nuclear
war than it's ever been, on several fronts; he has pointedly
declared how America will act unilaterally in pursuit of
its own interests, promising all dissenters "No negotiations";
he has presided over the biggest economic meltdown in world
corporate history; and he has, through a reckless foreign
policy, exposed the population of America and the world to
such a high level of insecurity, half the planet is in a
state of outright panic, while the other half are suspended
in a state of nihilistic despair. There's never been a worse
time.
Don't feel alone if you don't know how to react. Only one
thing is certain these dark days, and that is that certainty
about anything is in short supply. Only the ignorant and
the dogmatic are certain today. The rest of us can only hope
there is a future from which we might look back and puzzle
out what happened.
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