I think that's just part of a larger problem, from Washington's POV: Russia is no longer on its back, as it was during the Yeltsin years, taking stupid advice from Harvard economists and impotent in international relations. Note how Cheney complained about Russian energy "blackmail" - Russia has become a power in a field that the US likes to dominate. These troglodytes can become cold warriors all over again!
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This is a truly fascinating and enthralling moment in post WW2 history.
The US, high on dreams of exploiting to the hilt its "hyper power" status after the collapse of the USSR and boosted by feelings of self-righteousness (liberally mixed with opportunistic power grabs) following 11 Sept. 2001, now faces almost precisely the opposite situation of the geopolitical science fiction prophecies spun out by the Project for a New American Century and allied 'strategists'.
Russia strides towards resuming its correct place in the order of things, China becomes the world's manufacturing heart and achieves technical expertise and capital as a result, Latin America wearies of neoliberalism moves - in some cases tentatively, in others quite boldly - to establish independence from the 'Washington Consensus'.
The invasion of Iraq has not only turned out to be an humanitarian and strategic disaster but a psyops one - thanks to the Iraq debacle, fighters around the world have an up-to-date insurgency playbook to study providing guidance in how to contend with high-tech American armaments, air supremacy and computer aided combat coordination techniques each of which has been circumvented, waited out or outright defeated in the field.
Let's pause here to insert the apparently necessary disclaimer (let's call this the Michael Pug mosquito net):
I do not condone, nor do I support bloodthirsty fighters the world over who happen to be contending with American forces. I merely point out the ways their effectiveness (their, "lethality" as the Pentagon types sometimes say) has been enhanced by that very exercise of American power we were told would send them scurrying to the deepest, darkest of caves.
...
And then there's the "success story" of Afghanistan where Taliban fighters - in spite of confident announcements of their complete destruction (some made right here on these very electronic pages) - return to the field enhancing their 1980s counter-Soviet insurgency tactics with the new shit transplanted from Iraq.
See disclaimer above if you're reading and thinking "oh my God, that freaky jackass, drunk on the ale of naive lefty anti-Americanism, loves the Taliban! The Talibannnn!"
And Iran? Pentagon strategists say there's no military option (at least, that's what the war games reveal - public statements are full of grim bravado but we've seen that show before and know how it ends).
Efforts to inflict sanctions are complicated by Iran's sea of oil, economic ties with the rest of the world and Washington's lack of credibility (it's at this point Ulhas says, in question form - but why do all nations say Iran must stop enrichment? Simple amigo. Because they're trying to placate the warmongers in Washington till a good deal is worked out That's what you do with mob bosses, you placate till you can bump them off).
N. Korea? What happened? No longer a threat? We haven't heard even the smallest sound about the "hermit kingdom" from our exporters of liberty. Perhaps I missed it. It's hard to keep up with Washington's merry go round of "the greatest threat to freedom".
Yes friends, this would be a challenging moment even for an imperialist with the skills of a Napoleon or an Augustus. Instead of any of these talented seldom-do-wells we have dreamers, people who believe in the power of prayer, bullshitters who bullshit themselves (first rule of carny, don't be a mark for yourself) and the generally un-subtle.
How will they do it? How will they suppress the conflicts, derail the trends and stifle the movements?
What's the plan Cheney? Scowling? Declaring Russia to be a renewed threat?
Mind you, I'm not one of those lefty catastrophists that see the impeding end of American power around the proverbial corner but something is happening people.
It's not just the polar ice caps that are melting.
.d.
--------- "It's a simple equation folks. Prostitution, divided by Hotels, equals dead Elves."
Olly