T he Floridian clod seeking to don the mantle of Millard Fillmore made an
amazing foreign policy speech at an economic conference in Berlin last week.
Inveighing against Russian President Vladimir Putin, he gave a very vivid
impression of a man who has no idea what he is talking about.
“Russia must respect the sovereignty of all of its neighbors. And who
can doubt that Russia will do what it pleases if its aggression goes
unanswered?”
Jeb Bush was averring elliptically to the failed state formerly known as
Ukraine, trying to put over the shopworn story that Russia was needlessly
making war on its neighbor (and former province).
“Bush called for increased clarity on what type of sanctions would be
imposed on the country if Prime Minister Vladimir Putin does not back down
against a united international front…. ‘I don’t think we should be
reacting to bad behavior [Bush said]. By being clear what the consequences of
“bad behavior” is in advance, I think we will deter the kind of aggression
that we fear from Russia. But always reacting, and giving the sense we’re
reacting in a tepid fashion, only enables the bad behavior of Putin.’”
Note, by the way, that here is yet another scion of the Bush clan who was
inexplicably brought up speaking Ebonics: “What the consequences… is?”
Say what?
Ukraine became a failed state due to a coup d’état engineered by Barack
Obama’s state department. US policy wonks did not like the prospect of
Ukraine joining Russia’s regional trade group called the Eurasian Customs
Union instead of tilting toward NATO and the European Union. So, we paid for
and enabled a coalition of crypto-fascists to rout the duly elected
president. One of the first acts of the US-backed new regime was to declare
punishment of Russian language speakers, and so the predominately
Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine revolted. Russia reacted to all
this instability by seizing the Crimean peninsula, which had been part of
Russia proper both before and through the Soviet chapter of history. The
Crimea contained Russia’s only warm water seaports and naval bases. What
morons in the US government ever thought Russia would surrender those assets
to a newly-failed neighbor state?
Was Vladimir Putin acting irresponsibly in this case? The opposite would
be a much more logical conclusion. And what interest does the United States
have in Ukraine? Surely no more than Russia would have in Texas. And when
else in the entire history of the USA all the way back to George Washington
did any government official declare Ukraine to be America’s business? Answer:
Never. Reason: we have no legitimate interests in that corner of the world.
So why in the early 21st century are we making this such a sore
spot in our foreign relations? Because our waning influence in the world, in
turn a product of our foolish inattention to our own economic problems and
failing polity at home, is driving America batshit crazy.
The rest of the world sees this for exactly what it is, friends, former
friends, and adversaries alike. I wonder what the Germans thought of Jeb’s
intemperate and idiotic speech. Eyes must have rolled in the meeting hall.
After all, Russia is their natural major trading partner. How do
US-orchestrated economic sanctions against Russia work in their interest?
Answer: they don’t. The Germans have been making a lot of discreet noises the
past year about dissociating from America’s stupid program of antagonizing
Russia. Perhaps Jeb’s jingoistic utterances in Berlin will finally push them
over the line.
Meanwhile, Hillary (no last name required) steps out of the starting gate
this week, too, pretending to be the incarnation of Robin Hood, as if she
would ever shut down the financial rackets that have at once impoverished the
former middle-class and enriched grifter opportunists such as Hillary herself.
Her event on Roosevelt Island, New York City, looked like unintentional
self-satire, as if it were staged by the late-great director Robert Altman
for one of his wacky political movies. Hillary’s handlers missed one touch
though: a cape would have gone nicely with that electrifying blue pant-suit.
As for the speech itself, a bigger bundle of platitudes and insincerities has
not been served up since the heyday of Nixon. As the politicians are so fond
of saying these days, make no mistake, Hillary is the New Nixon.
