In my last blog entry I wrote of my assessment and analysis of the WikiLeaks story. There are others who’ve also blogged, written and discussed the topic as well. In the end our assessments are fairly similar: the oligarchs and compassionate conservative religiosities of this former republic are sanctimonious, egotistical bullies almost without equal.
Michael Brenner, Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations in the Huffington Post writes:
“Know thy Enemy is the famed dictum of the renown Chinese military thinker Sun Tzu. He took for granted something even more crucial: know thyself. Yet, Americans routinely ignore that latter counsel -- at our growing peril. That uncomfortable truth becomes abundantly clear when immersing oneself in the dense cable traffic revealed to us by Wikileaks. Their exposure of the mindset and outlook of the country's policy-makers and diplomats is more telling than any of the details. For it reveals who we are, who we think we are, and how that self conception is out of line with both world realities and others' perception of us…
Most striking is the unstated but pervasive belief that the United States is wiser, more skillful and dedicated than anybody else…
A second manifestation is the disparagement of anyone else's opinion…
Another cardinal feature of the prevailing American attitude, about which we exhibit no self awareness, is the reflex to divide foreigners into the two categories of "pro-American" or "anti-American."
A third feature of the American mindset is set in stark relief by the Wikileak cables. It is the identity in our officials' minds of the American national interest with the world's interest. In instance after instance, they declare the cavalier premise that Washington's foreign policy serves the well-being of the international community.
There is another singular feature of how the United States sees itself that takes shape as we read these cables. It is the extraordinary sense of entitlement. An entitlement endowed by 9/11. It hallows all those other characteristic American traits with a robe of righteousness. Our unique virtue, our superior wisdom, our mission to save the world, our right to judge and to proclaim, our authority to set new rules or to break old ones -- all is rendered true and just by the calamity that we have endured. America feels that it has found in 9/11 a diplomatic ace that wittingly or not matches the Israelis' use of the Holocaust. It is not at all clear, though, that it serves us well.”
What can I add to that? At the outset, hear, hear!!!
The following words from a not so long ago time serve as well.
“I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. . .” - Martin Luther King
From Texas Red: a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable apartheid public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way…
Hasta Siempre,
Hasta Siempre,
More:
WikiLeaks: The Three Faces of Uncle Sam
Public Policy: Wikileaks, attacked, assailed, maligned by all the usual suspects……
Jemima Khan Offers To Pay Julian Assange Bail After His Arrest
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/jemima-khan-offers-to-pay-julian-assange-bail-after-his-arrest_1188090
A People's History of the United States – Howard Zinn
http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-P-S/dp/0061965588/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290505605&sr=1-1
Profiles in Courage
13 Bankers
Winner take all Politics
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_24?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=winner+take+all+politics&sprefix=winner+take+all+politics
Slavery by Another Name
Illusions of Justice
The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990
“However, James W. Marquart, Sheldon Ekland-Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen offer a more complex thesis. In their book, The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990,[5] they argue that Texas' execution rate reflects the Southern "cultural tradition of exclusion," and that "[s]uch exclusion was a basic element of the legacy of slavery."
The Powers That Be
The Best and the Brightest
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_35?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+powers+that+be+david+halberstam&sprefix=the+powers+that+be+david+halberstam#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_46?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+best+and+the+brightest+by+david+halberstam&sprefix=the+best+and+the+brightest+by+david+halberstam&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Athe+best+and+the+brightest+by+david+halberstam
back to the McCarthy witchunt days……
Amazon stops hosting WikiLeaks website
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101201/wr_nm/us_wikileaks_amazon
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