It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
The date on the calendar may almost be 2013, but on history’s clock what time is it? Long ago and far away apparently. Robert Kaplan, writing in the Wall Street Journal says that the ‘universal values’ proclaimed by Western elites at the fall of the Berlin Wall are everywhere in retreat. Nationalist and ethnic rivalries are back.
In country after country, the Westerners identify like-minded, educated elites and mistake them for the population at large. They prefer not to see the regressive and exclusivist forces—such as nationalism and sectarianism—that are mightily reshaping the future.
It is the Moustache Petes who are winning. The metropolitan, hip crowd are on the defensive anyplace one looks. Whether in Tahrir Square, the battered towns of Syria, the disputed seas of Northeast Asia or the sensitive borders of Indian subcontinent, sectarianism and nationalism are resurgent, which is another way of saying that the post-war bipolar and unipolar worlds have collapsed. Welcome to the way things used to be. The future as announced has been postponed.
Kaplan is aghast. He notes that Nobel Committee awarded its peace prize to the EU as “a statement against this trend” but nevertheless acknowledges that “the age of deepening European integration is likely behind us. Get ready to see more nasty and thoroughly frightening political groupings like Greece’s Golden Dawn emerge across the Continent.”
Paul Bracken in his book The Second Nuclear Age (which I am now reading) believes that not only is sectarianism back, it also will be nuclear armed. We are intellectually unprepared for it lulled into a stupor by a fairy tale of our own making. Bracken argues that right after the Berlin Wall fell Western elites did everything in their power to edit out the role that strategy played in keeping the peace. Why they did this is fertile ground for intellectual inquiry. But my own guess is the rewrite was to hide the fact that social democracy was also on the losing side of history. For if history judged that Soviet bigness would not inherit the earth then some means had to be found to disculpate similar Western institutions from the same judgment.
The way out was to differentiate between the two rival systems in terms of their consciousness, not their institutional likeness. That emphasis on “values” freed every Western government to spend the “peace dividend” on their own special kind of bigness. Moreover, it appealed to the lazy by making further rigorous efforts to keep the new found peace unnecessary. Attributing the fall of the USSR to a deus ex machina reduced international stability to a given. Conflict? That’s so yesterday dude.
It is now argued that the cold war was won by Western values. Liberty free markets and democracy triumphed over tyranny, state control, and military overspending. Nothing, it is now said, could stand in the way of Western values winning out …
For all practical purposes U.S. dependence on nuclear weapons went to zero. Nuclear forces were left to rot, technologically and intellectually … I cannot think of any policy in American history, not the Monroe Doctrine, not liberal internationalism, not containment, that had more widespread, bipartisan support. The problem is … other countries simply didn’t buy it …
It wasn’t just a handful of rogue nations like North Korea that went nuclear … India the world’s largest democracy, joined the nuclear club. China upgraded its nuclear forces … add Russia to this group … along with the secondary nuclear powers Pakistan, Israel …
There are nine countries with the bomb. Eight have modernized their nuclear arsenals … The one exception is the United States. In the world of the second nuclear age, it is misguided for America to continue the charade that nuclear weapons are useless. Other countries sure don’t think so, and they are the ones that count.
But perhaps no strategic thought is required to move forward. Surely the Cold War was not won by effort but by Reagan’s Irish luck or if you don’t believe in things like shamrocks and leprechauns then at least credit historical destiny.
But the world was already changing even then. The same forces which toppled the Soviet Union soon began to eat at the foundations of ‘Soviet like’ central agencies like the EU and the US Federal government. And so we arrive at our present world. Robert Kaplan correctly notes that the best days of the EU are now behind it. He forgot to add that no number of Nobel Peace prize statements will rescue it. The Westernized elites of the new globalized world are competing against the pride of the nations and the edge of the sword. And they have not yet learned how.
It’s a new world out there. And like the shepherds two millenia ago we will find that we are not exempt from learning how to live with the changes in it. Merry Christmas to all and peace on earth to men of good will.
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“Merry Christmas to all and peace on earth to men of good will”. Agreed, wholeheartedly. The other side of the coin is “retribution to those of ill will”. There are far too many of the latter, and many or perhaps most of them have not felt the retribution they deserve. They will.
Note of optimism from a notorious skeptic…V.S. Naipaul in a speech titled, “Our Universal Civilization” given back in 1990 at the time of the crumbling of walls…
“A later realization—I suppose I have sensed it most of my life, but I have understood it philosophically only during the preparation of this talk—has been the beauty of the idea of the pursuit of happiness. Familiar words, easy to take for granted; easy to misconstrue. This idea of the pursuit of happiness is at the heart of the attractiveness of the civilization to so many outside it or on its periphery. I find it marvelous to contemplate to what an extent, after two centuries, and after the terrible history of the earlier part of this century, the idea has come to a kind of fruition. It is an elastic idea; it fits all men. It implies a certain kind of society, a certain kind of awakened spirit. I don’t imagine my father’s parents would have been able to understand the idea. So much is contained in it: the idea of the individual, responsibility, choice, the life of the intellect, the idea of vocation and perfectibility and achievement. It is an immense human idea. It cannot be reduced to a fixed system. It cannot generate fanaticism. But it is known to exist; and because of that, other more rigid systems in the end blow away.”
Merry Christmas!
Nationalist and ethnic rivalries are back.
Somebody tell Obambus, and cc John F. Kerry: there is an America after all.
Don’t bother cc’ing Hildabeast, she’s just been watching sugarplums dancing for the last two weeks and has already checked out for the nonce, and frankly was never into such academia after all.
I was a “citizen of the world” in the ‘60s and ‘70s, in my dreams. It was 9/11/01 that finally taught me the fatuity of that idea. Those striving to rule the world have a hard time giving it up, apparently.
In honor of Christmas, and with best wishes to W and all BC’ers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1RM0Lc0I9Y
I do not believe that the US is finished. There is always the diversity that individual states can provide.
Merry Christmas Richard and all who click on you.
In a few hours, where I am, it will be midnight, and a moment later Christmas day, a day that says that most of the problems of the world could be solved with one word: LOVE
CHRISTMAS 2012
Christmas is children and family and friends
And love that is shared the year ‘round
The circle complete, for the love never ends
In children and family it’s found
We gather today ‘neath the trimmed Christmas tree
To honor the One who was born
On that day long ago that the world longed to see
A world that was sore and forlorn
The love that we give to our family and friends
Surrounds us like heavenly mist
That circles the globe and to heaven ascends
For love is what angels have kissed
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO RICHARD AND ALL BELMONT CLUBBERS
I believe it was Ralph Peters (American military writer and analyst) who coined the phrase: “the tribes are back.” And that is quite true. The evidence was there for those who wanted to see it all along: The breakup of Yugoslavia into ethnic and national enclaves; the warlordism in Somalia; Iraq under Husseain; Iran; the Palestinians, North Korea – none of them share Western values, all believe in blood, soil, the volk and weapons.
Disarmament, both nuclear and conventional, was and is the worst kind of folly. It guarantees aggression, and sooner or later the American bluff of trying to do without nuclear weapons will be called. With no great power to act as Hegemon to maintain world norms and order, the future is easy to see: A clash of civilzations as China, Islam, India strive for power. Tribalism warlordism (as in the Congo today). And more than that, as Muslums see their power grow, aggressiveness will grow with it. We may yet see nuclear or chemical terrorism in the USA. We will definetely see war in the Middle East with weapons of mass destruction – the leadership of Iran has already said this is their goal.
So, what will the future be like? The future will be like the past, as the Greeks pointed out during the Pelepponesian war: the strong do as they will and weak suffer what they must. The American people will pay a very heavy price for their leaders decision to be weak.
The university I used to work for had a “learning outcome” entitled “global citizenship.” I tried to point out that this was an oxymoron.
It was then decided that each of the students would decide for themselves what the phrase meant. WASC wanted us to assess whether students were meeting this learning outcome.
I pointed out that since there was no single definition of global citizenship it would be impossible to measure whether students acquired it.
I am no longer employed at that university.
Merry Christmas to all.
Merry Christmas BCers.
What I still want to know is: whose idea was it to tone down American consulate security to present a more welcoming, more open appearance to Mid-East locals to enhance America’s image in the world?
That theory was always dangerous; but if it was the correct theory, then Benghazi was an unfortunate incident but not cause to fortify and arm up. The fact we’re abandoning the theory makes it look as if we’re rebuking the proponant of the theory and wasn’t that . . . President Obama himself?
So, the President’s idea was wrong: dangerously, stupidly and perhaps even criminally so? Is that what we’re saying? Cuz that’s certainly what it sounds like we’re saying, just not in so many words.
Look to the Feds who are openly shilling a racist agenda. They do so not out of some quant pseudo-scientific ideology but more to divide and concur. And guess what? If you don’t like it… you’re a racist! I grew up in a multi-ethnic integrated, however imperfectly, melting pot of a country.
When do those who have been swept into the genetically inferior race category tire of having to celebrate somebody else dancing on their own grave? When do you suppose children will be required to observe European Ancestry Month at school? Answer: never.
And a great man came and extolled us all to value the individual. The state saw no opportunity in that and so we value special interests of the self appointed aggrieved.
It is the Moustache Petes who are winning. The metropolitan, hip crowd are on the defensive anyplace one looks.
…………..
Except for the USA.
Merry Christmas.
Thank you to Richard and all the BCers who made this year a touchstone of common sense, a true North seeking compass heading. Merry Christmas, Peace on Earth to all of good will. Knight1
It would be a slur on Christianity to ascribe left wing pacifism to it. At worst we can trace Quietest influences from early church history to 18th and 19th century revivalism to Socialism. Elements were made vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation by traitors and enemies is a fair statement.
The world is rooted in the Old Testament. “Vengeance is Mine” We need to do the Lord’s work.
Per #14, thank you Richard and BCers for a year of true common (that is to say, uncommon) sense.
#11 . The question is ;why does the press still call Benghazi a consulate when even the Pickering report correctly identified it as a ‘Special Misson’with all the espionage that phrase implies. Perhaps if the press explored that aspect we’d find out what really was going on there ,and why it was left undefended with a proper security contingent .
#11 . The question is ;why does the press still call Benghazi a consulate when even the Pickering report correctly identified it as a ‘Special Misson’with all the espionage that phrase implies ? Perhaps if the press explored that aspect we’d find out what really was going on there ,and why it was left undefended with a proper security contingent .
Merry Christmas, Richard, and all the clubbers.
Merry Christmas to all BC’ers and to you Richard. You are the gift that keeps giving all year long.
Over the weekend my wife and I were browsing the stores in Georgetown (CO), and I found a set of Churchill’s World War II series. I’m reading “The Gathering Storm”. The way he describes how the WWI allies threw away their opportunities to create and preserve a lasting peace has so many parallels with our own history since WWII. He predicts that the same thing could happen again and that the outcome could be much worse. I guess we may be about to find out.
Unlike the ‘precision’ targeting of American nukes and to various degrees of those of the old club, the second generation nukes are indeed weapons of Phobos and Deimos. Their targets will not be specific military installations or capabilities. Rather, they will be urban centers. Somewhat fitting that the urban elites who have done so much to drag down their cultures and societies should be the first to feel the consequences of their bankrupt intellect in the world they have done so much to shape.
The Liberal victory celebrations will come to a very bright and warm end when A NorK missile, loaded with a nuke vaporizes San Francisco or an Atomic VIED shipped by Islamic freedom fighters detonates in New York’s harbor.
Merry Christmas Richard and Fellow Belmonters!
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Years ago, an article in National Review suggested revising US political units into what the author called “shires”. Bigger than several counties–east of the Mississippi counties, presumably–but not much so, they’d have their own flag and their own army, and, again presumably, customs and duties at the borders.
The article’s point was not the details of the organization, but the assertion that the human mind can’t get itself, and its loyalties, around anything larger than the suggested shire.
So, in the aftermath of the fall of the Sovs, we saw what seemed like municipalities–Nagorno whatsit–trying to get loose from whatever surrounded it.
Brings up the question of how the West managed to get the citizens of the various countries, some small like New Zealand or Holland or the UK, and some large like Canada and the US and Australia, and France and….to be loyal to some considerably larger enterprise.
The process avoided tribes and shires and balkanization.
How? Can it be exported without massive cultural impositions? On the other hand, if tribes fight each other, are the rest of us safer? Somebody referred to the Balkans as producing more history than they can consume locally. Just letting them be, letting them do what they’ve done for centuries might work. Don’t even watch. Ditto other places.
So where does that leave us?
Obama’s pushing national security over the Cliff.
Obama’s fashioning some sort of nuclear disarmament treaty with the Russians.
Wide open immigration, what are we saying about that? Surely there a corruptive valueless-ness there?
Timbuktu comes to us.
@11 and 17
Embassy security measures are a constant battle within State, security versus “openness”. If security is strong, then certain elements within State wail and thrash at the “draconian” security measures that prevent them from conducting diplomacy. If security is weak, people die. As strong as security may seem at some diplomatic posts, it is a constant battle of wills to even keep that modest level of security in place. As long as embassy security is controlled by the bureaucrats within State, then this problem will persist.
Having the military in charge of security won’t work as well as many mistakenly believe. First, many other countries tolerate Marine Security Guards (MSGs) as they are sold as being internal defense for classified information, plus their numbers are usually very small. Adding large numbers of Marines or other U.S. military with any obviously belligerent mission will not go over well. The host country can simply not allow any U.S. military into THEIR country. I suppose we could try to force countries to accept an increased U.S. military footprint, but that is usually called an invasion…
Further, who will the increased military assets report to, the Ambassador (Chief of Mission) or the Combatant Commander? It is one or the other. If the Chief of Mission, that is not much of a change from how things are now. If the Combatant Commander, then that usurps the Chief of Mission’s authority as being in charge of their own diplomatic mission. This is a current problem when a non-Chief of Mission military element is sent in to support security. Who actually controls that military element? On paper, it is still under control of the Combatant Commander.
Anyhow, diplomatic mission security isn’t the easy fix it may seem. As a start, the security agency with State, Diplomatic Security, should be independent, reporting directly to the Secretary of State. As it is now, it reports through multiple career bureaucrats with no law enforcement, military, or security experience… Place a career law enforcement, military, or security professional in charge of Diplomatic Security and have that person be the Secretary of State’s personal security expert. Until last week’s pseudo resignation, the head of Diplomatic Security was a career bureaucrat with no law enforcement, military, or security experience, who reported to the Undersecretary for Management, another non-security bureaucrat. So, two career bureaucrats with no relevant experience were in charge of Diplomatic Security. The third person in the chain was the first career security/law enforcement person. What a mess…
“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”. For my money, the most beautiful, most poignant of the many musical tributes to the holiday. I’m going to have to sit down and listen to it again tonight. And perhaps grieve that there are so many around me that do not and will not feel what that song makes me feel. Yes, I know it’s historically inaccurate and deeply flawed and blah blah blah. It’s a beautiful piece of art, one with real meaning, and should be appreciated as such even by self-important academics and hipster weenies. They can go back to worshipping at the altar of “Piss Christ” after those of us who are a little wiser are done for the season with paying homage to the real article.
“the ‘universal values’ proclaimed by Western elites at the fall of the Berlin Wall are everywhere in retreat”
Let’s hope so. Never forget that USSR was proclaimed a new civilization of universal socialism that would replace the old decrepit nation-states. These ‘universalist values’ should be in retreat. They have been tried and they end in mass murder, starvation, brutality and tyranny.
They are destroying my country, whose rulers are at war with their formerly-own people. Where ‘universalist values’ have triumphed (the EUSSR), the rulers are corrupt aristocratic pedophiles who loot their own subjects, spread war around the globe, and have the gall to conceive of themselves as ‘nice people.’
In a just country, western ‘elites’ would be sent to the guillotine; in a civilized country, to prison. In the EUSSA… they rule.
#26 thanks , Perhaps if we could hear from the some 30 people rescued we would have a little more insight.They seem to have dropped off the face of the planet. I haven’t even seen a list of their names.
The Pickering report seems to suggest that this “mission” was being operated without the knowlege of the host government .