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Lord
Acton most famously said, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." I think it was US President Thomas Jefferson who said, "If you would
know a man's character give him power." It's a great pity George Dubya Bush isn't a better student of international affairs. But then he'd travelled out of the
USA only twice before squeaking in as president. His humiliation on a TV show when unable to name even a few world leaders won't easily be forgotten.
Bush has
screwed up big time with his invasion of Iraq. As many of us predicted way before he and his supremely egotistic cabinet hawk, Donald Rumsfelt, sent American cannon
fodder into Iraq - it will yet become his Vietnam. With Presidential elections again looming on the horizon and with Dubya's clear desire to hold on to power, his spin
doctors and campaign strategists are going to be hard pressed to placate an increasingly fractious American public. Once the initial surge of hand-over-heart and Old
Glory flag waving is over, the American public is notoriously short on sustainability.
Having cocked a right royal snook at the UN, Germany, France and a host of
other nations, Dubya is now 'eating craw' as the Yanks say and having to ask for help. Most nations are refusing to commit troops or resources unless they're under UN
supervision.
Bush's latest posturing is about 'new measures' to ensure regime change in Cuba. Fidel Castro has seen ten US presidents come and go. I hope he
gets to see this one go too. America continues to play a dangerous and meddlesome game in international politics. Considering that Bush's campaign stump speeches
promised less involvement in foreign country issues and more focus on American needs, he's swung seriously off course. What he's discovered is the conventional wisdom
of "When you're in trouble light a fire on your neighbour's doorstep." Whenever US presidents get into trouble, or their economy flounders, they go to war -
even if it means beating up on a little island like Grenada. Not only does it divert attention from the fire on their own doorstep but it unfailingly focuses the
wavering loyalty and patriotism of the unthinking, today largely obese, American masses.
Ariel Sharon, Bush's Nazi-like genocide expert and emotional Siamese
twin, enjoys US sanction as he builds his Berlinesque wall. He continues to lift pages from Dubya's book on bully-boy politics. So long as the American (minority)
Jewish vote with its (major) fiscal clout wields such influence, every US president, unless he or she is a person of high personal integrity, will kow-tow to Israeli
government demands - and ignore their nuclear capability into the bargain. Pull a Reverend Jesse Jackson approach on the crowd and you won't get beyond the party
presidential nomination starting blocks.
The irrational will naturally attempt to justify Sharon's actions. Perhaps the best prognosis for the Middle East lies
in the removal of both Sharon and Arafat, so the people can get on with their lives, free from the domination of these testosterone driven has-beens.
Dubya's
sabre rattling at Teheran on the nuclear proliferation issue has no doubt given Sharon the chutzpah to strike in turn at Damascus, under cover of their allegedly
giving safe harbour to terrorist movements. The definition of 'terrorist' movement is interesting of course. The ANC was classed as one. Why are the Palestinians now
struggling for a foothold on steadily eroding home turf called terrorists, just because they don't accommodate Sharon's xenophobic strategy?
It's time for the
international community to respond as mature, fair and honest brokers. Dubya has taken it upon himself to play global cop. He's over-committing stretched military
resources in places around the world in his obsession with regime changes. I believe he's in for a shock in the not too distant future. The oldest and most effective
form of warfare was possibly pioneered by the Boers against the British. No standing army - its 'smart weapons' notwithstanding - is a match for people with their
backs to the wall, and a willingness to die for their cause. The future of warfare is the suicide bomber and guerrilla hit-and-run tactics. Over time they will wear
down the spirit, the resources and the economy of the USA, all because Americans have a president more interested in politics than people or peace.
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