Friday, September 02, 2005
Another storm forms, this one off the coast of Europe
It's too easy to become completely involved with the Katrina disaster and lose track of other world events.
Yet another global disaster may be in the making, traceable to right-wing world views and the vacuum of American leadership.
Turkey has long been the bridge between East and West, a nation that has a democratic tradition rivaling that of many European countries, an immense sophistication, and most vitally, a tradition of secular government within an Islamic culture.
Sadly, it is also a corrupt and repressive country, an empire that rotted out and never accepted its fall from power, which tempted it into a stupid war over Cyprus that has left feelings raw. Its attitude toward the Kurds approaches the genocidal.
And so integrating Turkey into the EU was seen as a way to establish a genuine outpost for democracy in the Middle East. Now, thanks to clumsy dealings by Europe's latest right-winger, Germany's Merkel, and due to xenophobia in many European nations, Turkey is threatening to pull out of application for EU membership permanently. This would almost certainly push Turkey into a leadership role in an Islamic bloc, and further diminish Western influence in the Middle East. The long term effects would be a serious setback to world stability.
Where is American leadership?
Oh, right.
Doing photo-ops and buying shoes.
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See, this is why I don't buy the really Byzantine "let it happen on purpose" theories with regard to 9/11, New Orleans, and other horrors.
It's not that Bush and his minions aren't depraved enough to consider planning such intricate plots. It's that they're simply too stupid to do so.
Look at how they botched Iraq. If they'd had competently evil people in charge of the CPA, Iraq now would look much as it did under Saddam: oppressed, and with billions of extra craters, but under some semblance of order. We'd have killed a few tens of thousands to get Saddam Redux, but at least things wouldn't be appreciably worse than under Saddam.
But instead the Bushies put political hacks and College Republicans in key positions. The kids couldn't even be trusted to preserve the goose that was laying their golden eggs. Governance, even of the ham-fisted style of Saddam, was simply beyond these kids, so they didn't even try it.
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It's not that Bush and his minions aren't depraved enough to consider planning such intricate plots. It's that they're simply too stupid to do so.
Look at how they botched Iraq. If they'd had competently evil people in charge of the CPA, Iraq now would look much as it did under Saddam: oppressed, and with billions of extra craters, but under some semblance of order. We'd have killed a few tens of thousands to get Saddam Redux, but at least things wouldn't be appreciably worse than under Saddam.
But instead the Bushies put political hacks and College Republicans in key positions. The kids couldn't even be trusted to preserve the goose that was laying their golden eggs. Governance, even of the ham-fisted style of Saddam, was simply beyond these kids, so they didn't even try it.
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