THE FOLLY AND THE MADNESS
by Jon Rappoport
These days, we argue about equally insane foreign policy choices. It’s as if we’re walking through a cave wired to explode, and there are dragons hanging from the ceiling and the ground is melting around our feet—and we’re supposed to come up with a triumphant escape route.
No one wonders how we got into the cave in the first place, or what would happen if we simply retraced our steps and forgot about the whole expedition.
No. We’re saviors of the whole world. It’s our duty as a nation to rescue and reform every group and government on the planet. We must democratize people whose idea of democracy is tribal war and sadism.
And with every step we take along this perilous path, the alternatives become narrower and more wretched.
When will it occur to people that US foreign policy, for a very long time, has been engineered to ruin us?
Those who design operations from a high perch know full well that, to destroy a country, you entangle it in foreign problems. You put it in that meat grinder.
The misplaced goal of messianic aid gets you the booby prize, no matter how noble your intentions seem. And what is the corollary to this manic desire to save everyone everywhere? “We are responsible for every bad thing that happens, for every injustice, for every molecule of pain suffered on the face of Earth.”
Imagine you live in a town where the executives of the bank have been committing theft for a long time. They have been skimming money, making loans off the books, cutting back-door deals with cronies, and blackmailing each other. Finally, the slimy details emerge. The years of outrageous behavior are exposed.
Now, as if in a dream, someone walks up to you on the street and says, “You know, you’re to blame for this whole mess.”
That’s foreign policy.
Except the US government and various corporate cronies are not simply long-distance observers. No, they’ve been stirring the pot, they’ve been interfering, in numerous ways, with corrupt governments in foreign lands. They’ve been sending billions in aid and high-tech military weapons to lunatics.
And now (talking about Egypt), they (our leaders) don’t know what to do. They complain about the lack of accurate intelligence that could have predicted the brewing revolution. They try to find someone to blame. They babble about having patience, about the need for an orderly transition, about opposing violence, about democracy and reforms, about including the input of a wide number of groups in the new emerging government.
It’s the kind of conversation a criminal with a very long rap sheet of felonies would be having with his lawyer, in a little room, before his latest trial on a new charge—they engage in earnest discussion about how he should comb his hair and what kind of tie he should wear, to make a good impression on the jury.
Well, how about this for a guiding principle? Whenever it appears the United States needs something from a foreign country, turn around and run. Flee. Instead, do whatever it takes to supply that need at home. How about that as an overarching policy directive? How about that as a strategy of dis-entanglement?
Or: You could say, “The whole world is a web of need, and we are in that web forever, and whatever happens, we are in the business of satisfying needs and having our own needs fulfilled. We are all, on this planet, in one sea of goo and need, and this is our present and future. And given this state of affairs, our job is to elevate the lowest among us, wherever they may be, while preserving freedom.”
I think that’s a fairly good operating definition of insanity.
I also think that those who have designed US foreign policy at the highest levels have had a quite different motive all along. Destruction.
Again, imagine it on a local level. Let’s say you live in a town where you are the only prosperous person. You’ve worked hard to attain your position. And someone approaches you and says, “Look around at what we have. Neighborhoods where crime is rampant. Murder, theft, corruption. We also have businesses where the people in charge are stealing from their own employees. We have families who believe in killing their own when certain arcane rules are broken. And they want us to behave in the same way. There are riots in the streets. Property is being destroyed. From now on, you are in charge. You have to stop all this. You have to change the behavior and the attitudes of these people. It’s your responsibility. In fact, it’s your fault to begin with. They wouldn’t be the way they are if it weren’t for you. You drove them to it. You defaulted on your duty. So now you must dive into the swamp and save everyone else.”
And if you bought that sales job, how long would it take until you destroyed everything you had?
And suppose this person who convinced you of your solemn duty knew exactly what would befall you—and wanted it to happen?
And suppose that is the essence of US foreign policy—and has been, for a long, long time?
Realize, finally, that when enough foreign entanglement has occurred, perception is altered. That’s the real trap. Perception then tells us that things cannot be any other way. It would be absurd to consider it. Our need and our dependence are forever.
Isn’t that exactly what those in control want to invoke? Isn’t that exactly the spirit which breeds ironclad tyranny? Look around you. Aren’t there many people who, indeed, want to take that plunge—and who somehow have convinced themselves that, through this route, they will arrive in paradise?
JON RAPPOPORT