LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sir – Current world events have me thinking we are careening toward an abyss, and that abyss is opening up in the US.
Leaving aside for a moment whether the recent visa ban in the US is constitutional or not, whether Crimea belongs to Russia or Ukraine, which side in the Syrian civil war is in the right, who owns what in the South China Sea and pretty much every other controversy raging on the international scene, there seems to be a colour revolution taking shape in the US.
As has been noted by someone whose name I cannot remember, a successful revolution is little more than the kicking in of a rotten door. And while I do subscribe to the notion that the US is run by a band of oligarchs based in New York and Washington D. C., I do not think the ruling structure of the US is as weak as a rotten door. On the contrary, it is immensely powerful both militarily and financially, and it will not fold easily.
And therein lies the abyss. A successful revolution is one thing, but an unsuccessful revolution is another thing entirely.
An unsuccessful revolution invites a counter revolution. Given the military and financial strength of the US both in the world and within the US, coupled with the full spectrum surveillance system that is now in place, do we really want to go there?
I know I don’t.
We still have the vote. Better by far to work with what we have, to embrace what we like and to work to change what we don’t.
But to be manipulated by one oligarch in his/her fight with another oligarch is to start down a steep incline towards a yawning abyss.
Hal Duell
Alice Springs
Saturday, April 20, 2024
The freedom of the press still furnishes that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide – Chicago Tribune.
“You have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down” claimed Adolf Hitler as on June 22, 1941, he launched the biggest military operation of World War Two with the commencement of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union – the most destructive military campaign in human history.
Hitler ultimately was proved wrong but crucially the Nazis might have pulled it off had it not been for the intervention of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour a few months later, and Hitler unwisely declared war on the United States in support of his erstwhile ally.
From that moment on the outcome of the war (as Winston Churchill exalted) was never in doubt.
Hal Duell isn’t alone in his view the world is forgetting the bitter lessons of that conflict.
Incidentally, it will soon be the 75th anniversary of the first Japanese air raid on Darwin; and such occasions are very useful in reminding us not just of earlier sacrifice but how much we stand to lose if we fail to learn the lessons of history.
Thanks for your quote, Alex, but I’ve found my source, and it’s a bit more nebulous.
In an article by John Derbyshire in The Unz Review dated February 4, 2017 he cited an old historians’ cliche that a successful revolution is always the kicking in of a rotten door.
So no name, but a reasonably accurate comment, as cliches so often are.
I would also like to expand a bit on my above opinion.
I am not saying that community action doesn’t work or is always counterproductive. This was shown in the recent reversal by the NT Police who first stated that they wanted to close our police station during the night time hours.
After community meetings and many comments in, among others, the Alice Springs News Online, the NT Police reversed their decision and agreed to keep the cop shop open 24/7.
A bit like another old cliche – think global but act local.
Motivated by the imperative of economic expansionism, fostering an open and integrated international order, US became a superpower: the last world empire.
Raise and fall of empires:
Empires are forged by people believing in a common identity to serve to unite the people and assign the people of the empire a sense of cultural superiority.
Lose that and the death bells begin to toll.
To conquer over vast areas you had to have been doing something right!
However over time, overbearance begins to take over as empires begin to assume their dominance is based on anything but the effectiveness of their armies. They fail to adapt to changing trends or even worse remain blind to their own strategic weaknesses.
Decline begins to set in when the empire is diverted from attacking external enemies to deal with internal rebellions.
Rebellions started by ambitious officials wanting to use the power granted them by the Crown to supplant the Crown.
Yes Hal, the US Republicans have pulled their country and the world into an abyss.
The questions we have to asked are: How deep is the Abyss? Will we as we always do jump with the US?
Evelyne: I think it misleading and dangerous to assign all the blame for this emerging abyss to the Republicans. The Clintons corrupted and Obama enabled Democrats were (are) also in it up to their necks.
Also, it’s important to remember that when the oligarchs fight, it’s always and only over who gets to control your wallet.
They’re two peas in a pod, those Republicans and Democrats.
And with Jill Stein taking the US Greens into an untenable position by becoming shrills for defeated Hillary, where this leaves the US electorate is not an encouraging place.
When the Martians invaded Jupiter, there was a Warp Drive failure which resulted in their having to listen to 8HA non-stop for three days.
It filled their headsets relentlessly even though they attempted to clear it every time they checked for email.
After the battle of 1840, they returned home dumbstruck by the pop music of Jupiter and gave up all thought of conquering anybody again.
Worse was to come, they busied themselves with climate change theory for the next thousand years and nobody played golf, so it got very dry.
They didn’t learn from this either.
It seems that Trump has drunk the kool-aid.
With the resignation of General Flynn from his position of National Security Advisor, we can now expect the new refrain of the Trump foreign policy to be a continuation of Obama’s “Russia must return Crimea to Ukraine” and “Assad must go” and “Iran is the terror capital of the world”.
Feel free to repeat. The second verse is the same as the first, as I am sure even an atonal unemployed comedian from the outer reaches of our solar system would understand.
Say good-by to any more talk of no more foreign intervention, and say hello to four, and having drunk the kool-aid probably eight, more years of unending and unwinnable war.
By drinking the kool-aid, Trump exactly mirrors what happened to Obama in the early days of his presidency. We can pin his betrayal of his pastor and childhood friend, Rev Jeremiah Wright Jr. to the moment when “Yes, we can!” became “But we won’t!”.
While Mr Trump has his work cut out for him to create manufacturing jobs in the US, he has certainly opened up employment for comedians.
Looking forward to your corresponding commentary on Pauline Hanson and One Nation, Hal.