The best of Nordlinger’s dispatches thus far:
A British journalist asks a question: “America’s power is waning, and no one is in charge in America. So where does that leave you?â€Â
Karzai is somewhat nonplussed by this question (as you might imagine). He says that, without America, Afghanistan would still be occupied by al-Qaeda and other extremists. The Americans are “helping us,†says Karzai, with billions of dollars, and with troops. And the country is sending more troops. Karzai says that the “bulwark†in the effort for Afghanistan is America. And “its power is not diminished.
â€ÂTime and again, this has happened at Davos: A journalist (usually British or American) will ask a question loaded with anti-American bias. And the leader being questioned will say something defensive about America. I will briefly recapitulate a most memorable instance: Americans had just conducted a strike on a target in Pakistan; the Pakistani leadership had not been told in advance about this strike. Someone asked Pervez Musharraf, “How can you tolerate such arrogance and cowboyism from the Americans?†(Again, I am paraphrasing.) “They did not inform you; they violated your precious Pakistani sovereignty. And you are quite rightly a proud people. How can you stand these Americansâ€Â
Musharraf answered essentially as follows: “Yes, it is true that we would have liked to know about the strike. And it is true that we are a proud people, jealous of our sovereignty. But what about al-Qaeda? They are all foreigners  from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Chechnya, and all over. They have no right to be on our territory. They are violating our sovereignty. How come no one ever mentions that? And the Americans are helping us get rid of these foreigners.â€ÂI think that the room was actually shamed.ÂÂ
Well, why shouldn’t that British journo schmuck think that? The NYT tells him it’s so.
It’s not as much fun when they don’t name the journalists.
Vexed, maybe. They are incapable of shame.
And remember, too, only the US is capable of violating the Geneva Conventions. IEDs, truck bombings, mass beheadings, execution of POWs, etc….none of them make the gibbering nincompoops of the media leap to their feet demanding those responsible be held to account. It’s simply assumed they are entitled to do such things while blame is deflected to Chimpy Katrinaburton.
It didn’t have to be this way.
Democrats drove this anti-American crap all to get Bush
How in the world can any American with a heart put a Democrat in the White House.
I don’t actually think the “power” relationship of the USA vs various other countries or collections of countries will remain lopsidedly favoring the US. But I don’t mean that US power is waning; it’s that other powers are growing faster.
Strategy Page mentioned this recently with regards to China.
I don’t know this to be true, but I would hazard a guess that a unipolar world is inherently unstable and the “uni” will attract competition. I’m thinking of the how US auto industry and GM specifically will soon be eclipsed the Japanese auto industry and Toyota, specifically. Who’da’thunk it just 20 years ago?
I understand that the journalists in question are assholes who are openly advocating for and hoping that US “power” wanes – although I didn’t get the impression that Mr. Piranha was advocating so much as observing a, to him, agreeable fact. That fact remains, however, that unless we figure out yet another quantum to leap, the equalization of international power relationships will make it look as if US power is waning.
J.R. Ewing was cool.
The openly sneering leftwing press is just stunning at international events like Davos. I have a new admiration for Karzai and Musharraf.
“Mr. Piranha was advocating so much as observing a, to him, agreeable fact”
I didn’t see any facts, just a lot of questionable opinions and interpretations.
“A British journalist asks a question: “America’s power is waning, and no one is in charge in America.”
OMG! WHAT HAPPENED TO CHENEY???
The openly sneering leftwing press is just stunning at international events like Davos. I have a new admiration for Karzai and Musharraf.
Yeah, ironically enough, I’ve found that the people who stand immediately behind American rifles – whether troops or the people immediately protected – have a much different opinion about America’s power, utility, integrity and good will, than those who are 3 – 5,000 miles to the rear. Open and avowed enemies of America in the immediate rear area, such as western European leftists, notwithstanding… You gotta wonder why it is that a lot of the people supposedly oppressed by our imperialistic power are actually more positive about the U.S. than snotty elitist scum living a high lifestyle in Manhattan.
Just an example of wishful thinking by the Brit journo: “Please, Gaia, let someone agree with me that America is doomed, doomed, dooooomed so I won’t have to see their awful McDonald’s and hear their awful yank accents ever again!”
Because, of course, no other country’s passports feature ANY of their national iconography.
Has he ever SEEN a Russian passport?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Soviet_Passport_Cover.jpg
or, hell, a UK one?
http://hoox.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/uk-passport-cover.jpg
Japan’s has the Imperial Chrysanthemum:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/JapanpassportNew10y.PNG/180px-JapanpassportNew10y.PNG
Those are like twice as busy and loud as ours.
I think what that NPR commentator was referring to was the state seals on the interior pages of the passport ( hence the ´catalogue´ ).
Of course the seals are part of the whole security/authenticity of document. I guess they would want geometric shapes or something that can’t possibly offend anyone.
Personally when looking at one quickly, I don’t even notice the seals in the background.
Nordlinger is certainly one of my favorite writers over at NRO. And, Goldberg. And, Kyoto.
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