Moe Lane, on Barack Obama’s plans to push for a worldwide ban on all fissile material:
In other words, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) just informed at least four of our allies, one friendly neutral power, one of our rivals, and not incidentally, us, that he wants to turn off the lights: and he’s also told a future strategic rival that the round-eyes are still dedicated to holding down the Middle Kingdom. Don’t think that they won’t notice: don’t think that this won’t appall some, and confirm all the stereotypes of the rest; and don’t think that the aforementioned rivals are going to be as tolerantly amused at the simplisme naif as the French will be.
Foreign Relations 090, Senator: First, do no harm. It’s a simple concept to learn.
Gee. Maybe he shoulda just stuck to the whole anti-“anti-“ campaign.
Interestingly, this is what American hegemony and cultural arrogance truly looks like — especially when juxtaposed against some of our other “hegemonic” and “colonialist” impulses, like, say, pushing on those not historically readied for such concepts self-determination, natural rights, and the kinds of bourgeois Enlightenment principles that can be readily deconstructed by those who’ve discovered that man is responsible for the creation of his own paradigms, and that no metaphysical necessity or objective moral reality intrudes upon the formation of myriad worldviews, each of which needs be “judged” in the pragmatic context of contingency, irony, and solidarity: the give and take of consensus as governed by persuasion and will reinforced by state force.
Of course, the latter form of hegemony has the benefit, at least, of creating net positives: freedom, representative democracy, individualism, the idea of man as having certain inalienable rights that cannot be constrained by any governing power presumptuous enough to put a boot on a neck; but as it no longer carries with it the kind of religious fervor that progressives bring to their secular crusades — in this case, a marriage of convenience between environmental superficialists and those who believe that paper proclamations can do away with anything they deem unseemly (Obama’s plan would naturally create a condition in which those cynical enough to flout such a ban would find themselves rewarded for having done so, with power arrangements shifting as result of such feel-good nonsense — making this yet another Kyoto-esque attempt by the west to commit cultural suicide) — it can be shrugged off as just so much dated historical discursiveness, a base rationalism whose moment has passed.
Whereas hopeitude and changeyness is a form of new universal — man-made and endlessly malleable in its deployment, the elevation over a Hobbesian conception of mankind of benevolent secular will that, in its essence, is no more than a romantic revisiting of totalitarianism, only more ambitious, and meant to played out on the world stage by the troupe of transnational progressivism. Authoritarianism dressed up in theatrical garb. Sad clowns laughing on the inside.
But because this refurbished governing impulse exists within the paradigm of postmodernist thinking — and proceeds through linguistic observations drawn from a poststructuralist conception of language — it cannot, by nature, be “hegemonic,” in that it perfectly expresses, by analogue of deed, the world as it truly is: a creation of man that is controlled, whenever it is so, by an aggregate of will and power, consensus and persuasion.
Which is why, while we may hear a few mutterings from the more committed leftist thinkers about overreach and timing, we aren’t likely to hear a critique of such plans based on the structural impulses of the thinking behind it — given that such thinking proceeds directly from the kind of philosophical and linguistic imperatives that eschews any universal other than (ironically) the blanket dismissal of universals themselves.
Or not. I’ve had two 16-oz Rockstar energy drinks in the last half hour — a way to counteract a decided lack of sleep — so its possible that the above is really no more than paranoid fantasies brought about by a caffeine insurrection targeting vulnerable areas of my brain.
In which case, I apologize to transnational progressives and the new Messiah for my heretical musings, and duly beg the forgiveness of whatever will to power happens to control the next stage of social organization and (localized) cultural evolution.
Amen.
Duck and cover. And never, ever, stare at the light.
Caffeine is good for the soul, Jeff.
And you’re dead-on, Obama is an insufferably arrogant, hypocritical moron. Which makes his Anointmentness pretty “ineverabur,” given who’s doing the anointmentingism.
Sorry, I had a lot of caffeine, too.
Ah! The very model of the modern liberal!
Where does the fissile material go after you ban it? Maybe we can give it to those nice UN people. Brilliant. He’s gonna be the bestest president ever!
Oh. Don’t we have like really big boats what kind of need that stuff? Hmmm. Baracky will know what to do. He’s terribly clever.
This paragraph says it all:
“But because this refurbished governing impulse exists within the paradigm of postmodernist thinking  and proceeds through linguistic observations drawn from a poststructuralist conception of language  it cannot, by nature, be “hegemonic,†in that it perfectly expresses, by analogue of deed, the world as it truly is: a creation of man that is controlled, whenever it is so, by an aggregate of will and power, consensus and persuasion.”
Don’t judge them. Don’t you dare judge them, for they have decided what is good for you whether you like it or not and whether you are too stupid to vote for it or not. So There!
“I will not weaponize space.”
Who ever, ever suggested that “space” could be converted into a weapon?
Oh, er: weaponize.
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“I will not weaponize space.â€Â
Besides, the Chinese seem intent on cornering that particular market. We should just leave it in their capable and ethical “toy and pet food exporting” hands.
First, I apologize for dropping my newest post so soon; I’ll have to start checking the admin panel more often.
Second, at the micro-level, ditching nuclear power while staying on side of the Inconvenient Troofers has definite implications for the future living standard globally, though Obama will likely pretend that wind and solar can do the trick that they have proven unable to accomplish to date.
Third, at a broader level, we heard the hysteria about “weaponizing” space in the 1980s, after Reagan first proposed SDI. I had a conversation with a Soviet diplomat (who will remain nameless, as I believe is an even higher-ranking Russian diplomat today) who made few bones about the fact that the US tech advantage in these fields was driving Soviet strategic policy. It’s why Gorbachev tried his desperate gambit on SDI at Rejkyavik and why — after that failed — it was a few short years to the erosion and collapse of the Berlin Wall. Peter Schweitzer’s Victory tells the US side of this story pretty well.
Did you hear the litany of things he’s against?
My god, he’s a fucking pacifist!
Mao Zedong come first,
Then get Deng, just like Reagan
Follow poor Carter.
Now Obama coming,
Who can soundly beat McCain
And bring fine future.
My only point is that “weaponize” has a specific meaning, and the fact that the mangling of that meaning has a great deal of tradition behind it is of no immediate interest to me.
As I recall, the soundbites were filled with references not to space, but to “the heavens”.
Slart,
I understood your point, which is why I scarequoted it. You might even be right about “the heavens,” though your linguistic claim would stand there also. I’m just pointing out the mindset is not new on this issue (as Jeff did at an even more general level in the initial post).
im hopeful that O is just setting up for good cop bad cop.
im hopeful that nishi will eventually wake up and stop trying to rationalize away the obvious with pure fantasy.
i figure the odds are about the same.
“This, the Periodic Table. Period? What? Table. It’s…abortiony. The words.”
“That’s not helpful.”
“It’s a rape manual!”
“Yeah, that’s…that other thing. Big…circles?…stuff. I mean, good, but–”
“Okay. So. Uh. I’m looking at it. It’s boxes.”
“No it isn’t. The boxes are figurative…”
“Pickup trucks?”
“No? Yeah? Fuck it, sure. No! Tropal. Say tropal.”
“Tropal pickup trucks?”
“Like the ones in lynchings.”
“Ooh, those. So nuclear physics rests on–”
“Is founded on. Founded. White people.”
“–it’s founded, founded on the coded elemental violence of the Southern White!”
“Nice! So the release of energy by fission is…”
“Whiskey?”
“Rape-babies.”
“Rape-babies?”
“Well, the Latin word for that.”
“Hold on. I’ve got Encarta.”
“But because this refurbished governing impulse exists within the paradigm of postmodernist thinking  and proceeds through linguistic observations drawn from a poststructuralist conception of language  it cannot, by nature, be “hegemonic,†in that it perfectly expresses, by analogue of deed, the world as it truly is: a creation of man that is controlled, whenever it is so, by an aggregate of will and power, consensus and persuasion.”
It is hegemonic alright – it is created by man and I am The Man. And these are my men; and those are their guns. Persuaders carrying persuaders, as it were. As P.J. O’Rourke said ‘when these boys raise their voices in the marketplace of ideas, you better listen up.’
I wonder how long hopey changefulness and the rest of the pre-post-post modern filigree will last when the conversation with the world devolves from language constructs and the paradigms amde with them down to 5.56 and 7.62mm?
What will Obama do about the dozen or so nations that will utterly disregard the ban and happily maintain or acquire fissile material anyway, given that It’s Wrong To Invade A Sovereign Nation On The Suspicion That It Has Nukes?
Oh wait. I already know the answer.
The ban on fissile materials is a ploy to disarm the West, thus to expose our soft underbelly to our enemies, and Obama and the Progressives will welcome our new overlords, whoever they are, and continue to cheer them on until they are lined up against the wall…
Obama 2008: He’s willing to believe you.
in some ways u cant fight the cycle.
that is why we got Reagan after Carter and Clinton after Bush41.
O does represent a unique opportunity to capitalize on world sympathy.
im not sure he can exploit it, but im hopeful that getting read into his presidential billets will epiphanize him.
Jeff is right that he should button it right now about fissle material.
i am kinda creeped out that one of his advisors comes from the madelinealbright school of international relations.
i’ve seen albright commit serial perjury over the norks a whole bunch.
she is bad juju.
Why bother.
Carry on. Somewhere there’s TEH OUTRAGE that needs exploitin’.
Need a bit of a breather before working up some more outrage, Jeff. Got a little worn out over the last month.
nishi, you should even be more worried that one of Sen. Obama’s advisors is from the Carter administration. You would think that would be the ultimate resume-stain, but no….
Nshznshnj,
Pls use caps.
Thx.
i like Blue Demon the best.
And then, depression set in.
Protein Wisdom 11:35
“Jeff wept.”
Well, with the reduction of solar activity, you’d think a little fissionable material might be put to good use.
Cuz if it gets cold, it certainly won’t be liberals complaining about the temperatures.
Maybe we could convert some of TEH OUTRAGE into heat?
Plutonium clearly needs some PR work. Let’s start with a less imposing name. Rebranding, that is.
Powermetal?
I like the atomic energy. That’s what they used to call it. Atomic energy. It sounds so robust when you say it like that I think.
Just think of what Powermetal did for the Ulysses probe.
And Pioneer 10 and 11. Love those RTGs.
this is what American hegemony and cultural arrogance truly looks like
Silly Jeff … it’s only arrogance and all that bad stuff when we (or,what’s left of the Republican party) do it.
Honestly … Obama’s ideas are really, really frightening. But, the kids who wear Che shirts dig ’em, so what do we know? We’re dinasours. Out with the old.
Oh. Don’t we have like really big boats what kind of need that stuff? Hmmm. Baracky will know what to do. He’s terribly clever.
Yeah, as President Obama, commander in chief if all US armed forces, I’m sure he will figure something out.
I’m sure he also has a plan for those ICBM’s that keep the world safe for democracy. Perhaps replacing the fissionable material with “Che’s the Man” T-shirts. You know, to keep the proper tenor for negotiations after communist countries are the only ones left with the radioactive stuff.
How Barack Obama speaks out of both sides of his mouth on foreign policy
On Sunday, Barack Obama met with 100 members of Cleveland’s Jewish community to shore up his “pro-Israel” creds. The NY Sun has a partial transcript of his remarks, but these were brought to my attention today at a political forum I …
but it is full throttle, not rockstar.
“this is what American hegemony and cultural arrogance truly looks like
Silly Jeff … it’s only arrogance and all that bad stuff when we (or,what’s left of the Republican party) do it.”
Of course, Carin. Funny though, I seem to remember that the Chinese accusations of the US being a “hegemon” grew most precipitously during the 1990’s. They grew particularly loud after a certain building in Belgrade was bombed. Who was President then? Wait, don’t tell me, it’ll come to me…
He was just funnin’ with someone, right? The sad part of this is that to the Dems, this will give them absolutely no pause. The party of JFK no longer exists.
Obama ’08
Replacing the boot on your neck with a nice stylish suede loafer.
Where crowd reaction was understandably mixed when he suggested converting all powermetal to unobtanium.
Can’t you guys wait until Obama beats the Billary to unload his diaper?
So what if they’ll be a few people wiping their hands on thier jeans after pulling that lever for John Sydney McCain, famous war hero, faithful husband, goddamn good Republican.
Metaphors really do it for me too, thor..