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| Fifth Column |
| Column of lies |
| 2003-12-11 |
| YellowTimes.org) – This week the world learned a much needed lesson. The topic of the lesson was, "How to make the U.S. change its unacceptable policies." The teacher was the European Union, and the technique taught was bullying. As expected, Bush finally rescinded the tariffs on steel imports, imposed two years ago and declared illegal by the WTO. He didn’t do it because steel tariffs were the perfect symbol of the U.S. allowing itself what it denies to others. He didn’t do it because steel tariffs were a symbol of U.S. hypocrisy with regards to "free trade" (the U.S. is free to protect its industry and other countries are free to have their industry destroyed). Nor did Bush abolish the tariffs because ignoring the WTO ruling against the tariffs would have made a mockery of the U.S. signature on an international treaty. The obligation to honor treaties, international law, and fairness were of little importance. What made Bush give in was that Europe was dead serious about imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Yet there is more. The E.U. was smart and brazen. The retaliatory tariffs were tailored to harm a select groups of products manufactured in states like Florida, states that are crucial to Bush’s plans for being elected president in 2004. Thus, Europe went beyond the WTO ruling allowing retaliation against the U.S. The threatened tariffs were an openly announced intervention in the internal electoral politics of the U.S. What chutzpah! Using threats of economic damage to either overthrow a government or change its policies is, by some definitions favored by the current Justice Department, nothing less than international terrorism! The U.S. routinely intervenes in the electoral politics of other countries. For example, the Brazilian government of Cardoso was twice saved from electoral defeat by calibrated, financial interventions by the U.S. It is common practice for U.S. ambassadors to threaten Latin American voters with retaliation if they elect the "wrong" candidate. But Washington isn’t used to being on the receiving end of these techniques for winning hearts and minds. "Old Europe" may not be wearing Stetsons, but it still has some cojones! YEAGHH! FY LIFS Unfortunately, the steel tariffs also harmed many Third World countries that, unlike the E.U., lacked the economic clout to retaliate effectively against U.S. trade policy. The steel dispute ended the way it did because the U.S. faced another powerful economy. When the U.S. colludes with the E.U. against much weaker countries, as is the case, for example, with subsidies for agribusiness, the victims can hardly consider similar remedies. Nonetheless, weaker countries can sometimes compensate for their lack of economic clout with creativity. The point to remember is that not only can the U.S. be bullied, but that only bullying works. Compare the success of the E.U. to the abject failure of poodle Blair to get anything, even a gesture, from George Bush. Likewise, in Iraq, both the violent resistance and the so far fence-sitting Shia clerics are learning that the U.S. only understands force. The White House decided to have "elections" in June, not because proconsul Bremer suddenly remembered that Iraq belonged to Iraqis, but because the tenacious armed resistance was beginning to threaten Bush’s 2004 election. The rising death toll of American soldiers finally got the White House to set a date for "elections" in Iraq. But the White House is still trying to get away with a sham process in which proconsul Bremer will get the final word about who gets elected to the new Iraqi National Assembly. (It’s an American tradition -- sham elections -- and who better than Bush to know it.) Sham elections? Man, this guy’s repeating all the old lies. The Shia leadership’s insistence, in the teeth of White House opposition, on real and free one-person-one-vote elections, is embarrassing to the U.S. It is exposing the hypocrisy of Washington’s claim to "export democracy." But Washington’s capacity to absorb embarrassment is infinite. The Shia clerics are likely to discover that only when their threats become dead serious will the U.S. cave in. Given how much the Pentagon wants to maintain Iraq as a new vassal state and a strategic military base, threats probably won’t be enough. The Shia leadership will have to demonstrate a capacity for organizing effective resistance. Here, too, the lesson of the steel tariffs is not without merit. While Iraqis have every right to shoot and kill occupation soldiers, that isn’t necessary the most effective way to influence George Bush. Quite a few of the people who fund Bush’s election campaign are involved in the latest corporate gold rush ("reconstruction") in Iraq. Attacking their interests might be a quicker way to get the president into listening mode. The lives of American soldiers are dear, but four more years in the White House are priceless. "Now to check on my harp. Oh shit! every string broke!" |
| Posted by:Atrus |
| #4 Time to get out my bauble. Hen Wen says hi, tho. |
| Posted by: rkb 2003-12-11 5:15:23 PM |
| #3 ccwbass, only an assistant pig keeper would get that reference. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-11 4:28:36 PM |
| #2 atrus..interesting, yes. But when you are posting what can only be described as spittle..it's even more important that you respect the meaning of "EFL". |
| Posted by: B 2003-12-11 11:02:20 AM |
| #1 Fflewdur Fflamm: Columnist. (Very obscure harp reference) |
| Posted by: ccwbass 2003-12-11 10:58:11 AM |