January 1 / 2, 2005
The Petulant and the Petty
Bush and the Tsunami
By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY
He never fails, does he? Never fails, that is, to reduce world catastrophes and international dramas to the lowest common denominators of petty petulance, malevolence and spite. I write of the latest efforts by Bush to smear a public figure; in this case Mr Jan Egeland, of the United Nations. Being a senior UN official naturally makes him an attractive and even mandatory target for the spleen of Bush, but this instance of senseless insult highlights the ethos of the Bush regime : in any circumstances in which it is imagined there might be the slightest criticism implied of the mighty Emperor, ignore the moral imperatives and go for the weakest jugular you can find. Then get the media to state what you said over and over again until the original comment is lost in the fetid muck of Bush propaganda.
What Mr Egeland said about international aid for disasters was that rich nations had become stingy in helping poor nations in times of calamity, which, for most of them, is all the time. As the records show, he was absolutely right. Sudan's Darfur is but one example, and one finds it difficult to list all the southern African countries that are hell holes of disease, poverty, corruption, hideous violence and atrocious squalor. Bush talks a good Aid-to-Africa line, even if little is happening to alleviate the horrors of the region, as not a dollar of the $5 billion pledged in the so-called Millennium Challenge Account for development assistance has actually been committed. But it doesn't matter that Mr Egeland was right, because the most important thing for the Bush Empire is that nobody other than Bush is permitted to be right about anything. If it even appears as if a person is criticizing George W Bush in the slightest degree, he or she must be attacked and destroyed.
The Bush administration's initial reaction to the tsunami disaster was to pledge $15 million for relief aid. At about the same time Mr Egeland stated that rich nations were 'stingy'. But the Bush conscience (such as that might be) was obviously, if belatedly, pricking him down at the ranch, because after a couple of days of relaxation he got round to announcing that the amount would be increased to $35 million and pronounced that "the person who made that statement
was very misguided and ill-informed". (You've got to laugh, sometimes, even in the blackest moments, at the man's silly petulance.)
The sequence of decision and comment is interesting. There is no doubt that the US package was announced as $15 million by poor, limping, discredited Powell. Here is Barry Schweid of Associated Press : "The United States dispatched disaster teams today and prepared a $15 million aid package to the Asian countries hit by a massive earthquake and tsunamis". Certainly, Powell said that long-term projects would be put in place for rebuilding projects , but make no mistake: the money on the table was $15 million. At the same time, Reuters reported the assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development, Ed Fox, as saying "At this point, we don't know exactly how much of that will be in terms of cash to be disbursed, or whether it'll be commodities. But we anticipate that our initial reaction to this is going to be in the neighborhood of $15 million. That may increase, it may change". No decision had been made, obviously, although there might be a decision to get rid of Mr Fox for not being supportive enough of the Emperor.
<snip>
This would be a storm in a teacup but for the fact that the Bush reaction was not just petty and malignant, but pathetically self-righteous and amazingly tiny-minded. Whatever happens in the world, according to the Bush Empiricists (Empiricons?), must in some way be used to demonstrate the all-seeing wisdom and untiring (if ranch-dwelling) benevolence of Emperor George, who has at his disposal the mightiest misinformation and disinformation machine the world has ever known.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley01012005.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
