Gene Lyons: Without Exception

[mooseandsquirrel]

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Now comes his excellent vice-presidential nominee, Alaska’s 1984 Miss Congeniality, to suggest war with Russia, a nation whose remote Siberian arctic is dimly visible from the Aleutian Islands. Gov. Sarah Palin imagines that this qualifies her as a foreign policy thinker. Meanwhile, it’d be interesting to know if she’s heard of Napoleon Bonaparte or Adolf Hitler, who actually tried invading Russia.

Readers who suspect exaggeration are mistaken. Sarcasm, yes; overstatement, alas, no. In the waning years of the American empire, grandiose bluster about waging war against the theological concept of evil masquerades as “tough.” Seduced by bombastic slogans like “global war on terror,” “ shock and awe, ” and “full-spectrum dominance,” much of the public holds an instinctive belief in the myth of American invincibility that makes sensible electionyear discussion of foreign policy impossible. Anything hinting at geopolitical realism draws accusations of cowardice and defeatism from hairy-chested patriots.

Don’t I know the world is full of evildoers ? Yes, and I also know that history is replete with the collapse of empires that became overextended militarily and overwhelmed by debt.

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