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Enlightened Peace

By John Batchelor on December 12, 2009 at 4:30 PM in Current Affairs

 

Prize for George Bush.

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The American criticism of the Nobel Peace Prize event is what the TV stand-ups make of the peculiar fact of a president who campaigned on a peace platform, and who received the Nobel Peace Prize nomination just eleven days after he became POTUS, and who now makes a speech arguing the “Just War” theory about a war he has just relaunched in Afghanistan in league with the kleptocratic tyranny of Hamid Karzai. America allied with the Forty Thieves.

The comics make not much of the dreary facts, though the framing of the Russian rocket test as a Christmas Star over Oslo for the coming of Obama is edgy. Jay Leno’s remarks are the most class-based and subversive, citing a “peaceful” economy of joblessness and idleness.

There is a general impression in this mash-up that the comics are intimidated by the facts. The counterfactual is to imagine what this lot of gifted pot-shotters would have made of George W. Bush accepting the peace prize, or even Bill Clinton the same.

The facts of Iraq, now about to become the second grandest oilfield in the Gulf, support a conclusion that the Bush administration freed it of the savagery and sadism of the Anbar province gangs and their cowardly cronies in Damascus and Riyadh. (Al Qaeda in Iraq as the neighborhood Not-So-Smart weapons.)

But that is an argument to be made in the revisionist histories to come.

For now, the praise of POTUS Obama as a peacemaker is trite. That these comics do not directly attack POTUS Obama as a fraudulent award recipient is the measure of their timidity. And when satirists are reluctant to call POTUS Obama the “Queen of Hearts of Afghanistan” (peace prize first, then war, then surrender, then arguments, then diplomacy, then indifference, then entente with the House of Saud), the narrative is blurred, cribbed, out of time, propaganda, discount-rack muzak. 

No One Laughed.

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There was the absurd in Vietnam; there was the grotesque in Iraq.

What is there in Afghanistan? POTUS preaching on “Just War.” No one laughed. The piety is thick as dust.

What I have learned about Afghanistan in 2009 does not support POTUS Obama’s assumptions at Oslo of the future.

The comment of “enlightened self-interest” was particularly pompous, self-serving, ahistorical, condescending, vain and fragile. Leopold of Belgium was a grand benefactor in Europe, a prince of peace and generosity to his French-speaking charges. Leopold’s “enlightened self-interest” was to order the Congo River basin enslaved, plundered and depopulated.

POTUS Obama read these lines without discernible humility: 


“We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest–because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if others’ children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.”

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From the blog for my syndicated radio show. Tune in Sunday night when Larry Johnson joins the experts panel. Check the gold box in NoQuarter’s right column for instructions on how to listen to my show via iTunes.

  • Peggy Sue

    Enlightened self-interest. Now there’s a phrase to live through the ages! And, “The instruments of war do have a role in perserving the peace.”

    Hummmm. What does that remind me of?

    But better yet,

    “I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage,” he said. “My accomplishments are slight.”

    Now “those” are words I can believe in.

    • http://deleted BuzzisbackLatte

      It sounded arrogant of him to say he was at the beginning of his labors on the world stage. Unless he’s going to host some hip-hop convention in the future, a fadeout from public life would be more appropriate.

      He can go golfing with Tiger Woods. It would be better for the planet. LOL!

      • Peggy Sue

        “Unless he’s going to host some hip-hop convention in the future, . . . ”

        Now that made me laugh, Buzz.

        And laughter is the only way we’ll stay sane.

      • Chicago Joe

        I totally reacted to that “labors on the world stage” remark. His arrogance and inflated sense of importance is staggering. I only hope that the American people keep his labors to a 4-year term. He can then feel free to go labor elsewhere.

        Hopefully, 53% won’t be fooled again.

  • Not Likely

    “a president who campaigned on a peace platform”

    Obama campaigned on an increase in troops and effort in Afghanistan. Talk about revisionist history.

    • http://www.hillaryorbust.com Hillary or Bust

      I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again, Paid Obot:

      It does not matter that Obama mentioned he’d put more troops into Afghanistan. He drowned that out with his anti-war rhetoric on Iraq. It’s like the following:

      NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, oh btw I’m adding some extra troops to Afghanistan, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, NO WAR, I’M ENDING THE WAR, I’M BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME, END THE WAR END THE WAR END THE WAR, NO MORE WAR!!!

      • ~~JustMe~~

        I never got that HOB? lol
        What did he say? remind me…

        As peggy stated laughter is the only way we’ll stay sane.

      • ziggy

        As Not Likely pointed out, Obama has been completely consistent regarding Afghanistan, clearly and repeatedly stating his thoughts on the subject since 2007. Troop levels there have already been doubled since January and will be tripled in 8 months. Anyone who paid attention to what he was saying shouldn’t be surprised.

        Further, however much I disagreed with the unnecessary invasion and occupation of Iraq, and however much I dislike sending American troops into foreign conflicts in general, I was appalled by our inattention to the war that really matters. If our attention slips again there will be hell to pay. We’ve been lucky so far not to have witnessed another demonstration.

        Sorry if that opinion doesn’t fit anyone’s generally accepted presumptions about liberal thinking.

      • Chicago Joe

        Yes, and he completely bludgeoned Hillary about the Iraq vote. He built his whole damn campaign and eviscerated her on that vote.

        The phony hypocrite.

  • Scranton4Hillary

    The Nobel Peace Prize President aka Mr. O’Bomber—what a pathetic joke.

  • Docelder

    we believe that their lives will be better if others’ children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity

    Now we are again exporting “freedom and prosperity”? All we need now is for Obama to say Allah told him to do it and we will be right back to Bush. Except, with Bush people at least had jobs.

  • NomNomNom

    “The facts of Iraq, now about to become the second grandest oilfield in the Gulf, support a conclusion that the Bush administration freed it of the savagery and sadism of the Anbar province gangs and their cowardly cronies in Damascus and Riyadh. (Al Qaeda in Iraq as the neighborhood Not-So-Smart weapons.)”

    This is patently false.
    http://chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1884-when-blood-is-their-argument-an-empire-on-fire.html

    “News from Baghdad on Tuesday morning, from the New York Times:

    A series of devastating car bombings rocked Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 121 people and wounding hundreds more, according to preliminary accounts by witnesses, the police and hospital officials….

    The attacks were the worst in Iraq since twin suicide bombings destroyed three ministries on Oct. 25, killing at least 155 people. They fit a pattern of spectacular attacks in the capital, followed by weeks of relative calm. In August, two suicide car bombs exploded near the country’s Finance and Foreign Ministries, killing at least 122.

    After you have taken a moment to mull this unspeakable rending of human lives — not just the individuals who were killed but also the lifelong, lacerating grief of their survivors — a rending which is a direct result of an American invasion and occupation that not only loosed a savage sectarian war in the shattered, conquered land but also actively abetted it at every turn, go back and read the last paragraph of that excerpt again.

    The worst attack in — not years, not decades — but mere weeks. In other words, it’s hardly been a month since the last time, of many times, over and over, like clockwork, that dozens of people were ripped to shreds in the American-caused, American-abetted, American-supported civil wars in Iraq.”

    Think on that, then think on this: the situation in Iraq is now being held up as a model, a goal, for Barack Obama’s massive expansion of the war and occupation in Afghanistan.

    • ziggy

      There’s a compelling reason for our continuing presence in Afghanistan, which has little to do with Afghanistan and everything to do with the terrorist extremists now in Pakistan. Iraq will probably go down in the books as one of the worst errors America ever made.

      • NomNomNom

        the reason is the same for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Philippines all: money.
        We’re more than capable of protecting ourselves at home.

  • lark

    So George Lopez didn’t say anything I guess. :)

  • NomNomNom

    He is loathsome by any sane measure.
    The worst of it, jmo, is that there really are people deserving of this prize, and now their efforts will reach a smaller audience.
    One of them, Western Sahara independence activist Aminatou Haidar, was on the 25th day of a hunger-strike, the day BHO accepted his prize. She is now too weak to stand.
    She was deported to Spain (which formerly colonized Western Sahara) after she refused to acknowledge Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and is seeking the return to her homeland
    “My demand is to return to Western Sahara, to hug my children and to live with them and my mother, but in dignity,” …”with or without a passport, alive or dead.”
    Clinton finally addressed her case today.

  • Patrick Henry

    Interesting Article John..

    Yes the timing of the Remarkable Glowing Russian Vehicle Bursting into a Bright light..at that time, in that place …can certainly be see as a “SIGNAL..” and with some secret Meaning..

    remarkable Blue trail of Light, and circular pattern..looks like the launch happened hust over the horizon, just where the tail seems to taper down to the ground..Wonder if that is some kind of pulse Drive..?? never saw a glowing trail like that before..

    Knowing Obamas background and his Policy…he may have been considered the arrival of the Communist/Socialist Messsiah..as Obama was raised and Mentored by them all..Including Marxist and revolutionarys too..

    typical of the Russians ..And Im sure there are those who KNOW Exactly what that Object was..and WHY the Russians presented it at that TIME and In That PLACE…

    Interesting that so many Conservatives, including Huckabee today on his show…Commended Baracks Speech..Perhaps on this Issue…POTUS Obama does realize the Consequences for the region..in the BIG Picture..”FRAMED” as it is..

    • TeakWoodKite

      It was done so the three “wisemen” had something they could claim to be following.
      Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

    • Docelder

      The interesting part, I think is that before Obama is scheduled to go there to get his peace prize the Russians fire the test missile. Interesting like in the way they are now acting like the North Koreans. Obama didn’t say anything to North Korea, and didn’t mention this test fire by Russia. Interesting all the way around… that they would pick that time and place to do it, and the non reaction part. If this was a test not of the missile, but of the reaction to it… then the message we are sending is pretty clear. Welcome back Carter. Now, where did we put that “paper tiger” costume?

  • Pablo Cruz

    “president who campaigned on a peace platform”

    …only if you weren’t paying any attention — you know, to like the words coming out of his mouth during the DEBATES:

    “We have seen Afghanistan worsen, deteriorate. We need more troops there. We need more resources there … I would send two to three additional brigades to Afghanistan.” (September 26)

    • Peggy Sue

      You’re absolutely right, Pablo. This is one of the few promises that the President decided to keep. Where’s that rescue plan for the middle class, the era of transparency, no jobs for lobbyists,the elimination of ear marks, the jumpstart for jobs etc.,etc.,etc? And the economy? Matt Taibbi has an interesting analysis of that here:

      http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/31234647/obamas_big_sellout/print

      But escalating the war in Afghanistan? Absolutely. He kept his promise. Good for him!

      • Pablo Cruz

        You’re absolutely right, Pablo.

        Sorry, I didn’t read past this part.

        • Peggy Sue

          Well, keep your fingers in your ears and singing la-la-la.

          That’s sure to work!

  • Grace

    It’s true that Obama had said many times during the debates that Afghanistan was the right war. but people stupidly didn’t seem to pay attention and instead focused on Obama’s attacks on Hillary for having voted to fund the war in Iraq, when he probably would have done the same thing had he been a US senator at the time.

    And the same people didn’t pay attention when Obama voted for FISA after the primaries, started supporting NAFTA after having demonized Hillary for it, and even said that “having the blues” shouldn’t qualify as a health reason for women to terminate their pregnancies.

    In conclusion, people did not want to hear anything that would stain their image of the great Obama. And his wife is his partner in crime. She is an envious, sour grapes, narcissistic, resentful woman whose only passion in life has been to make money and use her husband’s political offices, now and in the past, for personal gain.

  • Pablo Cruz

    Yep. Obama consistently campaigns on escalating the war in Afghanistan, and John Batchelor claims that Obama “campaigned on a peace platform” — and it’s Obama’s fault that John Batchelor is so foolish. I get it.

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