Duly Noted

 by George de Poor Handlery  

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George Handlery on the week that was.

The bits in the mosaic of our time are overlooked as we focus on the big chunks. This column presents some issues that might deserve attention.

1. Charge and countercharge. Clinton attended the 2005 funeral of a communist who served the cause from the 30s through 9/11. One who celebrated the Soviet Union ("black men should associate their hopes with the promises of Socialism"), and who went on the street for the atom-spies, the Rosenbergs (guilt confirmed by post-Soviet Russia). Would Clinton have taken part if this individual had not been black? Is the answer, "unlikely?" If so, what are we to think of the Clintonista charge that if Obama was white he would not have gotten where he is?

2. Witnessing a strange game. Iran is working on a nuclear project. At best, the ingredients are being prepared which, when assembled, allow for the quick completion of a bomb. US diplomacy tries to enlist other powers to apply pressure on Iran to desist. These efforts are consistently emasculated, hindered or blocked. A possible consequence: direct action once the political process fails to provide for security. Once this happens, those now blocking a political solution will complain. They will allege that America's imperial preference for unilateral military solutions has deprived diplomacy of a chance to work.

3. China has the means and the local prestige to pressure North Korea economically and politically to live up to the promises it made for juicy bribes. The West does not have unlimited time to write off concessions made in exchange for lies, deception and insults.

4. Regardless of "April 15" (for Americans) taxes are a perennial topic. The more so since cutting taxes is becoming a mainstream issue. The Left's standard reaction to such nightmarish outrage is to claim that tax-cuts favor the rich. This is correct in a way not meant by those who raise the charge. Expressed in absolute monetary units, reduced tax rates affect the above average more than the below average. This is especially true when the lower 10-20% enjoy tax exemption. "No tax, no refund" is the principle that applies. Actually, lowered taxes do not damage the "poor," they only hurt the Left. In exchange for power conferred through votes cast, it has less money to fork over to bribe its clients. Of some of these dependents, you can say that they are paid for being poor. Doing so assures us that they are likely to continue to live under precarious conditions.

5. Success! Mugabe, Zimbabwe's Marxist dictator (sorry to use two adjectives when one suffices) has finally scored. The inflation rate is over 100,000% and so it might topple the hither world record set by occupied Hungary after WW2. An additional achievement emerges. No one is counterfeiting the papers used as imitations of money in the once-prosperous country kidnapped by Mugabe.

6. Elections show how the voters reacted to the facts they thought they knew. However, contrary to what some party platforms imply, neither elections nor the elected have the power to change the real facts.

7. A quick glance at platforms and party-programs reveals something significant about politicians and parties. They tell what some politicians think people want and how high they rate the street-smartness or the gullibility of the vowed. The matter is two-pronged. For one thing, there is a tendency to promise to change the facts. (Shutting down nuclear power stations in Germany and gaining the needed energy from the sun and the wind.) Even more frequent is the case when the challenging facts are ignored to imply that doing so amounts to a solution. In this case, the core of the political dogfight is about whether a problem exists or is properly beyond the pale of civilized discussion. (Almost everything connected to immigration falls into this category.)

8. It is often hard to determine whether those who ask for tolerance aim at ultimate domination. It is equally difficult to tell whether the advocates of compromise seek a common denominator based on reason or, driven by self-hate, they just need an excuse to give up.

9. Under new management, France and Germany express greater solidarity with Israel than shown earlier. What will be the substance once the situation demands more than declarations? Both countries are democracies with elections and are led by politicians in need of votes. There is no majority appreciative of Israel's predicament; in fact there is no awareness that a nuclear Iran will have an impact on Europe's security either. A majority might even be lacking for military self-defense. Regarding the Near East, 3% of the Germans support Israel, 91% are neutral. Merkel has admitted the problem. She is also willing to educate her public. This, if seriously attempted, produces credentials that make her rise from mere politics to statesmanship.

10. Serbia proposes (3/24) to divide Kosovo along ethnic lines. With this she takes a position she had opposed when Kosovo's independence was the issue. A detached logic, which might not convince the Albanians, demands that this partition be supported. The earlier separation of Kosovo from Serbia implies that territorial integrity, while preferable, is not sacrosanct. If borders are subject to revision when the principle of their inviolability collides with that of self-determination, then it applies to Kosovo, too. Therefore, the Serb districts adjacent to Serbia should be allowed to revert to Serbia. Kosovo's reaction was, "we do not discuss such proposals" as they are "reminiscent of the old way of thinking." How this is proven as implied is unclear. What is clear, however, is that chauvinism catapults the infected into an exalted sphere to which common sense cannot rise.

11. Ignorance rules. The scene is a US quiz show. The contestant is to name the country whose capital is Budapest. It might be France, is the answer. Being wrong causes no embarrassment to the person who has never heard of a country called "Hungary." The widespread ignorance (in America and also in Europe) regarding politics, economics and even the recent past, is stunning. It is one thing to hold the educationalists responsible. Regrettably, permissiveness' destruction of knowledge and values is allowed to continue. Even more frightening is that thanks to this cultivation of ignorance the past can, and is, coming back.

12. A connected case is the March 16 celebration of the Latvian Region in Riga. Even with much empathy for the tragedy of a small people trapped between unscrupulous great powers, there is reason for raising eyebrows. Helping the occupier that hurt your family less than did his enemy, is understandable. Especially when your community is small and is left without a decent ally. What is an understandable act in a desperate moment is still subject to subsequent review. Joining the Waffen SS to fight the Reds, or  — this was more rarely the case – linking up with the Soviets to fight Nazis, was plainly wrong. That it happened is a sign of a predicament for which the Latvians were not responsible. This still leaves little reason to celebrate those who succumbed to the hopelessness of a moment that left them little choice. To praise those involved — instead of commiserating them at best – is a symptom of the mixture of ignorance and half-truths that determines the public affairs conscience of many of our contemporaries.

13. More regarding political culture and its Conservative component. A reader reacted to my previous posting by suggesting that the Palestinians should be "destroyed." This must have been a from-the-hip reaction prompted by (understandable) frustration. The writer regrets that his piece has provoked this reaction. Extremism does not fit the conservative profile. We are individualists and as such resist the assignment of guilt based on group membership. Radical simplifiers have done that. Among the highlights are the Inquisition, the "Terror" of the French Revolution, the Communists in Eurasia and the National Socialists. We also believe in limited government and that the less force is used by it the better. As a related matter, conservatives regard individual morality and sense of responsibility as the factors best suited to set the limits of man's actions. It is also these forces that are to guarantee the judicious yet resolute use of power once the safeguarding of life and liberties require it. We therefore also believe in the rule of morally sustainable laws that are made by individuals capable for, and committed to, rational thinking.

Foreign Affairs: Europe

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