Adrift in the fog of arrogance.

First the headline:

In First Phone Call, Trump Congratulates Guaido On Becoming President Of Venezuela.^[1]

Then Deda Cvetko’s comment:

I wish to congratulate Jill Stein on being elected the first US female president.

Chavez and Maduro have run Venezuela for years but, when Venezuelans are eating ostriches in the zoo and their beloved pet Fluffy, it’s suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, now a YUUUUGE problem for the U.S. to obsess over. I understand Venezuela may have a few barrels of oil somewhere within their borders so there’s that, but did the USG just now figure out that access to and control of that oil has strategic implications for our country? If we had some sort of an idea about this in the past, might we not expect of our putative leaders that our policy toward Venezuela look less like a zombie wandering around looking for its next meal and more like a well-thought-out way of dealing with an important country?

The Monroe Doctrine seems to be the Prime Directive of late. Sort of a fancy way of saying "because." Chinese and Russians out, by God! However, just saying that a huge area of the globe is our playground and ours alone seems a bit retro to me and it certainly makes our unhappiness over China’s identical, baseless assertion of jurisdiction over the South China Sea quite ridiculous. If we can wave a wand over the Western Hemisphere and intone “Ours!” on what basis can we object to China doing the same thing close to where it is? Or Russia "taking over" Crimea? Not that it did.

The next line of argument (for our divine right of intervention) is that “democracy” is a precious thing indeed and we, as the keepers of the flame (the whole rest of the world having no concept of how this thing works), have a calling from Almighty God Himself to ‘splain it to unwashed spear chuckers and taco munchers and to organize workshops here and there on how military force can hasten the democratic process along. Sort of to destroy the village in order to save it. (Probably an apocryphal utterance but we'll leave that lie for now.)

Whatever the deficiencies of the United Nations and the post-war scheme for keeping the peace through a mechanism to provide for collective security are, they are IT so far as global politics are concerned. Just as the Treason Party has twisted the Constitution into an unrecognizable slumgullion of horse feathers, baloney, and special sauce so as to create our meretricious, unstoppable juggernaut of federal tyranny, so has the US in recent years arrogated to itself the power to operate throughout the world unilaterally with complete disregard for international law (and our own Constitution).

Our make-it-up-as-we-go-along approach to everything has unleashed immense suffering, destruction and death on the rest of the world and our absurd U-turn to now assume to "fix it" demonstrate beyond all doubt that the US is seriously confused and could not care less about any kind of an "international order." Our elites have justly earned the contempt of thoughtful people around the world though it will be America that will be blamed.

It's past time for a new Treaty of Westphalia/Treaty of San Francisco and a rejection of the hideous domestic politics that infect the entire Western world with but a few honorable exceptions. (The European Union is, of course, premised on a lie and articulates an unworkable vision of government because of its inherent contempt for the sovereign nations and their people. Also slated for the dustbin of history.)

A great sickness is abroad in the world. Old and trusted ways have been discarded by fiends and blatant lies, human appetite, sloth, and national suicide have been given center stage. We can reverse this but only if we "but return to our principles and the worship of reason" in the words of Marcus Aurelius. If we won't do that then we will face the "pitiless crowbar of events" in the words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. There is no third way.

Notes
^[1]  ZeroHedge, 1/30/19.

(Edited 1/31/19.)