http://www.antiwar.com/orig/deliso90.html
ANTIWAR, Monday, October 14, 2003
Exporting Devalued Values: America's Policy of Foreign Interference
by Christopher Deliso
In his latest incisive critique of US foreign intervention, Texas Rep.
Ron Paul takes aim at a pseudo-governmental organization, one that's
sinister insofar as it appears benign – the National Endowment for
Democracy. Charges Rep. Paul,
"…the NED is nothing more than a costly program that takes US taxpayer
funds to promote favored politicians and political parties abroad. What
the NED does in foreign countries, through its recipient organizations
the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International
Republican Institute (IRI), would be rightly illegal in the United
States. The NED injects 'soft money' into the domestic elections of
foreign countries in favor of one party or the other. Imagine what a
couple of hundred thousand dollars will do to assist a politician or
political party in a relatively poor country abroad. It is particularly
Orwellian to call US manipulation of foreign elections 'promoting
democracy.' How would Americans feel if the Chinese arrived with
millions of dollars to support certain candidates deemed friendly to
China? Would this be viewed as a democratic development?"
Who Oversees These Interventionist Institutions?
The NED, of course, sees things otherwise. On its website, the NED
publishes a long-winded, self-congratulatory history, and describes
itself as being essentially
"…guided by the belief that freedom is a universal human aspiration
that can be realized through the development of democratic
institutions, procedures, and values. Governed by an independent,
nonpartisan board of directors, the NED makes hundreds of grants each
year to support pro-democracy groups in Africa, Asia, Central and
Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East."
This alleged "independence" of the board is quite extraordinary,
considering that it consists of powerful establishment figures like
Republican "super-lobbyist" Vin Weber, Bush fave Sen. Bill Frist,
neocon ideologues such as Francis Fukuyama and bellicose
religiosoMichael Novak, not to mention neophyte presidential candidate
Wesley Clark and that perennial Balkan bore, Richard Holbrooke.
NED offshoots like the NDI and IRI are similarly manned. The IRI
directors' board is headed by Sen. John McCain, and includes notables
such as Brent Scowcroft, Lawrence Eagleburger and Jeanne Kirkpatrick.
Representatives of heavy corporate lobbyists are also represented, for
example, the head of Lockheed Martin's missile defense program, Alison
Fortier. Another one is Robert Kimmit, executive VP of AOL Time Warner
– which has, incidentally enough, given over $32,000 since 1999 to that
champion of "campaign finance reform," Sen. John McCain.
The NDI's leadership is numerically greater but appears somewhat less
robust. Its board is a graveyard of failed presidential candidates,
including the likes of Walter Mondale, Geraldine Ferraro, Michael
Dukakis, Bill Bradley and (though he'd be loath to admit it) Dick
Gephardt. On the other hand, the NDI does have one very formidable dark
horse in its chairman – the terrifying Madeleine Albright. What more
need be said?
New NED Mischief: Elections in the Caucasus
The latest challenge for this bunch is policing the upcoming elections
in Azerbaijan and Georgia. For the last few weeks, the
intervention-friendly Eurasianet.org has had the words "Choice 2003"
plastered on its home page. But whose choice is it?
As for the Azeri election, there've been some comic moments, for
example a breathy dispatch from the typically hysterical Human Rights
Watch, demanding that authorities investigate a catfight between local
and imported feminist groups and "voter educators." However, that
election is here (October 15th), and less interesting than the one
slated for two weeks later, in little Georgia.
Here, the once fervent American love affair is waning. Last month, the
US cut financial aid to the government, following similar actions by
the IMF and World Bank, and is now training and cheering on the
opposition. Simultaneously, the crusading Transparency International
has accused the government of corruption.
Last week, a US delegation sent by the NDI, which included IRI head
McCain, former Joint Chiefs of Staff head John Shalikashvili and former
Deputy State Secretary Strobe Talbott, cracked down on Georgia,
pressuring opposition politicians, government incumbents and election
officials alike. Their message was dutifully broadcast by the NDI,
which promises that the upcoming election will be big fun – that is, "a
critical test for the country's democratization."
The Not-So-Veiled Threat
"If the elections are held in a free and fair manner," Georgia will
achieve "…greater political stability and will more easily integrate
into the community of democracies." However, the NDI warns,
"…if these elections fail to meet Georgia's domestic legal requirements
and its international commitments to hold genuinely democratic
elections, the country's representative institutions will face a crisis
of confidence, and Georgia will suffer a serious blow to its
international standing."
Do the Georgians dare protest? According to Eurasianet.org, the
Georgian newspaper Dilis Gazeti last week pondered:
"…Senator McCain clearly wants to teach democracy to all the (former
Soviet) republics by using Georgia as a visual aid…
"...at first glance we should take pride in this… but in effect it is
quite regrettable because, if we do not live up to US expectations, the
full force of the only superpower's righteous wrath will fall upon us."
The Bottom Line: Hardball Tactics
Basically, the situation is this: the US has gotten tired of the
Shevardnadze government. It seems too Russia-friendly, especially after
the August takeover of Georgia's electric company by the Russian EES –
who purchased it for $150 million from an American company (AES), which
is generally fleeing the region and may sell its assets in Kazakhstan
and Ukraine to EES also.
Apparently, a big chunk ($35 million) of the now-frozen aid package had
been dedicated to electricity sector work, and was supposed to be
funneled back into the managing American firm, PA Consulting. However,
this company had arguments with regional authorities and now claims it
never received its money.
By freezing aid to Georgia, and getting the IMF and World Bank to do
the same, the US has interrupted economic projects, wreaked havoc with
budget-planning, and in general helped the opposition to stir up
unrest. Not that this hasn't happened before elsewhere.
Forcing Bipolarity in a Unipolar World
Awareness of its own indisputable hegemony has led the US and its
policy makers to claim a unipolar destiny. Indeed, the belligerent
neocons have been demanding this for years. Now, an unaccountable US
holds other nations up to impossible standards. This is a major reason
why America is hated abroad.
However, while it may be dead, history can be resurrected. Wherever
possible, the US tries to impose models of bipolarity – miniature
versions of the former US-USSR stalemate. This ensures that suppliant
states remain stuck in their own petty rivalries. Oftentimes, it also
ensures that they will need to purchase (from the US) heavy armaments
to wage their own Cold Wars.
Politically, bipolarity is fostered even within the countries in
question. The NED and similar outfits are keen to aid "opposition"
parties, when it is judged that they can eventually take power. As a
power broker, the US likes to buy influence. By helping opposition
candidates against strong incumbents, groups like the NDI and IRI
basically purchase them.
The Macedonia Experiment
Take, for example, Macedonia. Its 2001 civil war was started by
Kosovo-trained Albanian insurrectionists allegedly fighting for ethnic
equality. While the US claimed to be supporting the Macedonian
government, overwhelming examples of political, diplomatic and even
covert military aidto the rebels indicated otherwise. The US was
playing both sides, to ensure that neither would win a satisfactory
victory, as happened repeatedly during Yugoslavia's wars. America thus
became the vital "third party," the dispassionate arbitrator who could,
with deep feeling and magnanimity, lead the country to ethnic harmony,
human rights, and even democracy by aiding specific political parties,
babysitting ethnic spats, and sponsoring insipid children's television
programs.
As is happening now in Georgia, the 2002 elections saw the IMF freeze
donations to Macedonia. Political interference came from the NED and
other groups such as Transparency International. Their efforts helped
elect the opposition Social Democrats, and their multi-ethnic partners,
the Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (led by former terrorist
leader Ali Ahmeti) – a coalition amenable to American interests.
However, it'd been widely predicted beforehand that the SDSM-DUI ticket
would win; they clearly didn't need Western help. Yet by donating to
their campaign, America could ensure that the new government would be
in its debt.
Now, two years after the war, relations between Albanians and
Macedonians have not improved. But you wouldn't know it from the bland
whitewashing of the US and other "international community" bodies in
Macedonia. Claiming to desire a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic future for
Macedonia, they are well aware that this country will always remain
bipolar.
Macedonia hasn't had any unrest from its numerous other minorities. In
fact, they aren't even included when important "arbitration" needs to
be conducted; the problem is always only with the Albanians. As recent
protests from high school students show, the Macedonian reality is one
of a dualistic ethnic divide that appears, to delicate Western eyes,
utterly barbaric, ugly and sub-human. Painting the natives as
unenlightened savages is especially useful, considering that the
so-called "confidence builders" can't, and frankly don't want to change
things.
Example: NDI's Kosovo Whitewash
Covering up this reality is done chiefly through whitewashing. Take,
for example, the testimony of former NDI Kosovo director Scott David
Bates, in an October 2002 interview carried out by – imagine that! –
the US Government. Bates paints a rosy picture of democracy in Kosovo,
that "fairly successful" international mission to which KFOR troops
have brought "order and stability."
In the interview, Bates discusses his 2001 work with Kosovo political
parties and the OSCE in the run-up to Kosovo's colonial elections.
While there were some headaches involving Serbs "left behind" in the
province (i.e., those few who hadn't already been killed or expelled),
it was, according to Bates, "a truly successful election." Says Bates,
"…three years after the war, they held free and fair elections, with
Serbs and Albanians voting together. And in December of last year, they
went to parliament together."
Well wouldn't you know! However, as anyone with even a remote
understanding of the Kosovo situation knows, UNMIK has presided over 4
years of rampant ethnic cleansing, destruction of cultural treasures,
human trafficking, mafia violence and the occasional massacre of
children.
Obviously, Kosovo was the benchmark for failurein intervention. Until
Afghanistan and Iraq, that is. Compared to those disasters, it's
suddenly become "successful." However, the body of literature on the
black hole of Europe is vast and growing by the day. As the reader will
see, cheerful interventionists are deluded in the extreme if they
really believe what they say. Luckily for them, they don't.
Human, All Too Human
On the sweeping scale of world geopolitics, the enforced bipolarity
model holds. As an indicator of official US foreign policy, it's fairly
reliable, and there may even be a few loons in the State Department who
believe it has real democratic significance.
However, when we get down to the actual situation on the ground, other
factors take precedence – chiefly, the tremendous mediocrity inherent
to "democracy-building." This is a mutant combination of two
mentalities: the bureaucratic and the high school.
Derelict, conflict-prone countries such as Macedonia have become
playgrounds for the "international community." This term covers anyone
working for an embassy, NGO, political-education service like the NDI,
mass media, European Union – the list goes on. It doesn't matter where
one's from, so long as one chooses the customs of Brussels or
Washington over those of one's own country.
Indeed, card-carrying members of the "international community" stick
together. The benefits are many: access to reliable modern technology;
air-conditioned private transportation instead of rickety public buses;
friendly relations with important politicians and businessmen; many
perks, and perky colleagues too; as well as many, many social events.
For the last reason especially, members of the "international
community" often exhibit the group dynamics more common to high school
students. The petty jealousies, promiscuity and provincial gossip, the
drinking games, idleness and boredom – a "global village" indeed!
The tasteless exuberance of the self-appointed altruists abroad is
excessive, incestuous and utterly at variance with their stated
mission. And it has nothing to do, let me add, with high ideals. This
is why the day's workload – processing forms, fostering bipolarities
and installing governments – is accomplished with so much tedium,
reticence and disinterest. Nobody really cares, actually. At the end of
the day, local employees of embassies, foundations and groups like the
NDI are, on an individual level, only interested in avoiding
controversy and upheaval. They don't want to think. Above all, they
don't want all hell to break loose on their shift (this buck-passing
proclivity is why Kosovo's final status remains unresolved). Naturally
enough, the internationals would rather spend their time shopping,
drinking, or having sexual encounters with one another, or with
government ministers.
Fast Times at International High
In an incendiary piece entitled "AfghaniScam," Professor Marc Herold
condemns the international community's shameless exploitation of
postwar Kabul. Culling data from several first-hand accounts, Herold
reveals life within the "huge consumption bubble" unwittingly sustained
by US taxpayers:
"…this is the bubble economy of the wealthy and the wannabees,
including the returned 'necktie' Afghans and the proliferating 'expat'
community. They populate the state and services sectors, earn high
incomes which are spent on consumption of imports and local services
catering only to this strata, e.g., beauty salons, hotels, foreign
travel, gardeners and security personnel, weekend parties, golf clubs,
Toyota Land Cruisers (the vehicle of choice), the Excelnet Cafe – the
Intercontinental Hotel's cyber-cafe, bars and restaurants (like B's
Place where a pizza costs $12, when the average daily wage in urban
areas is $1").
According to Herold, the international media has perpetuated the myth
of a "new" Kabul by highlighting signs of false progress:
"…on Christmas Day 2001, Variety Magazine carrolled, 'In Kabul, Hooray
for Bollywood.' An article in the Boston Globe, announces 'Hotel
Critical to Rebirth of Kabul.' For whom, when rooms at the refurbished
Kabul Hotel will cost $125/night single occupancy?
…Another article in the New York Times breathlessly announced how Vogue
was rushing to Afghanistan to assist Afghan women 'to be beautiful
again.' Hip Kabulis are now donning 'skin-tight jeans and waist-high
tops with short sleeves… as young people adopt the clothing they see in
the movies from India and Hollywood,' but the blue jeans for sale in
the Jemhoriat Market sell for $5-25 a pair. Income in Afghanistan for
most people today is $30-50 a month."
Most disturbing is Herold's account of the internationals' excess,
promiscuity, and wanton disrespect for Afghan mores. Afghanistan, it
appears, has become like Kosovo or Macedonia – just magnified tenfold:
"…thousands of well-heeled foreign 'aid' workers and Afghan expats
partake in raucous weekend parties, their Landcruisers parked in a
smart Kabul street. Imported alcohol flows and Madonna echoes in the
street outside. Peter Essen, German owner of the giant Supreme Food
Service warehouse which initially supplied only the international ISAF
force (whose members can only eat imported food for security reasons),
caters to diplomats, foreign aid workers, international journalists,
etc. Essen said, 'we've got beer, wine, whiskey, pork – anything you
want.' Reuters reported some locals in Kabul mentioning foreign women
engaging in solicitation on street corners near foreign offices in
downtown Kabul."
The article also mentions Lai Thai, the new Asian eatery staffed by
"slim waitresses in silk sarongs," and Kabul's Irish bar, guarded by
soldiers carrying AK-47's and staffed by barmen who, though Afghan,
"have all have been given Irish names – Kevin, Jimmy, George, etc."
The West's Fatal Sickness
Buried deep in a September 3rd Brookings Institute discussion is the
revealing disclosure that there are already 173 Westernizing NGO's
operating in Iraq. Dude, it's party time!
In 2003, the US and its lackeys have far exceeded the pious old mission
of the "white man's burden," kept alive by the colonial office bunch.
Now, the contempt for other cultures is blatant and open. However,
under the veneer of "democracy-building," the US continues its system
of exploitation in beleaguered countries the world over. The message is
clear: join us or die.
When President Bush speaks of being 'with us or against us,' he is not
referring to democracy, law, or human rights. These, and the NED's
invocation of freedom as a "universal value," just nauseate. They are
merely the code words of a soulless Western office culture exulting in
tequila shots, shopping malls, life insurance and litigation.
While many Americans are genuinely mystified as to why some people
might like to live according to other customs and values, our educated
leaders surely know better. It's high time that they resolve – as Rep.
Paul concludes – to "…return to the foreign policy of our founders,
based on open relations and trade with all countries and free from
meddling and manipulation in the internal affairs of others."
ANTIWAR, Monday, October 14, 2003
Exporting Devalued Values: America's Policy of Foreign Interference
by Christopher Deliso
In his latest incisive critique of US foreign intervention, Texas Rep.
Ron Paul takes aim at a pseudo-governmental organization, one that's
sinister insofar as it appears benign – the National Endowment for
Democracy. Charges Rep. Paul,
"…the NED is nothing more than a costly program that takes US taxpayer
funds to promote favored politicians and political parties abroad. What
the NED does in foreign countries, through its recipient organizations
the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International
Republican Institute (IRI), would be rightly illegal in the United
States. The NED injects 'soft money' into the domestic elections of
foreign countries in favor of one party or the other. Imagine what a
couple of hundred thousand dollars will do to assist a politician or
political party in a relatively poor country abroad. It is particularly
Orwellian to call US manipulation of foreign elections 'promoting
democracy.' How would Americans feel if the Chinese arrived with
millions of dollars to support certain candidates deemed friendly to
China? Would this be viewed as a democratic development?"
Who Oversees These Interventionist Institutions?
The NED, of course, sees things otherwise. On its website, the NED
publishes a long-winded, self-congratulatory history, and describes
itself as being essentially
"…guided by the belief that freedom is a universal human aspiration
that can be realized through the development of democratic
institutions, procedures, and values. Governed by an independent,
nonpartisan board of directors, the NED makes hundreds of grants each
year to support pro-democracy groups in Africa, Asia, Central and
Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East."
This alleged "independence" of the board is quite extraordinary,
considering that it consists of powerful establishment figures like
Republican "super-lobbyist" Vin Weber, Bush fave Sen. Bill Frist,
neocon ideologues such as Francis Fukuyama and bellicose
religiosoMichael Novak, not to mention neophyte presidential candidate
Wesley Clark and that perennial Balkan bore, Richard Holbrooke.
NED offshoots like the NDI and IRI are similarly manned. The IRI
directors' board is headed by Sen. John McCain, and includes notables
such as Brent Scowcroft, Lawrence Eagleburger and Jeanne Kirkpatrick.
Representatives of heavy corporate lobbyists are also represented, for
example, the head of Lockheed Martin's missile defense program, Alison
Fortier. Another one is Robert Kimmit, executive VP of AOL Time Warner
– which has, incidentally enough, given over $32,000 since 1999 to that
champion of "campaign finance reform," Sen. John McCain.
The NDI's leadership is numerically greater but appears somewhat less
robust. Its board is a graveyard of failed presidential candidates,
including the likes of Walter Mondale, Geraldine Ferraro, Michael
Dukakis, Bill Bradley and (though he'd be loath to admit it) Dick
Gephardt. On the other hand, the NDI does have one very formidable dark
horse in its chairman – the terrifying Madeleine Albright. What more
need be said?
New NED Mischief: Elections in the Caucasus
The latest challenge for this bunch is policing the upcoming elections
in Azerbaijan and Georgia. For the last few weeks, the
intervention-friendly Eurasianet.org has had the words "Choice 2003"
plastered on its home page. But whose choice is it?
As for the Azeri election, there've been some comic moments, for
example a breathy dispatch from the typically hysterical Human Rights
Watch, demanding that authorities investigate a catfight between local
and imported feminist groups and "voter educators." However, that
election is here (October 15th), and less interesting than the one
slated for two weeks later, in little Georgia.
Here, the once fervent American love affair is waning. Last month, the
US cut financial aid to the government, following similar actions by
the IMF and World Bank, and is now training and cheering on the
opposition. Simultaneously, the crusading Transparency International
has accused the government of corruption.
Last week, a US delegation sent by the NDI, which included IRI head
McCain, former Joint Chiefs of Staff head John Shalikashvili and former
Deputy State Secretary Strobe Talbott, cracked down on Georgia,
pressuring opposition politicians, government incumbents and election
officials alike. Their message was dutifully broadcast by the NDI,
which promises that the upcoming election will be big fun – that is, "a
critical test for the country's democratization."
The Not-So-Veiled Threat
"If the elections are held in a free and fair manner," Georgia will
achieve "…greater political stability and will more easily integrate
into the community of democracies." However, the NDI warns,
"…if these elections fail to meet Georgia's domestic legal requirements
and its international commitments to hold genuinely democratic
elections, the country's representative institutions will face a crisis
of confidence, and Georgia will suffer a serious blow to its
international standing."
Do the Georgians dare protest? According to Eurasianet.org, the
Georgian newspaper Dilis Gazeti last week pondered:
"…Senator McCain clearly wants to teach democracy to all the (former
Soviet) republics by using Georgia as a visual aid…
"...at first glance we should take pride in this… but in effect it is
quite regrettable because, if we do not live up to US expectations, the
full force of the only superpower's righteous wrath will fall upon us."
The Bottom Line: Hardball Tactics
Basically, the situation is this: the US has gotten tired of the
Shevardnadze government. It seems too Russia-friendly, especially after
the August takeover of Georgia's electric company by the Russian EES –
who purchased it for $150 million from an American company (AES), which
is generally fleeing the region and may sell its assets in Kazakhstan
and Ukraine to EES also.
Apparently, a big chunk ($35 million) of the now-frozen aid package had
been dedicated to electricity sector work, and was supposed to be
funneled back into the managing American firm, PA Consulting. However,
this company had arguments with regional authorities and now claims it
never received its money.
By freezing aid to Georgia, and getting the IMF and World Bank to do
the same, the US has interrupted economic projects, wreaked havoc with
budget-planning, and in general helped the opposition to stir up
unrest. Not that this hasn't happened before elsewhere.
Forcing Bipolarity in a Unipolar World
Awareness of its own indisputable hegemony has led the US and its
policy makers to claim a unipolar destiny. Indeed, the belligerent
neocons have been demanding this for years. Now, an unaccountable US
holds other nations up to impossible standards. This is a major reason
why America is hated abroad.
However, while it may be dead, history can be resurrected. Wherever
possible, the US tries to impose models of bipolarity – miniature
versions of the former US-USSR stalemate. This ensures that suppliant
states remain stuck in their own petty rivalries. Oftentimes, it also
ensures that they will need to purchase (from the US) heavy armaments
to wage their own Cold Wars.
Politically, bipolarity is fostered even within the countries in
question. The NED and similar outfits are keen to aid "opposition"
parties, when it is judged that they can eventually take power. As a
power broker, the US likes to buy influence. By helping opposition
candidates against strong incumbents, groups like the NDI and IRI
basically purchase them.
The Macedonia Experiment
Take, for example, Macedonia. Its 2001 civil war was started by
Kosovo-trained Albanian insurrectionists allegedly fighting for ethnic
equality. While the US claimed to be supporting the Macedonian
government, overwhelming examples of political, diplomatic and even
covert military aidto the rebels indicated otherwise. The US was
playing both sides, to ensure that neither would win a satisfactory
victory, as happened repeatedly during Yugoslavia's wars. America thus
became the vital "third party," the dispassionate arbitrator who could,
with deep feeling and magnanimity, lead the country to ethnic harmony,
human rights, and even democracy by aiding specific political parties,
babysitting ethnic spats, and sponsoring insipid children's television
programs.
As is happening now in Georgia, the 2002 elections saw the IMF freeze
donations to Macedonia. Political interference came from the NED and
other groups such as Transparency International. Their efforts helped
elect the opposition Social Democrats, and their multi-ethnic partners,
the Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (led by former terrorist
leader Ali Ahmeti) – a coalition amenable to American interests.
However, it'd been widely predicted beforehand that the SDSM-DUI ticket
would win; they clearly didn't need Western help. Yet by donating to
their campaign, America could ensure that the new government would be
in its debt.
Now, two years after the war, relations between Albanians and
Macedonians have not improved. But you wouldn't know it from the bland
whitewashing of the US and other "international community" bodies in
Macedonia. Claiming to desire a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic future for
Macedonia, they are well aware that this country will always remain
bipolar.
Macedonia hasn't had any unrest from its numerous other minorities. In
fact, they aren't even included when important "arbitration" needs to
be conducted; the problem is always only with the Albanians. As recent
protests from high school students show, the Macedonian reality is one
of a dualistic ethnic divide that appears, to delicate Western eyes,
utterly barbaric, ugly and sub-human. Painting the natives as
unenlightened savages is especially useful, considering that the
so-called "confidence builders" can't, and frankly don't want to change
things.
Example: NDI's Kosovo Whitewash
Covering up this reality is done chiefly through whitewashing. Take,
for example, the testimony of former NDI Kosovo director Scott David
Bates, in an October 2002 interview carried out by – imagine that! –
the US Government. Bates paints a rosy picture of democracy in Kosovo,
that "fairly successful" international mission to which KFOR troops
have brought "order and stability."
In the interview, Bates discusses his 2001 work with Kosovo political
parties and the OSCE in the run-up to Kosovo's colonial elections.
While there were some headaches involving Serbs "left behind" in the
province (i.e., those few who hadn't already been killed or expelled),
it was, according to Bates, "a truly successful election." Says Bates,
"…three years after the war, they held free and fair elections, with
Serbs and Albanians voting together. And in December of last year, they
went to parliament together."
Well wouldn't you know! However, as anyone with even a remote
understanding of the Kosovo situation knows, UNMIK has presided over 4
years of rampant ethnic cleansing, destruction of cultural treasures,
human trafficking, mafia violence and the occasional massacre of
children.
Obviously, Kosovo was the benchmark for failurein intervention. Until
Afghanistan and Iraq, that is. Compared to those disasters, it's
suddenly become "successful." However, the body of literature on the
black hole of Europe is vast and growing by the day. As the reader will
see, cheerful interventionists are deluded in the extreme if they
really believe what they say. Luckily for them, they don't.
Human, All Too Human
On the sweeping scale of world geopolitics, the enforced bipolarity
model holds. As an indicator of official US foreign policy, it's fairly
reliable, and there may even be a few loons in the State Department who
believe it has real democratic significance.
However, when we get down to the actual situation on the ground, other
factors take precedence – chiefly, the tremendous mediocrity inherent
to "democracy-building." This is a mutant combination of two
mentalities: the bureaucratic and the high school.
Derelict, conflict-prone countries such as Macedonia have become
playgrounds for the "international community." This term covers anyone
working for an embassy, NGO, political-education service like the NDI,
mass media, European Union – the list goes on. It doesn't matter where
one's from, so long as one chooses the customs of Brussels or
Washington over those of one's own country.
Indeed, card-carrying members of the "international community" stick
together. The benefits are many: access to reliable modern technology;
air-conditioned private transportation instead of rickety public buses;
friendly relations with important politicians and businessmen; many
perks, and perky colleagues too; as well as many, many social events.
For the last reason especially, members of the "international
community" often exhibit the group dynamics more common to high school
students. The petty jealousies, promiscuity and provincial gossip, the
drinking games, idleness and boredom – a "global village" indeed!
The tasteless exuberance of the self-appointed altruists abroad is
excessive, incestuous and utterly at variance with their stated
mission. And it has nothing to do, let me add, with high ideals. This
is why the day's workload – processing forms, fostering bipolarities
and installing governments – is accomplished with so much tedium,
reticence and disinterest. Nobody really cares, actually. At the end of
the day, local employees of embassies, foundations and groups like the
NDI are, on an individual level, only interested in avoiding
controversy and upheaval. They don't want to think. Above all, they
don't want all hell to break loose on their shift (this buck-passing
proclivity is why Kosovo's final status remains unresolved). Naturally
enough, the internationals would rather spend their time shopping,
drinking, or having sexual encounters with one another, or with
government ministers.
Fast Times at International High
In an incendiary piece entitled "AfghaniScam," Professor Marc Herold
condemns the international community's shameless exploitation of
postwar Kabul. Culling data from several first-hand accounts, Herold
reveals life within the "huge consumption bubble" unwittingly sustained
by US taxpayers:
"…this is the bubble economy of the wealthy and the wannabees,
including the returned 'necktie' Afghans and the proliferating 'expat'
community. They populate the state and services sectors, earn high
incomes which are spent on consumption of imports and local services
catering only to this strata, e.g., beauty salons, hotels, foreign
travel, gardeners and security personnel, weekend parties, golf clubs,
Toyota Land Cruisers (the vehicle of choice), the Excelnet Cafe – the
Intercontinental Hotel's cyber-cafe, bars and restaurants (like B's
Place where a pizza costs $12, when the average daily wage in urban
areas is $1").
According to Herold, the international media has perpetuated the myth
of a "new" Kabul by highlighting signs of false progress:
"…on Christmas Day 2001, Variety Magazine carrolled, 'In Kabul, Hooray
for Bollywood.' An article in the Boston Globe, announces 'Hotel
Critical to Rebirth of Kabul.' For whom, when rooms at the refurbished
Kabul Hotel will cost $125/night single occupancy?
…Another article in the New York Times breathlessly announced how Vogue
was rushing to Afghanistan to assist Afghan women 'to be beautiful
again.' Hip Kabulis are now donning 'skin-tight jeans and waist-high
tops with short sleeves… as young people adopt the clothing they see in
the movies from India and Hollywood,' but the blue jeans for sale in
the Jemhoriat Market sell for $5-25 a pair. Income in Afghanistan for
most people today is $30-50 a month."
Most disturbing is Herold's account of the internationals' excess,
promiscuity, and wanton disrespect for Afghan mores. Afghanistan, it
appears, has become like Kosovo or Macedonia – just magnified tenfold:
"…thousands of well-heeled foreign 'aid' workers and Afghan expats
partake in raucous weekend parties, their Landcruisers parked in a
smart Kabul street. Imported alcohol flows and Madonna echoes in the
street outside. Peter Essen, German owner of the giant Supreme Food
Service warehouse which initially supplied only the international ISAF
force (whose members can only eat imported food for security reasons),
caters to diplomats, foreign aid workers, international journalists,
etc. Essen said, 'we've got beer, wine, whiskey, pork – anything you
want.' Reuters reported some locals in Kabul mentioning foreign women
engaging in solicitation on street corners near foreign offices in
downtown Kabul."
The article also mentions Lai Thai, the new Asian eatery staffed by
"slim waitresses in silk sarongs," and Kabul's Irish bar, guarded by
soldiers carrying AK-47's and staffed by barmen who, though Afghan,
"have all have been given Irish names – Kevin, Jimmy, George, etc."
The West's Fatal Sickness
Buried deep in a September 3rd Brookings Institute discussion is the
revealing disclosure that there are already 173 Westernizing NGO's
operating in Iraq. Dude, it's party time!
In 2003, the US and its lackeys have far exceeded the pious old mission
of the "white man's burden," kept alive by the colonial office bunch.
Now, the contempt for other cultures is blatant and open. However,
under the veneer of "democracy-building," the US continues its system
of exploitation in beleaguered countries the world over. The message is
clear: join us or die.
When President Bush speaks of being 'with us or against us,' he is not
referring to democracy, law, or human rights. These, and the NED's
invocation of freedom as a "universal value," just nauseate. They are
merely the code words of a soulless Western office culture exulting in
tequila shots, shopping malls, life insurance and litigation.
While many Americans are genuinely mystified as to why some people
might like to live according to other customs and values, our educated
leaders surely know better. It's high time that they resolve – as Rep.
Paul concludes – to "…return to the foreign policy of our founders,
based on open relations and trade with all countries and free from
meddling and manipulation in the internal affairs of others."