Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
Oh, Conrad, you're so crabby.
The U.S. was magnificent in the defeat of the Nazis, imperial Japanese, and Soviet Communists, and in the inducement of China into at least state capitalism. But — apart from the facilitation of NATO expansion through Bill Clinton’s bunk about a Partnership for Peace (via dismemberment of the Soviet bloc), and possibly the setting up of a post-Saddam power-sharing regime in Iraq — the U.S. has been completely ineffectual in the world since the original Gulf War and the end of the Cold War 20 years ago.
The U.S. shows no signs of being prepared to pay down its mountain of debt, and is every year forfeiting the natural respect it acquired in the 1940s and maintained to the end of the 20th century as the world’s undisputed leader. An American failure to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power will signal the end of American world leadership, whether Israel steps up to the task or not. The U.S. cannot afford to masquerade as a decisive influence where it does not have the will or judgment to assert such an influence. Unless new leadership arises in the next election to end the current-account deficit and unsustainable oil imports, reorient the country to physical production and less unproductive “services,” and redesign alliances to contemporary needs and real possibilities, it should continue the orderly withdrawal already in progress. It won the Cold War, disposed of Saddam, and can retire in good order, undefeated, to a defensible perimeter. It was the indispensable country to the West, in 1917–18, and 1939–90, but it is largely dispensable now, and is providing no discernibly useful leadership at all.
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
OUCH!! My goodness, the truth really does hurt, doesn't it?
Jul '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
In this screed, he's a man after my own heart. When he defends Nixon, not so much.
Aug '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
I wish he were wrong, but he's right as rain, as in A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.
"The truth will set you free" someone of great stature once said.
Aug '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
Prison evidently sharpens one's focus. Whew ! Right on milord !
Edited on Sep 30, 2010 at 8:33amJun '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
If we had outlawed public-sector labor unions, particularly in education, we might've stayed on course to be the lone superpower for the next 100 years. But, millions of illiterate kids, and a bloated welfare state don't maintain superpowers. That's how little respect I have for the people who run public-sector unions. If things don't change radically, and soon, the public-sector unions will be a significant reason that we're all living hand-to-mouth someday. Our future will be Greece's present, if we don't change the formula, now.
Jul '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
Considering that he, a foreigner, spent two and half years in a Florida prison for violating a law the USSC now held to be too vague and unconstitutional, Conrad Black may have every right to be grumpy. Since he never lost his faith that the rule of law will prevail and he will be fully vindicated, Lord Black strikes me as a cheerful optimist, not a curmudgeon. As for his analysis of American failure, that seems right on the money. And he is not even piling on the grim details of US economic paralysis.
Edited on Sep 30, 2010 at 9:12amMay '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
Lord Black is sprung from the hoosegow and rarin to go.
We can, incidentally, call him Lord Black, since Mark isn't around, having been kidnapped by Andrea, let his facial hair get out of hand, and been disguised as a dog. Strangely he seems to be OK with this. Must be Stockholm Syndrome.
The only cooler name would be Lord Blackadder.
He's quite correct, of course, except that we've let these wars go on too long. The main reason the Iraq War became unpopular was because of its duration, not due to any of the superficial issues people pretended to get exercised about. That doesn't excuse our flaccid policy on Iran, however, which doesn't require any prolonged operation, and possibly no violence at all. Being the most significant foreign policy issue in the world at present, you'd think we could give it a whirl. Even France is annoyed with our lack of action.
May '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
Yep:
The year the U.S. relinquishes its role as the world's watchdog is the year all hell breaks loose.
Jul '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
Profoundly depressing.
Lord Black dates our decline from world leadership to the end of the Cold War. I'd go further back: to the Bay of Pigs.
In the space of 17 years, we went from a nation that bled at Normandy to one in which Harvard pointy-heads convinced a weak President to turn his back while Cuban patriots were abandoned to slaughter.
And now, as the jackals gather in the shadows, we disport ourselves with insipid entertainments and argue endlessly over trifles.
Aug '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
Well said.
The knights who say "neee!".
Jul '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
Black is a brilliant man and an acute analyst. I hope he is working on a prison memoir and a screen treatment based on his life. That Mark Steyn admires him is all the credential he needs.
May '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
Black was railroaded, and Steyn's analysis of the whole process was right on.
That said, he has an imperious elitist streak that came out with Barbara's ridiculous birthday party. I wonder why so many of these achievers are so narcissistic in insisting on finding ways to bill personal stuff to the company wherever legally possible? Besides arguably being a betrayal of fiduciary responsibility, the details always come out, and you end up looking like an idiot.
Aug '10
Re: Grumpy Curmudgeon Conrad Black Erupts
I'm not sure that it's America that "does not have the will or judgment to assert such an influence", or simply Barack Obama. He wouldn't have gone to war against Afghanistan or Iraq, either.