Everybody knows, right?
I am writing this on the premise that, in spite of all our political differences, the average person understands that the government doesn't give a royal shit about us. By "government," I mean the Presidents, Kings, Premiers, Ministers of Defense, Members of Congress and Parliment and the Diet and the Kremlin and so forth and so on. These people are in this as if it were a high-stakes game. They are working for their own advantage, and the advantage of their party, which inevitably is for their own advantage. We elect them, and participate in their ascension, hoping they will work on our behalf, but they never do. At best, we get the scraps.
The dealings that governments have with each other is, again, for their own advantage. You ally yourself with somebody that has something you want, whatever that might be. France and England were bitter enemies, until Germany became a threat to them both. Now, Germany is a friend of both, because the USSR was a threat. Russia can be a friend if it becomes to everybody's advantage. And to "everybody," I mean to the governments.
If you've ever seen the 1960 epic "Quo Vadis," you might remember the performance that Peter Ustinoff gave as Nero. Talk about chewing on the scenery! Anyway, there was a scene where they were discussing what to do about the problem of a dusty, dirty, filthy city of Rome. Nero's vision was to build a beautiful, new city. Problem was, the old one was still occupied. I don't remember the exact line, but an adviser said something about the necessity of populace; that a ruler needed someone to rule.
We are nothing but a problem to these people. We don't actually exist, unless their car needs gas, or their lawn need mowing, or somebody has to babysit their kids. We are game pieces, best understood as demographic groups instead of human beings. Human beings could be their equals, and that's ridiculous.
Yes, we all understand this. It explains why we are so cynical. It explains why we repeat talking points we hear in the media, as if they were deep truths. Liberals honestly care about people; No, wait, they hate their own country. It's the Conservatives that care about the working man; That is, when they're not helping their fat, rich, white buddies line their pockets.
Yeah, we know, they're actually using us. They have to convince a sizeable number of us to vote their way, because we know that if we do the nation will lean in a general direction that we can tolerate. We're all suckers, but we know it, and we go along because somebody has to be President and populate Congress and print our drivers licenses and Social Security checks. And the choices, sadly, are limited.
Some of us get so damned sick of it that we run for office ourselves. Selectman, or City Council, or Alderman, depending on the size of the community we live in. Maybe we go in, do some good things, and attract the attention of the Democrats or Republicans. They suggest you run for something bigger. Or maybe you just decide to do so yourself.
The point is, the further up the ladder you get, the more compromise you are subject to. Scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. And if you don't, you can't do anything you want. If you play along, they own you. And if you don't, you're stuck. Anyone with actual compassion finds themselves selling off little bits of what they care about until the machine just grinds it all up. The end.
But what if someone with actual compassion got into a very, very high position? Someone who looks out their limousine window and honestly cares about the people he's driving past? And I don't mean a Bill Clinton cynical 'I feel your pain' kind of faux compassion, but who actually cares. Who sees the world as clearly as any of us, and is sick of the assholes always winning?
What would such a person think of the current situation in the Middle East? It's such a mess, and everybody with power over it has been hopping in and out of bed with everybody else for centuries. The people that really care about something seem to care more about their religious ideology than any people, including themselves. Everybody else seems to be more concerned with who controls the oil.
Just imagine, if you can, that somewhere there was somebody that watched all this never ending war, chemical attacks, continual oppression, and was sick of it. Somebody that felt the people living there should have a better chance of a decent life.
If I were a person like this, I think I would see three basic paths to follow.
One would be, get out, get lost, hands off. Let everybody else worry about it. We have oil, and tech, and we don't really need anything that they have there. Let the Shi'ites and Sunnis kill each other. Let Russia control the area. Let Turkey stomp the Kurds into the dust, and Europe make deals with whoever they want, at whatever price, and to hell with everyone there.
Two problems with that. For one, the people of the Middle East are suffering. Ah, but they've always suffered. And our love for oil has helped fund the oppression. Saudi Arabia is always high on the list of oppressive regimes, right up there with North Korea. It seems like everyone in power there hates everyone they're in power over, even the ones on their side.
For another, we have already seen what happens when those areas of the world are left devoid of our influence. So, what do we do if (if?) they eventually come after us? Oh, but they'd never do that.
We will now take a ten-second break while nobody remembers 9-11.
Second path: Total involvement. People keep telling me that "those people" wouldn't like democracy, wouldn't appreciate it, couldn't even understand it. That's like saying that if I had a billion dollars, I wouldn't be happy. Thank you for your concern, but I'd like a chance to find that out for myself, if you don't mind.
History tells us that democracy has worked every time it's been tried. Does anyone remember the happy faces of Iraqis holding up their blue fingers? And yes, corruption is almost inevitable, but even corrupt democracies - like ours! - are pretty damned decent places to live.
So we could go in, dare Russia to cross the line in the sand, kick out the criminals and despots and build some nations! In spite of what Pres. Trump says, by 2008 Iraq was headed in a pretty good direction. Compared to their recent past, and anything their neighbors had experienced. I STILL say that THIS more than anything was the cause of the Arab Spring. Small people all over the Middle East looking through the fence and thinking, "I'd like some of that."
There is also the invisible elephant in the room; Israel. Maybe you hadn't heard . . . but they are God's chosen people. Scoff if you will, but I didn't pick them. No, they're not perfect. They're not even nice. News flash; they never were. Read about it in the Bible, which they wrote, and even then it didn't ger covered up. Again, I didn't choose them. And if you want to stand up to the dude that did, then let me get out of your way.
One thing I would point out; Will Durant wrote an epic set of books called the History of Civilization, aided later in his life by his wife, Ariel. It discusses every significant civilization that left any historical or archaeological record. I've never read it, but I do know a couple people who have gone through all 11 volumes, and they say it covers every empire, every nation of every significance . . .
. . . except Israel. The reason for this is, Israel's history doesn't fit into any model that any other nation has ever experienced. Like, it was different, for some reason. So, they simply left it out.
There is a difference between problem solving and management. Let's say, you own a restaurant. You walk in, and there's a dining room full of hungry and thirsty people, a fully equipped and stocked kitchen, and an empty cash register. You get to work, and soon you have satisfied people, a dirty, empty kitchen, and a full cash register. Have you solved a problem?
Well . . . yes, and no. You've solved the immediate problem, but you still have to pay the mortgage on the building, restock the fridges, clean up, and hope your dining room fills up again tomorrow. So, you solve each of those new problems, rinse, and repeat.
That's called, management. Which brings us to the third option; managing the situation. As that situation now stands, the Europeans have relative security as to their oil supply, the Russians have increasing control over their biggest competition in this same area, and the despots on the ground have plenty of support in their intermural pissing contests. Saudi Arabia and Iran are each held in relative check by their chief backers, us and Russia, and the others line up behind them on sectarian lines. The pieces in play are struggled over. And everybody hates God's chosen people, except us, maybe, depending.
The whole situation can be seen as a big problem, solved by either quitting altogether, or taking control altogether. Or, it can be seen as a management situation, in which one would exert power and spend capital for and against all the players mentioned above.
But what about the people that live there? The people that run the oil wells, and load the ships, and so on and so forth? Who's on their side? Careful examination would indicate that they have problems, too. And don't bother Daddy, he's got more important things to do.
In my fevered imagination, I wonder what would happen if the President went to Putin and announced his intention to see things change significantly in the Middle East; Syria, in particular, at this time. Putin would probably look back, wondering what move in the game this was. Why would you want that, he might ask?
Because it's the right thing to do.
This answer would cause confusion. Putin, of course, would completely reject that as a possibility. What other game is being played here? What position on the board is this a move toward? Right for whom?
A commentator on NPR mentioned the other day that the current Middle East resembles Europe in 1914. I can see his point. Some little person could easily do some stupid thing that could cause the whole thing to explode, and World War 3 would begin. All the world's major players, save China, have a lot invested in that region. And, I know, you reading this probably are aware of China's involvement more than I am. It's a dangerous place to play with fire. The whole place could light up, and take us all with it.
So let me ask you this; if there was actually a world leader who decided to act on behalf of the little guy, what would it look like? What would they do about things like gas attacks on innocents? And in the mighty words of Woody Guthrie, which side would you be on?
