Of Circuses and Wars

Just read an excellent article by Phyllis Bennis in Common Dreams. The title “There is No Strategy Behind Trump’s Wars – Only Brute Force” drew my attention. Phyllis is quite right from the perspective of foreign policy. And her analysis that this is a raw demonstration of power, showing that the bully in the White House has no qualms about unleashing the horrific weapons he has at his command, is spot-on.

But is this a qualitative change in US foreign policy? Although there is a shift to more emphasis on military might and less on diplomacy, what Trump is doing is an extension of the War on Terrorism, which has been conducted by both Republican and Democratic administrations since before 2001. 

Are Trump’s targets restricted to North Korea, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, etc.? Or are the bombs also aimed at us, the resistance to Trump’s domestic policies. I would propose that there is a strategy, and it is to divert our attention while the Republicans retool their domestic attacks. Unfortunately, it seems to be working.

Wars and circuses are traditional ways in which the public can be “entertained” while an autocratic regime fleeces them. The problem for Trump is that his circus is so outlandish and has been on the road so long that it has lost its appeal. It’s no longer entertaining, just tawdry and disgusting.

On the other hand, wars, particularly those waged with “awesome” weapons, are the perfect diversion. Trump has already accomplished a lot with few, if any, negative consequences. He has reinvigorated his base by appearing tough in his approach to two other autocrats, Putin and Kim Jong-Un. He has put the Democratic Party establishment between a rock and a hard place, unable to criticize policies which are the extension of those they have supported in the past. He has pushed his domestic agenda off the front page, allowing Republicans to regroup (do we hear Repeal and Replace coming back) and push their policies with less visible resistance.

How should the left respond? To begin, it is necessary to expose Trump’s policies in terms of both the terrible cost in human lives (well over 1,000 civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria in March alone) and the racism inherent in United States military actions the Middle East and Africa. In addition, we need focus attention on the fact that dropping the Mother Of All Bombs or firing missiles at Syrian bases have done nothing to make the world or the US any safer. But most importantly we need to connect Trump’s foreign aggressions with his domestic agenda before the “fog of war” engulfs us all.

The Cold War Liberals are Back (and Trump is Going to Love It)

Article from the Washington Post: The Soviet Union Fought the Cold War in Nicaragua. Now Putin’s Russia is Back.

The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming. Forget Medicare for all, forget free college tuition, forget Planned Parenthood and climate change, forget deportations, mass incarceration, voter suppression and inequality – THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!

To prove their point, the Washington Post found it necessary to drag out old Cold War lies about the then Soviet Union setting up a client state in Nicaragua and combine it with the same kind of innuendo that Ronnie used to sponsor the Contra war against the Sandinista in the 1980s. In fact, if you change the dates and a few (not many) of the names in the Post article, it could have been written in 1984 (sic).

The article goes on to insinuate that Russian diplomacy in Afghanistan and the Middle East and trade in South America are all part the sinister Russian plot to win a new Cold War. It uses terms such as “the Russian buildup in Nicaragua” and speculates that a Russian GPS satellite facility in that country will be used to spy on the US.

The problem with this hype is that it wasn’t true in the 1980s and there is little evidence it’s true today. But that hasn’t stopped the liberal establishment from doing the Donald’s work for him. Divert attention from his domestic plans which he can’t get off the ground (repeal and replace, tax “reform”) and from controversy over his advisers.  Give the Donald a chance to look like a strong leader by initiating military strikes that will have negligible effect but look “awesome” and will put to rest fears that the Donald is Putin’s lapdog.

“Thanks for your help, liberal hawks, you’ve handled me a pass for at least several months. Now I can get back to the real business of screwing the American people” - The Donald

The Bombing of Syria Trumps the Russian Connection

Donald Trump has dealt a significant blow to the resistance to his administration with the missile attack on Syria. He has simultaneously driven his domestic failures off the front pages and TV news, rallied much of the Congress and the country around him as Commander-in-Chief, and defused the investigations of his administration’s Russian connections. He has done it by appearing to care about the suffering of the same children he wants to keep out of the US and with little actual diplomatic cost in terms of relations with the Russians. For good measure, he has shored up his base by demonstrating how he intends to “make America great again”.

There is nothing new in his approach – it’s hardly a stroke of genius. Past Republican and Democratic administrations have used foreign policy crises (both real and manufactured) to deflect attention from their problems at home. But this insignificant military action has already accomplished much more than past diversions and, for that, he can thank the Democratic establishment and the “liberal” media for their assistance.

Because of their obsessive focus on the Russian connection and their history of support for military interventions, leading Democrats and their supporters in the media are caught between a rock and a hard place. They now feel compelled to support Trump as he leads the US further down the rabbit hole in the Middle East and will find it infinitely harder to oppose shifting funds in the budget from domestic needs to the military. National security trumps domestic issues every time, particularly since both political parties often differ only on minor points when it comes to projecting US power abroad.

Where should progressives go from here? While it is unclear what Trump’s plan regarding US involvement in the civil war in Syria, or if he even has one beyond squelching domestic dissent, the resistance needs to make it clear that there is no military solution to the situation in Syria. If the quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t proof enough, then the realization that using US power to overthrow Assad, even under the guise of NATO or some other coalition, will further isolate Iran – the most powerful military and economic country in the region – and will inevitably lead the Iranians to ramp up their pursuit of nuclear capability as their only defense. Where we might go from there is too scary to even speculate.

Let’s be clear – humanitarian concerns are not going to be served by further destabilization of the region.  Progressives must push back against the current and demand that the US pursue a political, rather than military, solution as difficult as that might be, else the cloud of war will engulf us all. And while the civil war continues to generate horrific human tragedies, the US should do all it can to provide aid to war refugees, including admitting them to the US, Donald.

In the addition, we need to expose this move by Trump for what it is, and to demand a return to focus on the genuine issues confronting the American people – economic inequality, affordable healthcare, racism & mass incarceration, climate change, public education, voter suppression and other attacks on democratic rights, money in politics and so on. Perhaps the slogan should be “Let’s put our own house in order”, or even better "Regime change begins at home".