What To Do About Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela . . .

Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela: places of unrest, turmoil, war, mayhem.

The wisest choice is not to intervene in their affairs.

Yeay! say the people who thought that invading Iraq in 2003 was a no-no.

Nay! yell those who thought it was a good idea.

Callous bastards! scream those who think that these cases are not the same as the 2003 invasion of Iraq, that this time there’s ample reason to intervene. That this time a military approach is called for, primarily for humanitarian reasons, but also for strategic ones, and mostly because they have huge double standards and a mercurial sense of compassion.

Note to self: point out how complex and messed up getting involved in other countries’ affairs is, and that no one, no one has the moral high ground on the subject, be he liberal and in support of… what? War in the name of liberty and democracy? War in the name of liberation from tyranny?

Or no war whatsoever — peace, diplomacy, peace — for the exact same reasons?

Confusing, innit!

Ditto if a person is conservative and in support of more or less the same things, the only difference being that they add the words of Christ, Krishna, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster to their arguments.

The point is, foreign affairs are complex. We need to get involved for the right reasons. Not the righteous ones but the right ones.

Note to self: point out how complex foreign affairs are and that no one has the moral high ground when addressing them: check!

Now to the thesis:

The reason I support non-intervention in the cases of Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela— to each their own, because each case is different — as things stand, is not ethical, moral, or faux-moral, but practical and pragmatic.

See, democracy, as it stands, needs to tend to its own demos (people) before it extends its hold and influence (its ‘-cracy’) elsewhere. We, the bulwarks of fair society (it’s all relative, innit!), better tend to our affairs and let this one play out, not because we’re callous and disinterested (and by that I mean partial — yes, disinterested means partial) but because we have much at stake.

Because we need to get this one right.

Let me explain. The Muslim civil wars, jihads, and general unrest that span from the Deltas of Nigeria to North and East Africa, to the volatile Balkans and the Middle East, all the way to the Caucasus in Asia and the Province of Xinjiang in China, must abate at all costs, sooner rather than later. They’re a festering wound on the globe. Our prime concern should be not to let them spread. We have enough problems to deal with already in the form of rampant corporatism and crony capitalism, which toxifies the environment and destroys the cultural fabric of societies. Not to mention the mutant socialism and statism we see everywhere, a political approach that leeches entire countries dry while rendering its people lazy, entitled assholes who grow dependent on the state teat for everything they can, so that they can shit more leisurely on those who do better than them while demanding more free stuff from the state, care of the taxpayers’ money. (That was a mouthful!)

Ditto about the ongoing Latin America soap opera, one of the longest running shows on ‘failure to excel’ in modern history, in what is an otherwise incredibly rich continent; and the Russian theatrical tour of wonders with its deep-running legacy of ‘shut-up, power is great!’

Until we get all those things right — rampant corporatism, crony capitalism, plus the world’s rampant overpopulation, which puts a further strain on the planet’s ecosystem, and — wait for it! — the world’s secular tyrannies, which are thriving on oppression — we can’t afford to be further entangled in jihad politics, tribal chaos, neo-feudal culture, or strongman orgies. We must solve the I-want-to-kill-you-because-my-country-is-better-than-yours-in-screwing-things-up-without-even-pretending-to-keep-a-semblance-of-decorum (which the West at least does) without hurting or draining ourselves in the process.

If the language I’m using sounds callous and extreme, it’s because it is. I’m not mincing my words, or trying to mince them, or pretending to put on a caring mask that says ‘I’m a slithering hypocrite playing coy.’

The way I see it, there’s only so much room for decorum. After a while one has to be balls-out, speaking it as it is.

The Sickness

My words are hurtful for another, more substantial reason.

It answers to the terms ‘truth’ and ‘accuracy.’

Yes, all the issues mentioned above are disorders of terrible magnitude, deadly diseases afflicting the health of the planet’s organism. Be you an environmentalist or a psychotron, a hardcore fan of globalization and technology, or a luddite isolationist that bathes in sweat and morning drizzle, a flute maker or a physicist, a farmer or an urbanite, an abstinent bodhisattva or the parent of two rowdy and out-of-control teenagers — whatever the case, you can’t escape the fact that humanity needs healthy surroundings to thrive in. Which we don’t have.

What we’re living in right now is the opposite. Disease is an apt term to describe it — and all the issues mentioned above. Abscesses and infections that stem from our identity-clashing, technologically-driven way of life with its quasi-religious spins, its socio-capitalist hybrids, its recurring cultural menopauses— or are they phallic middle-age freakouts? Take your prick, I mean pick!

Back to Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela, or, to be more precise, away from them. There’s every reason not to get involved in them. The world needs to recuperate from its ongoing socio-economic crisis before dealing with these sticky situations. Jump in to the fray, and we risk a world war.

Here’s an image that circulated the web in the summer of 2013. It sums up where the situation with Syria was headed at the time, and where it might still be heading, should the wrong cooks get together for some late-night broth-a-vaganza.

 

Ditto for other places in the world.

Choose Your War Wisely

Bottom line, democracy and open society must be smart before they’re moral. Go by the data, make things work, gett results, secure outcomes, all by the facts. Preaching fuzzy sermons of liberalism, conservatism and other fuzzy -isms, in whose name we pretend to do good, while all we do is cause damage to both ourselves and others, is idiotic.

Has our past fervor — religious and nationalistic — with its horrors and failures taught us nothing?

This is not the time for open conflict. Should the time come, let’s be ready by having prepared bunker and bullet for it. Let the fight be dictated by us, not by others.

One enters the battlefield of one’s own choosing, at the time of one’s own choosing. If one wants to win the war.

I didn’t say that. Some of the greatest military figures of history did.

Better heed them if we’re to hold democracy’s own. Freedom’s own. Achievement’s own.

Once we get our act together, we’ll be better suited to make clear and sound decisions, be they pacifist or confrontational.

For now, let’s just get back in shape.

Is that too much to ask?

It’s The Principe

For those who think that this kind of attitude reveals weakness, inviting more trouble, I urge them to lay off the Narnia books, the Hollywood movies and the Disney plot lines, and read up on the aforementioned generals.

Putin did. The Prince of Russia lays low, biding his country time, allowing it to recuperate, clearing Russian heads and getting ready for everything. He made two major moves in the past years, and they both stuck.

The first one was the invasion of parts of Georgia and the subsequent secession of the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which then declared themselves independent, with Russia’s full support.

The second was Crimea.

*Winning!* on both of them. He didn’t waste a ton of lives, didn’t drag his country through the swamp of ambivalence, or empty the state’s coffers to fund his strongman tour. (His oligarchs did that, through graft, but that’s another story.) He bided his time, moved when it mattered, and won.

Why can we not do the same? Ignore the authoritarianism, we’re better than that, but take a leaf out of that strategy book?

We should.

From your unsettling Spin Doctor,

Eyes open, mind sharp.

PS – The West’s Princes and Princesses ought to keep their eyes peeled to learn something from it. Here’s a song to make it clearer. Vocals – Vladimir Putin; Lead Guitar – A well-rested army; Rhythm Guitar – Viktor Janukovych; Bass – The Caucasus; Drums – Los Cubanos Duros; Supporting Vocals – Pussy Galore. Lyrics by Niccolo Machiavelli. Mixed and Produced by Strategy Inc.