The Stumbling Skater

In describing the activities of the US illegal invasion of Iraq I wrote in February 2003 ...

The course is charted, arrogant use of the military is all the US ruling class has to maintain its dominance. After Iraq, asymmetric warfare, "terrorism," will be directed at Americans, American institutions, American targets, and American allies. When the rest of the world recognizes how thinly spread the US military is, thinly spread physically, and economically, because it is not a sustainable institution in its current incarnation, rebellions will occur. Indeed they have already started. The response of the weakening US will be to lash out, often with unforeseeable consequences, just as the consequences of this impending invasion are unforeseeable, and unknown.

Sturm and Drang

Military might is a sign of strength, but the US military is not invincible worldwide. America's use of force as both first and last resort is a sign of profound systemic weakness. Its employment today will destabilize the world, and cause ....

The world has moved on, the invasion is over, the US main objectives have been acheived which were ..

1. Re Establishing dollar hegemony by preventing further sale of crude oil in US dollars by Saddam Hussein .. and effectivelt frightening off anyone elese who wanted to.

2. Establishing military bases in Iraq (as well as Qatar) ...and throughout the old energy rich CIS States.

I vary the metaphor now.

When I was aa cold and impoverished student in Edinburgh in the eraly 60's I used (with many others) to spend my Sunday afternoon perched on the square solid, central heating radiators of the Scottish National Gallery .. the only place open in town. My meagre gas fire literally ate coins (probably faster than the Muscovites today with 35 below and gas supplies reduced) so this warm spot was welcome ... only early arrivals got to sit on the radiators ... threatening a lifetime of piles we were told.

A Scottish painter I was therefore introduced to and admired was the portaraitist Sir Henry Raeburn , self taught and hugely industrious..although he couldn't paint hands. His The Rev. Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch is a wonderful piece of draughtmanship, showing the portly prebendary skating on one leg having just propelled himself across the freezing ice (his unpaintable hands scsreted in a hand muff).. you can see this by going to an odd site ... (http://www.redrat.net/thoughts/buddha/skater.jpg)

It brings to mind the meeting of the beautifuly stupid, deluded Anna Karenina when she meets the wanton , careless and heartless Vronsky at the Moscow Zoological Gardens which starts off Trotsky's tragic tale of love and loss.

I think the US State is like the peerles prebendary, silently swiftly floating serenely .. now they have stumbled.. they clutch blindly whirling , hoping catching, seeking aid and assistance.

Castro and Chavez travelled the Muslim world in 2000 and 2001 (Googling Images for Castro and Khataeimi will provide wonderful images) stiffenening the world wide Anti American resolve ... now bearing fruit in the teasing of Uncle Sam by the Iranian democratically lected President, the tweaking of his nose by Chavez, the nuisance stirred by the newly democratic Morales. A pattern develops.

Relentlessly Chavez .providing free or cheap heating oil in Manhattan, Castro Doctors to the 3rd world, punch the points home.

Silently the sidelines fill with "Old Europeans" Schroeder, whose influnce has not waned, Merkel asking asking awkward questions about Gunatanamo Bay. Chirac remains soi disant, raising an eyebrow over the activities of Bolton;s lap dog mehlis on the Levantine Corniche, Now the Dutchmen have no courage for the fight in Afghanistan.

Far called our Navies fade away.. said Kipling. Far called Uncle Sam's ffriends are left far behind.

Rusia and China of course, regarding the antics of the Iranian leader stay silent but will of course protect their own and better interests. Peres will of course stir the pot.. kindly forgetting that it was the Iranians who (led by Israel) first baombed saddam's Osirak reactors and only ended doing it themselves because the Iranians botched the job.

Of course there is some official support from Denmark, Poland but their electrorates are growing uneasy.

Meanwhile Uncle Sam clatters across the ice.

Lashing out , (the newly uprated Predator destroying families in Pakistan), watching democracy rise like a tide, now in Chile, perhaps with surprising success in Mexico soon.

Do not forget that 400 Mn people speak Spanish in the world . The Spanish Government were happy to suply warships and planes to Chavez and to strip out Uncle Sams compassses and electronics. The US lose 2 fold, they lose a foothold in sales and they let other suppliers in.

Slippin' and a slidin' the stumbin' skater slides across the pond.

You can bet he can (and will) rely on Mr Blair ... for how long.