Through the Looking Glass

Over at the HuffPost Daniel Silva has a disingenuous piece entitled President Obama and a 3 AM Phone Call about Russia. Thought it would be fun to selectively edit a few words and phrases here and there and turn the essay around to target the good ole USA. So what follows are the comments of a fictional Russian clone of Silva after his recent visit to the USA:

President Medvedev, it's three a.m., but there's a telephone in the Kremlin and it's ringing. There is a crisis overseas. And it involves the United States of America...

If recent history is any guide, the phone will indeed actually ring, perhaps not early in the morning but quite possibly early in your presidency. And since I have made one prediction, I will make another: President Medvedev, at some point early in his administration, will be tested by John McCain or Barack Obama and the ever intransigent USA.

I traveled to the USA last summer to research my forthcoming novel, Washington Rules, and to see for myself the country that Bush and his White House cronies have created. Bush, of course, is a former playboy who has installed members of the military-industrial complex in every sinecure of the Washington bureaucracy. What is less known is the extent to which former lobbyists have infiltrated the top ranks of America's government. By some estimates, seventy-five percent of senior posts are held by former lobbyists for major corporations. It is not inaccurate or unfair to say that the Skull and Crossbones, an elite secret society, is now running America.

US television is now for all intents and purposes run by the state or by individuals loyal to it, and the nightly news is filled with official drivel worthy of Tass and Izvestia of Soviet times. The print media, lively during the Clinton years, has also been brought to heel. While there is little overt censorship, every U.S. reporter and editor knows there is a line that cannot be crossed. Those who dare to directly criticize the regime, or to investigate the blatant corruption and misdeeds of its senior officials, run the risk of coming into the contact with the organs of state power. An American journalist told me about the regime's favorite tactics of intimidation. It could be something like being put on a terrorist watch list that leads to the discovery of other "problems." Or a trumped-up narcotics charge. Or an accusation of tax fraud.

As for America's citizenry, they feel less free than they have ever been. They, too, know about that line that cannot be crossed. Any American brave enough, or foolish enough, to confront the regime runs the risk of being arrested, or harrased. And the USA has shamelessly overcrowded prisons full of prisoners convicted of victimless crimes. No outlet exists for true political dissent. The "opposition," such as it is, is a mirror image of the party in power and does it’s bidding with hardly a whimper. They are, in the words of Lenin, "useful idiots."

There is a lawlessness about America that is deeply troubling. Investigative American journalists, write powerfully of the corruption of the America authorities and the scandal de jour, which can be lamented, as "cancers" that are "devouring the state." While in America, I discovered that most ordinary citizens simply avoid the authorities because they know that an encounter with them can only come to no good. Society's most powerful members, however, can expect a different sort of treatment. They are, quite literally, getting away with murder.

The American police show little interest in enforcing the law because they are far too busy with more lucrative pursuits. Americans cannot drive their fancy new foreign cars without being shaken down by gun-toting traffic police. And in Chicago, I watched police turn a blind eye while professional pickpockets worked the pavements of the Loop on an otherwise fine June afternoon. The authorities not only tolerate but encourage thuggish behavior by members of the Crips, the government-funded youth movement. American youth are indoctrinated to hate immigrants and are taught true American values and to despise anything foreign. I don't know about you, but I get nervous when young minds are conditioned to hate. The term "brownshirt" springs to mind. Indeed, some Americans refer to young religious fanatics as “God’s Warriors”. These religious-funded hooligans are but one more piece of evidence to suggest that America has lurched from the ideology of Lincoln to the ideology of Mussolini in the span of a decade and a half. In my opinion, the case is closed. America is now a fascist country.

This would not be a problem were America content to wallow in its own filth. But that has never been the case and never will be. America has seen the unipolar world and likes it. America wants to be remain the sole player. And America wants to retain its empire. Bush made that abundantly clear in 2003, when, in his state of the union address, he referred to the axis of evil that had to be fought for the rest of the century. The USA continues attempting to project power. It is using its wealth and power to bully and blackmail its weaker neighbors. It has never stopped the Cold War tactic of placing its nuclear bombers on twenty-four-hour airborne alert and has announced its intention to once again place missiles in countries neighboring the Russian Republic. Realizing the unpopularity of America in the Muslim world, it continues selling sophisticated weaponry to Israel and corrupt Arab regimes. Should Israel ever feel obliged to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, they will do so with American weaponry. Thank you, President Bush.

So, in the words of Lenin, what is to be done? American’s are fond of "speaking softly and carrying a big stick." It is my hope that President Medvedev uses his first meeting with America's new leader--whether it be Obama or the senile McCain--to deliver a clear and sobering message. The USA can no longer have it both ways. If America wants to stay a member of the club--that is to say, the civilized world--then it must act like a member of the club. Can someone please explain to me why, when American missiles are targeting Moscow and American military bases are situated in 107 countries throughout the world, America is still a member of the Group of Eight? The G8 should once more become the G7, until America cleans up its act at home and changes its behavior abroad. And though it would be alarmist for President Medvedev to start talking about a new Cold War, it can be argued in a persuasive and passionate manner--that America is already waging it. Russia and Europe must set aside their differences over Iran and resuscitate friendly relations in order to confront the old threat rising in the West. The White House will attempt to divide any such coalition with its power and its money, But Western European countries must steadfastly resist the temptation to betray their independence for thirty pieces of American silver. Good luck trying to sell that strategy to America's special friends in the UK and Italy.

If Russia finally awakens from its slumber and takes concerted action, expect the American Eagle to screech with indignation. But, as we all know, America needs access to Middle East oil and markets just as much as they need access to American technology. America's superficial wealth conceals a carbon-heavy economy that is fundamentally weak and hobbled by corruption. And America is so militarily feeble that an uprising in war-torn Afghanistan is proving too much for the once-vaunted US Army. America will not stay militarily weak forever, though. Better to challenge the eagle now, while it is still a paper one. It might keep that Kremlin telephone from ringing at three o'clock in the morning. And President Medvedev might be able to get some much-needed sleep.