Cui Bono?

If we've said it once, we've said it 100 times: never trust anyone holding public office.  Related to that is our other axiom: the System cannot be reformed from within; it must be dismantled and neutralized.

Since Franklin Roosevelt's first (of four) term, it has been a tradition to give new presidents 100 days to get their act together.  Out of curiosity and tradition, I was willing to give Donald Trump 100 days to show his true colors.  It only took less than 90.

I think it is time to resign to the fact that Trump is just another Neocon warmonger.  Had Hillary been elected, we might have actually had the country up in arms against any military intervention on the scale and premises of the Trump attack on Syria.  Instead, all those folks who fell for his marketing are unwilling to bail on him, since they literally shed sweat, blood and tears to get him elected as a reformer.

Took the man all of a few weeks to dump a steaming pile of cruise missiles on their hopes and dreams.  I don't care how you argue this, killing four people for geopolitical advantage is no better than any other tin-pot dictator on the planet.

So, the entire world has polarized over this event, with the usual suspects lining up in praise of Trump's "decisiveness" on one side (to include Merkel, Abe, Gentiloni, etc.), and the folks who elected Trump to change things on the other.

But of course, the folks who stop by the Far Side want to know our take on things, which is always just a bit different from the usual choices that we are all supposed to make under the Hegelian Dialectic.  I hope I won't disappoint.

The official Far Side take is that the entire thing, from top to bottom, is Political Theater, likely coordinated at the lowest levels (I refuse to acknowledge the slime are higher than the rest of us), and professionally staged to achieve a number of goals, the most important (to them) is selling Trump as a global leader.

First off, the "Chemical Weapons" attack.

All the video I've seen from the site of the "attack" looks and feels, at least to me as a professional film and video guy, like a staged event.  When I saw the video of the "victims" lying in the street, I was immediately reminded of the scene of a New Mexico town in The Andromeda Strain.  The lighting was just too good.   The depth of focus was just too right.  The "bodies" were just a little too arranged.  The bodie

When watching video, I always imagine the camera crew.  Who is taking the pictures and where are they in the scheme of things?  Sarin gas is a highly toxic substance, with just the tiniest amount being enough to kill or severely maim a human being.  Was the camera crew in full environmental suits with respirators?  If so, did they have special camera and sound gear that allowed them to record the scene wearing thick gloves?  And did they have to destroy all their equipment (or at least abandon it on-site) after they had recorded their pictures?

And what about the "doctor" who was supposedly recording from a hospital hallway, offering to sell interviews to the highest bidder rather than caring for patients?  In the background, "white helmets" were hauling "bodies" around without a single piece of protective gear - including gloves.

Nope, I'm not buying the whole "attack" thing.  It reminds me too much of gamed scenarios were locals are hired as extras to play victims for training purposes.  One need only to watch Wag The Dog to see how these things are done.  And don't forget the recent ad in German newspapers seeking folks to play townies for military training games.  In fact, going back a bit further, what about all those "training exercises" under Obama where hundreds of extras were hired to stage protects and civil unrest for "training purposes".  This scenario is well within the range of plausible.

Next up, the "air raid".

By all accounts, Trump unleashed 59 aging Tomahawk cruise missiles in a "surgical" strike on an air base well within sovereign territory for which the US Congress had not issued a declaration of war in retaliation for an "attack" (see above) that did not affect the US nor any of its citizens.  In other words, an unprovoked act of aggression on a sovereign nation.

Of the 59 Tomahawks, less than 40% hit the target, destroying (according to Major General Igor Konashenkov) six broken-down MiG-23s and causing so little damage to the airport that it was up and running hours later supporting anti-ISIS raids.  The Major General speculated that the 59 Tomahawks were part of aging inventory that needed to be blown off so Trump could throw a bone to the Military-Industrial Complex in the form of an order for some fresh toys.

Thus, from the Far Side perspective, the sarin attack was a professionally staged event to provide justification for an air strike that not only blew off some aging inventory, but was nothing more than theater to demonstrate Trump's "leadership and resolve" in international affairs.  He is now being hailed as the true leader of the free world, which apparently is defined as those powers willing to violate international law with unprovoked acts of war against non-aggressor nations.

I would be completely unsurprised if President P. T. Barnum...er, Trump, set the whole thing up to buy himself credibility.  After all, the Russians were warned an hour in advance and had time to clear the air strip of vital personnel and materiel, so there seems to have been some collusion between Trump and Putin on this.

Regardless, the raid supposedly puts the entire question of Russian influence to rest and establishes Trump as the firm, decisive Grand Poobah on the international stage.

Folks can choose either of the two options allowed by the elites: 1) Trump is a great leader, or 2) Trump violated his campaign promises and alienated his support base.

I prefer to see the whole thing, and with good reason, as a professionally staged media event to achieve a number of public relations goals, as well as upgrade some military hardware, while at the same time send the message that the US is back and it ain't taking shit off nobody.

No matter what side you choose, though, the event proves our case that all governments are evil and no system can be reformed from within.  Even if my scenario is correct and no one was hurt and the whole thing was theater, it is the perception of what happened and the crass attempt to manipulate that perception on the part of politicians and media that makes the entire thing evil and rotten to the core.

No one and nothing can be trusted on the geopolitical stage.  It is all perception management, and in the worst case scenario, buying leadership credits with human lives.  Bashir Assad stood to gain nothing from a chemical attack, especially since he was clearly winning against al-Qaeda/ISIS/CIA assets.  The only entities that stood to gain anything here were Trump and the Military-Industrial Complex, making Trump an obvious stooge of the latter and an utter disappointment to anyone who supported him as a change agent.

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms."

- As You Like It, Act !!, Scene VII

Loki Unbound!

Loki is a rather interesting character in Norse mythology.  He is often portrayed as being Wodin's right-hand man, but with a twist.  Whenever Wodin's not looking, Loki runs around creating havoc, which Wodin then has to clean up.

As we survey the world today, it would seem that Wodin has fallen into a drunken stupor in Valhalla, a bit of deer gristle stuck in his beard, and Loki has taken advantage of the situation.

The world has gone stark, raving nuts.  I can't think of any more appropriate description.  It's not just the natural disasters.  Those are sufficient cause for alarm.  But the people are out of control, as if Loki is moving amongst them with wild abandon, whispering devious schemes in their ears.  How else do you account for the sheer lunacy?

We have a Nobel Peace Prize winner ordering the death and destruction of thousands, while acting like a tyrant, and no one seems to see the irony in that.  We have the only country in history to get nuked in war-time, nuking itself and refusing to admit the severity of it.  We have the Bear and the Panda looking for all the world like restrained adults trying to marshal the unruly children of the West.  Meanwhile, the richest, most powerful nations of the last 300 years are imploding, and they are ordering gasoline thrown on the resulting fires.

Just amazing to watch, really.  Who would have thought Indonesia would become a power-house economy?  I mean, besides me, of course.  Who would have thought India and China would be shoving each other in the hallway over who gets to be the biggest, baddest mofo?  Who would have thought Ireland and Portugal would join together to finally crash the Holy Roman Empire?

And what about Libya?  Here we have a country that was quelling some domestic protests when suddenly the  US/UK empire decided now was a good time to start blowing them up.  No one was paying any attention to Libya.  They were just going about their business feeding oil and gas to Europe and many other countries.  Then, along came al Qaeda, who are supposed to be the bad guys over there (after all, the US has been bombing them into oblivion for 11 years).  They start stirring up some noise.  Qaddafi does what any good dictator does (see Obama) and puts down the protests.  That should have earned him a gold star and extra face time on Dancing With The Stars.  Instead, the Coalition of the Desperate start flying sorties, shooting DU and arming al Qaeda.

What the hell?!

When did the axiom of war become, "The enemy of my enemy is my enemy?"  It's as if only the US can beat up on al Qaeda.  If anyone else touches them, watch out buddy!  Heck, just the ruling junta in the rebel camp is a Who's Who of bad guys right out of the infamous Deck of Cards: al Awali, bin Laden's personal driver, guys the US has shot up three countries to kill.  Now the US is protecting them in Libya and giving them money and weapons.

Pardon me if I have this really confused look on my face, but when did the libretto change?  And what's worse?  The American people are just blissfully sailing along on Hope and Change, hardly noticing what those bastards in Washington are up to.

Meantime, the US debt is now par with the GDP, which means what?  B-R-O-K-E.  But don't let that get in the way of a good spending spree.  Last month the feds spent 8.2 TIMES the monthly revenues.  Let's just pause a moment to let that sink in...  You have a credit card.  The spending limit is $1,000.  So, what do you do?  Spend $8,200, of course.  What's more, the issuer lets you do it, since you always pay the interest (though the principle has been sitting there since Kennedy was sneaking girls into the Oval Office).

Things are much better in Europe, where Ireland and Portugal stepped up to dip from the trough...again.  No one seems to mind or care that all the bail-outs do is create more bail-outs.  When do you suppose Germany will get tired of floating the whole damn continent?

On the war front, Obama, Sarkozy and What's-his-name in Britain are strutting around like a bunch of preening chickens with their 'war postures,' yet not one of them has served a single day in the military.  In fact, it's the women behind the scenes who are starting all the fights, which is what women are really good at.  Hillary and that Power woman and a few other top broads are the saber-rattlers.  The boys are just the strutters.  The really funny part is that Qaddafi is the only REAL man in the whole play.  He's holding off a bunch of so-called rebels AND the combined efforts of three countries.  And that's with his left hand.

Yup, the more you look around, the more you have to assume that Wodin has turned Loki loose.

Over here in Asia, the rupiah has steadily risen from 11,000 against the dollar a couple of years ago, to 8,600 now.  But, Asian stocks took a dump when Japan dumped radioactive water into the Pacific.  I'm waiting for specials on 3-eyed flounder in a few months.  Needless to say, the sushi industry is toast for the next 2 or 3 thousand years.

Pay no attention to the neutron beams.  Those are just part of the light show.  Pink Floyd will be coming on soon.  After all, neutrons are only released when nuclear chain-reactions occur.  That's a good thing.  It means Loki is out of control.

A long time ago, I worked with an old black man named J.C.  He was prone to sitting around in between jobs and smoking his pipe and laughing to himself.

":J.C," I asked him one day, "why are you always smiling?"

"Heh heh heh," he replied.  "I'ze jes laffin' to keeps from cryin'."

I've never forgotten those simple words.  In fact, it's probably why I can see the hand of Loki at work.  The mischievous imp is running amok making black into white and white into black.  You have to laugh.  On some level, this is all really funny.  Great theater.  After all, if you take it too seriously, you'll just die from grief and heart-break.

Loki, wherever you are, thanks!  Now we can all just laugh ourselves into oblivion.  And J.C., thank you, too.  That was one of the most profound things I've learned in all my life.

I'm just laughing to keep from crying...

Ghost Of Nixon Comes A'Callin'

Over at George Ure's UrbanSurvival site (link on sidebar), there's a couple of reader email from folks down in my old stompin' grounds of Houston, Texas, bemoaning the appearance of The China Daily newspaper on their lawns every morning. They are spooked by this and as a matter of pride, dump the paper in the recycling bin.

Ugh! Americans are so xenophobic and narrow-minded.

Here, these folks are getting a free gift from the Universe: a tool to learn about their greatest economic rival in the world today. What do they do? Treat it like nuclear waste and cry about how the Chinese own the country.

Get over it. Every since Nixon went to China in the 70s, America has been losing the War of Money. Now they just want to roll over and die while complaining that the ammo they need to fight back keeps falling on their grass.

No wonder America is losing...

Little Bammy offspring has the right idea. She's learning Mandarin and practicing with every Chinese Premier she meets. If there's one example that the Obamas have set that is worth following, it's that one. Go down right this minute and enroll in Mandarin class. It will be the best investment in your personal competitiveness toolbox you could possibly make.

You see, after Nixon went to China and 'opened' the doors to commerce, the Chinese embarked on a nationwide (even Asia-wide) campaign to learn English and study western capitalism. There was no whining about how the Americans were so far ahead of the game and owned the bases and ball. There was only the idea of learning everything they could about the adversary and then using it against them.

Classic Sun Tsu, if you ask me, which you didn't, but I told you so anyway. It's all in the Art of War, a fine book that every American should be devouring, along with their Mandarin classes.

They should also be sucking up every resource on Chinese astrology and superstitions. You see, the Chinese have two major weaknesses: they are superstitious as hell, and they love to gamble. Why is that important? Because they always make major business decisions based on the horoscope, and they occasionally bite off a little more risk than is wise because they love the challenge of sheer luck.

When it comes to football, Joe Sixpack can tell you every nuance of the QB's game, what his strengths and weaknesses are, how fast he gets tired, what risks he's likely to take.

But when it comes to the culture that is jacking his job, buying up his food and energy supplies, and taking over his country? All he can tell you is whether or not he likes egg rolls, which aren't even Chinese food.

If you want to beat an adversary, you learn how they think, what they are likely to do in any situation, and how they make decisions. You learn what motivates them and what frightens them. In short, you do to them what they have been doing to you for decades.

Back in the 70s, it was the Japanese who were hijacking our economy. There were 'Buy American' stickers on cars and movies about the Japanese taking over Joe Sixpack's factory (remember 'Take This Job and Shove It'?).

Now people are whining about getting free copies of The China Daily on their porch in the morning. They can't 'Buy American' because they shipped everything overseas, lock, stock and barrel. They willingly handed the adversary everything they needed to kick our butts, and now they are crying in their soup. C'mon.

If you were to face down a Chinese businessman to compete for a contract, don't you think it would be handy to know that he is deathly afraid of the number 4? Wouldn't it be helpful if you knew that he wouldn't make a move until a certain date while he waited for the stars to line up, thus giving you some wiggle room? Wouldn't it be nice to know that he wasn't going to do anything major between the dates of February 3rd and 12th?

And most of all, even if you couldn't speak Mandarin (which I can sympathize with), wouldn't it be helpful if he couldn't talk to his associates in another language and shut you out? What advantage would it give you to be able to understand what they are talking about, especially if they thought you had no idea what they were saying?

Take some of your unemployment money down to the bookstore and pick up a Mandarin textbook. The spoken language is fairly easy, as far as grammar goes. The pronunciation is problematic, but you only need to understand, not speak. Seems to me that would be a tactical advantage for the ambitious entrepreneur.

Studying the culture, one would discover that this New Year (Chun Jie or 春节) is the Year of the Pig/Boar, which denotes fertility and virility. It is an auspicious sign to your adversary, and thus he might be willing to take more risks, feeling lucky and all. Certainly, that would offer opportunties to the aware businessman across the table.

You might also learn about 'angpao' and the colors denoting 'luck' and 'properity.' Knowing this information, you could manipulate your adversary by using the colors red and gold on things which you want them to chose, such as your application or bid. You would also know when your adversary is trying to manipulate you, or at least the Fates.

I could go on and on. Certainly, you don't need to take my advice. You're American and you know everything, right? You are owed properity because of your citizenship, right? The world is required to hand you the bankbook and the reigns of power simply because you were born in North America, right? You have no other responsibility for your success, right?

Hell, if for no other reason, knowing a few key phrases in Mandarin, like, "Do you want more tea, Sir," would at least curry favor with your new boss next year. You might get his attention and rise quickly to be his personal servant in the office, thus gaining you better 'angpao.'

Up to you. But, if the Universe was throwing a free lesson on how my adversary is thinking and what he finds important, on my front doorstep every morning, I sure as hell wouldn't be burning it.

The McCarthy-ist acolyte, Richard M. Nixon, became the ambassador who unlocked what was then a closed and mysterious society in the opposite hemisphere. As Spock famously said in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, "Only Nixon could go to China." Well, those doors swung open and unleashed a behemoth that now owns your job and your wealth.

What are you going to do about it? Whine and complain because the kid down the street bought better bases and balls, and now everyone wants to play with him?

No.

You're gong to beat him at his own game.

Now get off your bleassed assurance and get out there and learn some Mandarin, some Chinese culture (and I'm not talking about the local buffet here), and learn whatever it takes to get the jump on them.

First order of business: buy a copy of Sun Tsu's The Art of War, or just read it online. You can bet that your adversary has.

Khrushchev said that the west would sell Communism the rope by which they would hang us. He was right, only the Chinese figured out how to do it. That's why the Russians are cozying up with them right now.

Oh, the the Chinese custom has the family name first, so when addressing your new boss, be sure to say, "早晨好， 先生," using the first name.

Might want to learn the Mandarin keyboard, while you're at it.