Comment from Britain
Pity I was away last week. I must have missed the march through London against the Russian invasion of Georgia. What a magnificent sight it must have been - half a million protesters standing firm against tyranny and supporting freedom and democracy. I'd have loved to have heard Red Ken denouncing the bloodthirsty gangster regime in Moscow, George Galloway comparing Vladimir Putin to Hitler and Tony Benn declaring it was all about oil.
What's that you say? There was no such rally? I suppose they must all have been too busy demonstrating against Chinese oppression in Tibet and demanding a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. Or perhaps not. Funny how the Not In My Name crowd always overlooks aggression by Communist or 'former' Communist regimes.
There's no such reticence when it comes to portraying George W. Bush as the new Hitler or daubing swastikas on the Israeli flag. Look at the protests against the wars in Iraq and Lebanon. The same people who can't wait to burn the American flag in Trafalgar Square are only too happy to ignore Russian, Chinese and Iraqi genocide.
Where were all the marchers when the Russians were crushing Chechnya? Why so silent on Tibet? They must have been looking the other way when Saddam slaughtered the Kurds.
It hasn't been difficult to find apologists for the invasion of Georgia. We're told that the 'American-educated' Mikhail Saakashvili provoked the Russians beyond all reason. What did we expect encouraging the spread of democracy in former Soviet satellite states? No wonder Moscow feels threatened when independent countries it once ruled by military might become members of the European Union and apply to join Nato. Putting a Western missile defence system in Poland is like waving a red rag at a bull, the sophisticates say. Putin has no option but to retaliate. I don't remember them demanding the withdrawal of Soviet nukes pointing at Western capitals from East Germany. Back then, the Guardianistas were all for one-sided disarmament on our part.
The Left has always been picky about their protests. While they rightly denounce white racism in South Africa, they stay silent on black racism in Zimbabwe. They bang on about American cultural imperialism, but have nothing to say about Russian or Chinese military imperialism. America is constantly denounced for its 'yuman rites' abuses, but you never hear a dicky bird about the denial of basic freedoms in China or throughout the Muslim world.
Europe's Leftists define themselves by their hatred of the U.S., yet cheerfully tolerate all kinds of tyranny elsewhere. They're against 'torture' at Guantanamo Bay, but take a relaxed view of Chinese and Russian death squads. There are still plenty of 'comrades' in the Labour Party and the trades union movement who regret the day the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. They're only too willing to give succour to the enemies of freedom and democracy around the world.
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I must have missed the march through London against the Russian invasion of Georgia. . . . What's that you say? There was no such rally? I suppose they must all have been too busy demonstrating against Chinese oppression in Tibet and demanding a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. Or perhaps not. Funny how the Not In My Name crowd always overlooks aggression by Communist or 'former' Communist regimes.
ReplyDeleteFunny how none of those events involved the British government and the US government invading a third country. Funny how they all involved governments of which the British and US "Not In My Name crowd" are not citizens - thus somewhat reducing the degree to which any of the events you mentioned were actually undertaken in the name of the British and US peoples.
I keep searching for something that's too simple and obvious for even the stupidest conservative to misunderstand. I haven't found it yet, and obviously this isn't it. But, just to try to make it clearer: British and US citizens protest in their own capital cities in order to register disapproval of the actions of their own governments. They feel an obligation to do this because only the British and American governments act in the name of the British and American people; those people thus are (indirectly) responsible for what Bush and Blair did, but are not responsible for and do not elect the governments responsible for actions of completely separate countries in other parts of the world.
The reason such protestors insist that the illegal foreign invasions, deceptions, torture, war crimes, and civil rights invasions of Bush and his toadies are "Not In [Their] Names" is that, otherwise, the actions of a government are normally understood to be in their citizens' names. Sadly for you, however, that concept is completely inapplicable in regard of British and American citizens' responses to the actions of the Russian and Chinese governments, because those actions are not taken in the names of British and American citizens.
Nobody who understood what they were talking about would expect a "Not In My Name" campaign in London against the Russian invasion of Georgia - it's already "not in their names" - get it?
It's simple if you're not an imbecile. Go find a liberal friend to explain it to you.
kevein;
ReplyDeleteyour ignorance and AMORALITY never fails to AMUSE me.
lefties march for darfur.
lefties march for kim jong il.
lefties march for fidel.
and in not one of these cases is there a "not in my name" angle.
the left sets itself up as a beacon of non-nationalist MORALITY but you argue they are nationalists and therefore absolve themselves from caring about OUR ALLIES WHEN THEY ARE ATTACKED BY OUR ADVERSARIES.
if the USA or our ally is on one side then the left is on the other. PERIOD. regardless of what other nations are involved.
in the case of russia, it's an adversary which has become increasing anti-libertarian and anti-democratic -- MUCH MORE SO THAN ASSHOLE LEFTIES LIKE YOU FEEL ABOUT THE USA. IN YOUR FANTASIES THE USA IS WORSE THAN CUBA AND CHINA AND RUSSIA, BUT ONLY IN YOUR FANTASIES.
FDR was an internationalist and argued that the four freedoms were for people EVERYWHERE.
you can look it up.
JFK pledged our support for those who were fighting for their liberty and democracy; he said we would fight on any shore against any foe.
you can look it up.
(TIP: IT'S IN HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS!)
the left has devolved into a hypocritical anti-American clique of postmodernists without one scintilla of morality, not one principle.
OBAMA IS THE PERFECT TORCHBEARER FOR YOU AND YOUR AMORAL ILK.
BWAHAHAHA!
either open your eyes (as i did --- yes i am a former leftie dove!) or fuckoff you loon.
ALL THE BEST!