In response to an FT article by Martin Wolf on 11th July 2017, entitled 'Donald Trump's clash of civilisations versus the global community'
Prologue:
Mr Wolf poses his discussion in an either/or, black/white form. The reality is not binary. A discussion of that, however, would have taken longer than the article itself. Tempting as that was :-) I have concentrated my remarks on his assessment of the relative importance of terrorism, and his apparent perception...one that he shares with the bulk of the western media...that our governments' hands are clean.
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“Donald Trump seemed to declare a clash of civilisations, in Warsaw last Thursday. Thereupon, he participated, uncomfortably, at the summit of the group of 20 leading economies. The G20 embodies the ideal of global community. A war of civilisations is the opposite. So which will it be?
The central remark in Mr Trump’s Warsaw speech was this: “The fundamental question of our time is whether the west has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilisation in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?”…
…It is easy to agree that what Mr Trump calls “radical Islamist terrorism” is a concern. But to judge it an overriding existential threat is ludicrous. Nazism was an existential threat. So was Soviet communism. Terrorism is just a nuisance. The great danger is that of overreaction. This could poison relations with 1.6bn Muslims worldwide”
- Martin Wolf
‘Terrorism is just a nuisance’…One hell of a nuisance don’t you think Mr Wolf? Particularly if you were one of the Manchester parents whose child didn’t arrive home the night of the 22nd May because they were blown to pieces by a bomb planted by a nuisance…one of a group of nuisances whom your own government had returned passports to…deliberately…so that they could go and kill the guy running Libya.
You remember him? The guy that Clinton, Obama, Cameron and May decided must be removed because he was bad for business. Meanwhile we’re still selling arms to the main sponsor of these nuisances - Saudi Arabia - because they promised forty years ago to sell oil in dollars…which is good for business.
You are right to view the orange adolescent in the West Wing as a liability Mr Wolf – he is hopelessly inadequate - both intellectually & emotionally, and as it turns out…he is weak. He is weak because he went into the White House to drain the swamp, and the swamp has drained him. He is weak because he is being held hostage by neo-conservative vested interests that are now once again running US foreign policy. These people have no problem with terrorism; they go out of their way to recruit terrorists in order to send them to destabilise any regime that gets in the way of their absolute need for hegemony.
Can’t get Congress to agree to boots on the ground in Syria? No problem, tell the CIA to recruit the least insane members of al-Qaeda they can find, rebrand them, take them off the list and send them to fight Assad – you do know that’s how it works don’t you Mr Wolf?
Terrorism is a symptom of something far bigger than you suggest. The magnitude of the violence that has accelerated over the past fifteen years is the inevitable effect of an imperialistic foreign policy that flourished under Bush & his poodle Blair, that overwhelmed Obama, that has now got Donald Trump exactly where it wants him – throwing tomahawks out of his cot, posing next to a glowing orb with Saruman, demonising Iran, and scared to engage with Russia because he is afraid of being seen as a ‘puppet’ of Putin. He is a 'puppet' – a neocon puppet.
Trump is weak because he hasn’t got the bottle to stand up to those people. If we want this world to be a better place, and I really get that you do Mr Wolf – we should be insisting that the US and Russia work together, insist that they stop fighting each other though proxies. Trump should say to the neoconservatives – “I’m sorry gentlemen, your profits and your delusion of exceptionalism, can both go to hell – the door’s over there”
Terrorism is not a nuisance – it is a symptom of insanity in the perpetrators – but what it says about the western governments who ‘use it’ for an imperialistic agenda, is far worse than insane – it, and they, are evil.