All Wise, All Knowing, All Raimondo
Once again, the fever swamp has belched forth a noxious cloud of gas, in the form of another Justin Raimondo column, this one dismissing repression in central Asia by comparing it with …. the lack of media coverage of Justin Raimondo’s absurdist gay-Buchananite-anti-immigrant-protectionist campaign for Congress in 1996. The signature Raimondo bitterness bursts into full view when he states of the state media coverage of the opposition candidates in Kyrgyzstan that, “This is a lot more than I ever got running as the Republican candidate for Congress against incumbent Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), in 1996.” Oh, poor oppressed Justin! Yes, the pure oppressiveness of American society is so much worse than that of, say, the gangsters who ruled Ukraine for over a decade (thus justifying slander of Viktor Yushchenko ). Syria is as a peaceful dove in Lebanon. No post-Soviet dictator or strong man could ever be as wicked, as oppressive, as dictatorial as….the San Francisco Chronicle. American “democracy” is a sham and no better than any random central Asian police state. Ignorance is truth. Democracy is dictatorship. Freedom is slavery!
Raimondo follows in the footsteps of the strange little pro-dictator cult that calls itself the “British Helsinki Human Rights Group,” about which I wrote in December of last year: “Something is Rotting at the Periphery of the Libertarian Movement…..” He is, however, infinitely more amusing, with his postings all over the internet full of naughty sexual innuendoes, his shrill call for me to “hook up” with alleged prostitute Jeff Gannon, his taunts of others for their haircuts (I kid not), his remarks about his preferences in sexual roles (a lot more information than anyone really needed to know), his hands-on-hips outrage over the lack of major media coverage of his rants, and so much more. All he lacks is the proper attire. Oh, and here it is:
What’s next? I wouldn’t be surprised if Raimondo were to denounce North Koreans for abandoning the workers’ paradise in order to live in the illegitimate pseudo-democratic puppet state of the U.S. imperialists to the south.
Update: The BBC reports that protesters in Bishkek have overrun the presidential palace. How awful! Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, now Kyrgyzstan. And a peaceful and successful election in Iraq. When will the nightmare end?
Periodic updates are available at www.registan.net and the Moscow Times (e.g., “Protests Move to the Kyrgyz Capital“).
It seems to me that whether we call a policy “imperialistic” or “interventionist” (or “isolationist” or “non-interventionist”), there remain important issues about the conduct of foreign policy. Rather than being hung up on terminology (not that that isn’t sometimes important), it’s worthwhile to ask hard questions about the important issues of when military force may or may not be used, what the proper relations are among separate states, and whether or under what conditions one state may take action that impinges on the territorial authority of another, including actions on behalf of oppressed people living under the power of another state.
I wasn’t claiming that the U.S. has an
Empire. Great Britain, however, did have
an Empire during the Afghanistan war.
Persumably, British soldiers understood
that they were signing up to defend the
Empire.
To judge U.S. soldiers in Iraq as being
morally equivalent to British soldiers
in Afghanistan in the 19th century, it
would require that U.S. soldiers signed
up to defend (and expand) the U.S. Empire.
Hardly any of them had such an intention.
My own opinion is that U.S. interventionism
is significantly different than traditional
Empires and so I don’t favor calling it an
Empire. The name, however, isn’t really
central to my position on U.S. foreign policy.
Thanks to all who gave me the Rothbard cites. I still don’t think he was defending communism or hating America the way some of you are implying. Joseph Stromberg write about it here, “How Murray Rothbard Single-Handedly Brought Down the Saigon Government with Malice Aforethought.”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/stromberg/stromberg67.html
I am perplexed why anyone takes Raimondo seriously. He’s been falsifying his writing since he first advertised himself as the “Italian Stallion” in the local gay rag in San Francisco.