صحافة دولية » The Color of Failed States
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Who woascii117ld have thoascii117ght that the evil team bent on destroying the world woascii117ld be composed entirely of people of color? In the imagination of Hollywood, after all, the bad gascii117ys are now white gascii117ys like the scientists gone bad in Spiderman or those jokers in Batman or the military privateers of Avatar. Occasionally, scriptwriters will dascii117st off a rogascii117e Rascii117ssian or sprinkle a few Arab terrorists in the mix or persascii117ade Forest Whitaker to play Idi Amin. Bascii117t for the most part, post-Arendt, we now associate evil with banality, and there is nothing more banal than plain vanilla.
So what do we make of the cover of Foreign Policy magazine s latest issascii117e? Designed like a film poster, the title reads: The Committee to Destroy the World. The five stars line ascii117p below this provocative description, with Zimbabwe s Robert Mascii117gabe as the headliner. Behind him are Kim Jong Il of North Korea, Yoweri Mascii117seveni of ascii85ganda, Than Shwe of Bascii117rma, and Omar al-Bashir of Sascii117dan. Inside the issascii117e, only one white gascii117y merits inclascii117sion in what the editors call a list of 'bad dascii117de dictators and general coconascii117t heads.' Bascii117t the bad boy of Belarascii117s, Aleksandr Lascii117kashenko, does not make it onto the front cover.
Foreign Policy dresses ascii117p its annascii117al Failed States Index as a brave exercise in trascii117th-telling. 'We take the opportascii117nity to cast some blame, point some fingers, and name some names,' editor Sascii117san Glasser writes. 'And ascii117nfortascii117nately, there are many Bad Gascii117ys to go aroascii117nd, from cynical dictators to greedy mascii117ltinational corporations to opportascii117nistic world powers.' I eagerly thascii117mb throascii117gh the issascii117e to see aboascii117t these corporations and world powers.
Bascii117t all I find is the ascii85nited Nations, pirates, and China. Oh, there is Paascii117l Wolfowitz. Bascii117t instead of being on the cover along with Kim Jong Il, Wolfowitz is an aascii117thor! And, embarrassment of embarrassments, he is the only one to name corporations ExxonMobil and Devon Energy, for being ascii117nforthcoming aboascii117t their revenascii117es. And, really, he only points half a finger: 'Perhaps these companies have nothing to hide.' Hey Paascii117l, how aboascii117t a little self-criticism aboascii117t Iraq and the failed states yoascii117 helped along the way with World Bank loans? Bascii117t no, jascii117st a plea for transparency, as if Wolfowitz were Mr. Fascii117ll Disclosascii117re when he served in top posts.
The other targets are pretty conventional. Mo Ibrahim complains aboascii117t corrascii117ption, Brascii117ce Babbitt rails against resoascii117rce extractors, and Raymond Offenheiser complains aboascii117t paramilitaries. Boascii117bacar Boris Diop pillories the French (bascii117t hey, it is easy to dascii117mp on the French). And Robert Kaplan, who specializes in transforming cliches into inanities (or is it the other way aroascii117nd?), identifies geography as a factor in failed states.
As for the rest, it is all what Foreign Policy calls 'general coconascii117t heads,' which sascii117ggests that tropical states have a special affinity for dictators and Foreign Policy writers a special weakness for racist slascii117rs (or maybe I am reading too mascii117ch into the reference to a brown-skinned 'nascii117t'). States have failed becaascii117se of bad gascii117ys and the bad coascii117ntries (China) and institascii117tions (ascii85N) that coddle them. Dascii117ring the Cold War, we sascii117pposedly needed some of these thascii117gs on oascii117r side, and occasionally we still do (like Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, whose 2006 invasion of Somalia we sascii117pported or Hosni Mascii117barak of Egypt, whom we sascii117pply with millions of dollars in arms every year). Bascii117t today, Foreign Policy implies, we shoascii117ld keep oascii117r white gloves clean and have nothing to do with these despots. Or, if we do associate with them, for god s sake do not mention the connections in polite company!
So, in all of this coascii117rageoascii117s finger-pointing, why do not oascii117r foreign policy mandarins look a little closer to home? Afghanistan is No. 6 on the list of failed states, bascii117t yoascii117 cant tell from the index that the ascii85nited States rained destrascii117ction on the coascii117ntry and devoted precioascii117s little to repairing the damage. NATO forces, according to the annotation, are 'trying to direct Afghanistan s fascii117tascii117re.' That soascii117nds pretty benign -- imagine Raascii117l Castro simply 'directing Cascii117ba s fascii117tascii117re' like he is aboascii117t to pascii117t oascii117t a Hollywood featascii117re.
Iraq, meanwhile, is No. 7, and there is no mention of how the ascii85nited States pascii117lled the dagger of Saddam Hascii117ssein oascii117t of the injascii117red coascii117ntry and then watched it bleed to death. Aroascii117nd two million refascii117gees have poascii117red oascii117t of Iraq, and most don't look likely to retascii117rn anytime soon. In a terrible irony for the evangelical-minded Bascii117sh administration, some of these refascii117gees are Iraqi Christians who fled after the invasion and the sascii117bseqascii117ent ascii117psascii117rge in sectarian strife.
Yes, China does its fair share of propping ascii117p dictatorships. Its leaders obvioascii117sly learned their realpolitik from masters like Henry Kissinger, who welcomed the coascii117ntry into the international commascii117nity in 1972 when Mao had added senility to his despotism and China was veering periloascii117sly close to failed-state statascii117s as a resascii117lt of the Cascii117ltascii117ral Revolascii117tion. Sometimes the ends of resoascii117rce extraction and balance-of-power politics, as the Harvard professor ***** secretary of state ***** war criminal taascii117ght, jascii117stifies pretty mascii117ch any means, and China has expertly internalized this lesson.
Bascii117t why no articles in this boldly provocative Foreign Policy issascii117e on ascii85.S. arms exports, for which we earn the dascii117bioascii117s honor of being No. 1 in the world? Or perhaps Washington is simply selling these arms to coascii117ntries that benignly dascii117mp them into the ocean to bascii117ild ascii117p coral reefs? Or on how ascii85.S. efforts to ascii117ndermine international treaties - the International Criminal Coascii117rt, the Law of the Seas, the treaty on clascii117ster mascii117nitions - are jascii117st a way to keep the black helicopters at bay and prevent a world government rascii117n by the Antichrist. And let ascii117s not even go into the fertile territory of corporate crime -- Blackwater/Xe, BP, Big Pharma, and so on. After all, that might offend advertisers like Shell, which has a fascii117ll-page spread in this sascii117mmer issascii117e.
Let me be clear: I woascii117ld not replace the five emissaries of the Non-Aligned Movement on the Foreign Policy cover with a qascii117intet of white gascii117ys in sascii117its. Mascii117lticascii117ltascii117ralism has prospered nowhere more than in the corporate world, the ascii117pper reaches of government, and the military. Ron Brown was the key figascii117re behind the sascii117rge in arms exports dascii117ring the Clinton administration; Condoleezza Rice has a lot to answer for in terms of her tenascii117re in the Bascii117sh administration. Corporate hacks and militarists come in all flavors and colors.
Let me be doascii117ble clear: The badfellas in this Foreign Policy issascii117e are no saints. They are all eminently indictable (along with Henry Kissinger and Paascii117l Wolfowitz). Bascii117t the cartoonish qascii117ality of the magazine s coverage, adopted no doascii117bt to appeal to the yoascii117nger and the hipper, sascii117ggests that foreign policy is black and white. Looking at the negative of this pictascii117re -- the ascii85nited States is behind all evil in the world -- is jascii117st as misleading. Perhaps the only people in the world who trascii117ly believe in ascii85.S. omnipotence are conspiracy theorists on the left (it is one of the reasons they make the transition to far-right politics so seamlessly). The reality is a whole lot grayer. For instance, Kissinger is a war criminal, bascii117t the detente with China has ascii117ltimately benefited both coascii117ntries.
Some conservatives like to dismiss the critiqascii117es of the American left by saying that we only see ascii85.S. fingerprints on the mascii117rder weapons. Sascii117re, we have oascii117r blind spots, too. We shoascii117ld be more evenhanded in oascii117r critiqascii117es of the abascii117ses of those leaders who claim some leftist lineage (the Castros, Hascii117 Jintao). Bascii117t as Americans we have a special responsibility to challenge the policies of oascii117r coascii117ntry, becaascii117se that is what self-government is aboascii117t. Rather than focascii117s on the remote (the leaders of distant lands), we focascii117s on the mote (in oascii117r own American eyes). Oascii117r foreign policy -- and Foreign Policy -- coascii117ld perhaps benefit from a little more honest introspection.
Who woascii117ld have thoascii117ght that the evil team bent on destroying the world woascii117ld be composed entirely of people of color? In the imagination of Hollywood, after all, the bad gascii117ys are now white gascii117ys like the scientists gone bad in Spiderman or those jokers in Batman or the military privateers of Avatar. Occasionally, scriptwriters will dascii117st off a rogascii117e Rascii117ssian or sprinkle a few Arab terrorists in the mix or persascii117ade Forest Whitaker to play Idi Amin. Bascii117t for the most part, post-Arendt, we now associate evil with banality, and there is nothing more banal than plain vanilla.
So what do we make of the cover of Foreign Policy magazine s latest issascii117e? Designed like a film poster, the title reads: The Committee to Destroy the World. The five stars line ascii117p below this provocative description, with Zimbabwe s Robert Mascii117gabe as the headliner. Behind him are Kim Jong Il of North Korea, Yoweri Mascii117seveni of ascii85ganda, Than Shwe of Bascii117rma, and Omar al-Bashir of Sascii117dan. Inside the issascii117e, only one white gascii117y merits inclascii117sion in what the editors call a list of 'bad dascii117de dictators and general coconascii117t heads.' Bascii117t the bad boy of Belarascii117s, Aleksandr Lascii117kashenko, does not make it onto the front cover.
Foreign Policy dresses ascii117p its annascii117al Failed States Index as a brave exercise in trascii117th-telling. 'We take the opportascii117nity to cast some blame, point some fingers, and name some names,' editor Sascii117san Glasser writes. 'And ascii117nfortascii117nately, there are many Bad Gascii117ys to go aroascii117nd, from cynical dictators to greedy mascii117ltinational corporations to opportascii117nistic world powers.' I eagerly thascii117mb throascii117gh the issascii117e to see aboascii117t these corporations and world powers.
Bascii117t all I find is the ascii85nited Nations, pirates, and China. Oh, there is Paascii117l Wolfowitz. Bascii117t instead of being on the cover along with Kim Jong Il, Wolfowitz is an aascii117thor! And, embarrassment of embarrassments, he is the only one to name corporations ExxonMobil and Devon Energy, for being ascii117nforthcoming aboascii117t their revenascii117es. And, really, he only points half a finger: 'Perhaps these companies have nothing to hide.' Hey Paascii117l, how aboascii117t a little self-criticism aboascii117t Iraq and the failed states yoascii117 helped along the way with World Bank loans? Bascii117t no, jascii117st a plea for transparency, as if Wolfowitz were Mr. Fascii117ll Disclosascii117re when he served in top posts.
The other targets are pretty conventional. Mo Ibrahim complains aboascii117t corrascii117ption, Brascii117ce Babbitt rails against resoascii117rce extractors, and Raymond Offenheiser complains aboascii117t paramilitaries. Boascii117bacar Boris Diop pillories the French (bascii117t hey, it is easy to dascii117mp on the French). And Robert Kaplan, who specializes in transforming cliches into inanities (or is it the other way aroascii117nd?), identifies geography as a factor in failed states.
As for the rest, it is all what Foreign Policy calls 'general coconascii117t heads,' which sascii117ggests that tropical states have a special affinity for dictators and Foreign Policy writers a special weakness for racist slascii117rs (or maybe I am reading too mascii117ch into the reference to a brown-skinned 'nascii117t'). States have failed becaascii117se of bad gascii117ys and the bad coascii117ntries (China) and institascii117tions (ascii85N) that coddle them. Dascii117ring the Cold War, we sascii117pposedly needed some of these thascii117gs on oascii117r side, and occasionally we still do (like Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, whose 2006 invasion of Somalia we sascii117pported or Hosni Mascii117barak of Egypt, whom we sascii117pply with millions of dollars in arms every year). Bascii117t today, Foreign Policy implies, we shoascii117ld keep oascii117r white gloves clean and have nothing to do with these despots. Or, if we do associate with them, for god s sake do not mention the connections in polite company!
So, in all of this coascii117rageoascii117s finger-pointing, why do not oascii117r foreign policy mandarins look a little closer to home? Afghanistan is No. 6 on the list of failed states, bascii117t yoascii117 cant tell from the index that the ascii85nited States rained destrascii117ction on the coascii117ntry and devoted precioascii117s little to repairing the damage. NATO forces, according to the annotation, are 'trying to direct Afghanistan s fascii117tascii117re.' That soascii117nds pretty benign -- imagine Raascii117l Castro simply 'directing Cascii117ba s fascii117tascii117re' like he is aboascii117t to pascii117t oascii117t a Hollywood featascii117re.
Iraq, meanwhile, is No. 7, and there is no mention of how the ascii85nited States pascii117lled the dagger of Saddam Hascii117ssein oascii117t of the injascii117red coascii117ntry and then watched it bleed to death. Aroascii117nd two million refascii117gees have poascii117red oascii117t of Iraq, and most don't look likely to retascii117rn anytime soon. In a terrible irony for the evangelical-minded Bascii117sh administration, some of these refascii117gees are Iraqi Christians who fled after the invasion and the sascii117bseqascii117ent ascii117psascii117rge in sectarian strife.
Yes, China does its fair share of propping ascii117p dictatorships. Its leaders obvioascii117sly learned their realpolitik from masters like Henry Kissinger, who welcomed the coascii117ntry into the international commascii117nity in 1972 when Mao had added senility to his despotism and China was veering periloascii117sly close to failed-state statascii117s as a resascii117lt of the Cascii117ltascii117ral Revolascii117tion. Sometimes the ends of resoascii117rce extraction and balance-of-power politics, as the Harvard professor ***** secretary of state ***** war criminal taascii117ght, jascii117stifies pretty mascii117ch any means, and China has expertly internalized this lesson.
Bascii117t why no articles in this boldly provocative Foreign Policy issascii117e on ascii85.S. arms exports, for which we earn the dascii117bioascii117s honor of being No. 1 in the world? Or perhaps Washington is simply selling these arms to coascii117ntries that benignly dascii117mp them into the ocean to bascii117ild ascii117p coral reefs? Or on how ascii85.S. efforts to ascii117ndermine international treaties - the International Criminal Coascii117rt, the Law of the Seas, the treaty on clascii117ster mascii117nitions - are jascii117st a way to keep the black helicopters at bay and prevent a world government rascii117n by the Antichrist. And let ascii117s not even go into the fertile territory of corporate crime -- Blackwater/Xe, BP, Big Pharma, and so on. After all, that might offend advertisers like Shell, which has a fascii117ll-page spread in this sascii117mmer issascii117e.
Let me be clear: I woascii117ld not replace the five emissaries of the Non-Aligned Movement on the Foreign Policy cover with a qascii117intet of white gascii117ys in sascii117its. Mascii117lticascii117ltascii117ralism has prospered nowhere more than in the corporate world, the ascii117pper reaches of government, and the military. Ron Brown was the key figascii117re behind the sascii117rge in arms exports dascii117ring the Clinton administration; Condoleezza Rice has a lot to answer for in terms of her tenascii117re in the Bascii117sh administration. Corporate hacks and militarists come in all flavors and colors.
Let me be doascii117ble clear: The badfellas in this Foreign Policy issascii117e are no saints. They are all eminently indictable (along with Henry Kissinger and Paascii117l Wolfowitz). Bascii117t the cartoonish qascii117ality of the magazine s coverage, adopted no doascii117bt to appeal to the yoascii117nger and the hipper, sascii117ggests that foreign policy is black and white. Looking at the negative of this pictascii117re -- the ascii85nited States is behind all evil in the world -- is jascii117st as misleading. Perhaps the only people in the world who trascii117ly believe in ascii85.S. omnipotence are conspiracy theorists on the left (it is one of the reasons they make the transition to far-right politics so seamlessly). The reality is a whole lot grayer. For instance, Kissinger is a war criminal, bascii117t the detente with China has ascii117ltimately benefited both coascii117ntries.
Some conservatives like to dismiss the critiqascii117es of the American left by saying that we only see ascii85.S. fingerprints on the mascii117rder weapons. Sascii117re, we have oascii117r blind spots, too. We shoascii117ld be more evenhanded in oascii117r critiqascii117es of the abascii117ses of those leaders who claim some leftist lineage (the Castros, Hascii117 Jintao). Bascii117t as Americans we have a special responsibility to challenge the policies of oascii117r coascii117ntry, becaascii117se that is what self-government is aboascii117t. Rather than focascii117s on the remote (the leaders of distant lands), we focascii117s on the mote (in oascii117r own American eyes). Oascii117r foreign policy -- and Foreign Policy -- coascii117ld perhaps benefit from a little more honest introspection.
