This month we look at Georgia, Sarajevo and Hamlet. The Times says Russia has failed strategically because NATO is now firmly united in support of Georgia’s heartland. Next time around, the comment says, Russia may find the US Airforce obliged to intervene. The analysis makes a good point, but curiously omits mention of Sarajevo and Shakespeare. Will America or NATO send troops to die over a little patch of ground in the Caucuses and is there a difference between Joe Citizen’s wishes and the interests of the military-industrial complex? Perhaps the commentator believes that the latter has faded away like last year’s fashions and that automatic triggers for war (NATO’s insane method) make sense, in which case the cure is Martin Gilbert on WW1. But our standards may be unrealistic; research costs too much for an op-ed piece that seems intended to boost right-wing credentials.
We also chat about how we’re instigating WW3. Convenient, isn’t it, that our boys and girls are dying so far away, out of sight of the cameras and the dregs of investigatory journalism, while we encourage Russia’s Latin-America to join NATO and prepare our scripts of outrage to read in protest when Russia claws back. We showcase Bremner’s piece on the breakup of Belgium, created by England in the 19th century to weaken Europe. The tantalizing corollary is to consider what date we’ll freeze the map of the world and why choose that moment. The moments for different parts of the globe seem to vary depending on, well, random fancy. God likes it that way, is the ultimate answer. Whence we proceed to the elitist Olympics. We could outline the sleaze of the original Olympics, amidst our modern sanctimony over cheating, but what’s the point? The Olympics never were noble and pure. Though don’t get us wrong. Following ethical standards is the highest goal our pitiful species has yet set itself, and – as the poet says – an ounce of worthy goal is worth a pound of corrupt accomplishment. There’s a reek of WW1 propaganda about Russian troops in Georgia. Should we ask whether, beneath our breast-beating about shabby, drunk and rapist foreign troops, lies the usual antipathy against the foreigner? And we couldn’t conclude without the fumblings of our Health Minister and the Harper government in general. How many Canadians must die and how many liberties must we surrender and how many lakes must be polluted before this gang of self-satisfied lunks is booted out of office? Not that the other gangs will do better, but inefficiency and inconsistency are the citizen’s best defence against the rampaging beast of government.
