One can easily spot them. They’re hard to miss. With their designer jeans, trendy shirts, flashy shoes, exclusive watches, sleek matte or white cars, and custom perfumes, they think they can deceive us. However, an unmistakable tackiness reveals their true nature. Russians, Africans, particularly Arabs, Latin-Americans, and to a lesser degree Europeans, are often either the creators of tyranny or its descendants. Mayfair, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Belgravia… the priciest areas of London serve as their playground. They arrive and squander their ill-gotten wealth—the billions seized from their homelands or earned through illegal trades—as if tomorrow doesn’t exist. Some refer to this as the “unacceptable face of Capitalism” amidst the ongoing financial crisis affecting our world. Ironically, these very critics of capitalism, along with everyone else, are eager to embrace the characters mentioned, along with their money. They trip over each other to indulge every whim in a nauseating display of contempt. Just ask Frank Williams, Ken Livingstone, or some individuals at LSE.
However, one must also read statements like this regarding Britain’s role in undermining Libya’s alleged WMD program:
The British contribution to this remarkable result, which made the world significantly safer, was lauded at the highest levels in Washington; it stands as one of our foremost foreign policy achievements since the Cold War.
Honestly, I hardly know where to begin. Colin Powell’s notorious claims about “mobile WMD factories” in Iraq are vivid in my memory. One must be either a die-hard war hawk eager to bomb perceived enemies or incredibly uninformed to make such assertions. Only an utterly ignorant person in the first world could truly believe that a group of Middle Eastern fundamentalists living in tents in a desert have the technical know-how and capability to create advanced weapons that could threaten the Western world’s safety. More likely, as we witnessed on 9/11, the weapons of choice are much simpler and easier to come by. The last significant nuclear threat from a deranged dictator was during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, and even that depended on Russia.
Tyrants globally pose a threat: to the downtrodden citizens of the nations they control, and more importantly, to the commercial interests of developed countries. One only needs to consider the recent revelations about weapon sales to Gaddafi. China is deeply involved, but so is Britain, Russia, and without them, it would have been France, the USA, Italy, Spain, or Brazil. There’s absolutely no consideration for the victims on the ground. When billions are at stake, no one cares about them. And this is what Charles Crawford, the author of the linked article above, might describe as “smart and effective.” The “smart and effective” move is to support the Gaddafis of our world with cutting-edge weaponry, allowing them to continue their oppression and violence to maintain power. Meanwhile, they can continue their business dealings with the developed world, purchasing prime properties in N1, W1, and SWs, becoming sources of immense wealth for ‘respectable’ businesses and businesspeople alike.
In a distinctly Chamberlain-like manner, Mr. Crawford believes that engaging with tyrants is the best path forward, claiming that interactions between democracies and dictatorships will eventually lead tyrants to embrace democratic principles like the rule of law and human rights. This notion is indefensible. To suggest that a business relationship could change individuals indifferent to slaughtering their own people is, erm, absurd to the point of insanity. It underscores how profoundly clueless these diplomats from developed nations truly are. Hailing from secure societies, educated in top-notch schools with perfectly manicured lawns, and never having faced rampant crime, totalitarianism, or poverty, these individuals are ill-prepared to confront the thugs that govern some of our countries. One can only chuckle at such disjointed naivety.
In fact, Gaddafi, Assad, Castro, Mugabe, Chavez… all remain firmly entrenched in power because of numerous corporations like Chevron, BP, Exxon, Mitsubishi, ENI, Total, BAE, Vitol, Saab, Gemalto, etc., eager to strike deals with them. We also have Tony Blairs, Gordon Browns, Alex Salmonds, and, likewise, David Camerons and Nicolas Sarkozis, all ‘advancing democracy’ so that British and French businesses can continue their standard operations in the developing world.
The world would surely be a better place without the mad dog. Nevertheless, no freedom-loving Libyan, Zimbabwean, Cuban, or Venezuelan would argue against the fact that our nations would be safer and freer without the hypocrisy and greed of Western governments and businesses pretending to be champions of freedom.