It’s hard
to kick bad habits but as Secretary of State if I can’t get the basics right
about the things I say I should quit.
Just the other day I used a word that I didn’t know the meaning of. Pretext. Worse, I used it along with the term
‘trumped up’. Just before I said that, I
used the term ‘phony pretext’. Checked
the meanings and found they basically mean the same thing. That kind of verbal double can negate the
assertion. Twice the double, in fact.
Damn, I should have been careful.
Pretext. I hate the word. I googled it.
Here’s what I came up with.
An ostensible or professed purpose;
an excuse. An effort or strategy intended to conceal something. A fictitious reason given in order to
conceal the real one. A specious excuse; pretence. Something put forward
to conceal a true purpose or object; ostensible reason; excuse.
The misleading appearance or behavior assumed with this
intention; subterfuge.
It goes with guise, excuse, veil, show, cover, appearance,
device, mask, ploy, cloak, simulation, semblance, ruse and red herring, I found
out. It’s like interposing ‘alleged’,
which of course has cynical connotations.
I think I was correct in using the word because I don’t
think the reasons that Russia has offered for her interference in Ukraine hold
any water. I slipped, though, when I
expressed what could be construed as horror about Russian moves in these terms,
because I opened Barack and our United States of America to endless
ridicule.
I mean, my government (under Barack and under his
predecessors) never subscribed to or defended the concept of sovereignty and
territorial integrity. We are not doing
it in Syria right now. As for pretexts, I should have remembered Iraq, the
invasion of Iraq rather, the invasion of Iraq on the basis of a lie rather,
i.e. the pretext of negating the threat of (non-existent) weapons of mass
destruction. And we didn’t give a hoot
when we attacked Libya. We didn’t think
of these lovely words when we attacked Serbia over Kosovo. We just pay lip service to sovereignty and
territorial integrity as and when it suits us.
Damn, I must have sounded such like an imbecile!
I should do better next time. I should keep telling myself
this. Over and over again. I should do better next time. I should do better
next time. I should do better next time. I should do better next time. I should
do better next time.
I goofed when I was on ‘Face the Nation’ too. I said, ‘Invasion is not the act of someone
who is strong. It is the act of someone who is weak.’ How could I have let down Barack so badly?
Let’s see. Let’s
leave out pretext. We invaded Iraq. We invaded Afghanistan. We’ve invaded
Pakistan DF (de facto). Serbia. Wait.
It’s easier to google. Here’s
what I got from www.countercurrents.org. Might not be true but then again considering
that only compulsive liars are allowed to represent the United States of
America I can’t really complain. Check
this out, folks.
(1) American Indian nations (1776 onwards, American Indian
Genocide; 1803, Louisiana Purchase; 1844, Indians banned from east of the
Mississippi; 1861 onwards, California genocide; 1890, Lakota Indians massacre),
(2) Mexico (1836-1846; 1913; 1914-1918; 1923), (3) Nicaragua (1856-1857; 1894;
1896; 1898; 1899; 1907; 1910; 1912-1933; 1981-1990), (4) American forces
deployed against Americans (1861-1865, Civil War; 1892; 1894; 1898; 1899-1901;
1901; 1914; 1915; 1920-1921; 1932; 1943; 1967; 1968; 1970; 1973; 1992; 2001),
(5), Argentina (1890), (6), Chile (1891; 1973), (7) Haiti (1891; 1914-1934;
1994; 2004-2005), (8) Hawaii (1893-), (9) China (1895-1895; 1898-1900;
1911-1941; 1922-1927; 1927-1934; 1948-1949; 1951-1953; 1958), (10) Korea
(1894-1896; 1904-1905; 1951-1953), (11) Panama (1895; 1901-1914; 1908; 1912;
1918-1920; 1925; 1958; 1964; 1989-), (12) Philippines (1898-1910; 1948-1954;
1989; 2002-), (13) Cuba (1898-1902; 1906-1909; 1912; 1917-1933; 1961; 1962),
(14) Puerto Rico (1898-; 1950; ); (15) Guam (1898-), (16) Samoa (1899-), (17)
Honduras (1903; 1907; 1911; 1912; 1919; 1924-1925; 1983-1989), (18) Dominican
Republic (1903-1904; 1914; 1916-1924; 1965-1966), (19) Germany
(1917-1918; 1941-1945; 1948; 1961), (20) Russia (1918-1922), (21) Yugoslavia
(1919; 1946; 1992-1994; 1999), (22) Guatemala (1920; 1954; 1966-1967), (23)
Turkey (1922), (24) El Salvador (1932; 1981-1992), (25) Italy
(1941-1945); (26) Morocco (1941-1945), (27) France (1941-1945), (28) Algeria
(1941-1945), (29) Tunisia (1941-1945), (30) Libya (1941-1945; 1981; 1986;
1989; 2011), (31) Egypt (1941-1945; 1956; 1967; 1973; 2013), (32) India
(1941-1945), (33) Burma (1941-1945), (34) Micronesia (1941-1945), (35)
Papua New Guinea (1941-1945), (36) Vanuatu (1941-1945), (37) Austria
(1941-1945), (38) Hungary (1941-1945), (39) Japan (1941-1945), (40) Iran (1946;
1953; 1980; 1984; 1987-1988; ), (41) Uruguay (1947), (42) Greece (1947-1949),
(43) Vietnam (1954; 1960-1975), (44) Lebanon (1958; 1982-1984), (45) Iraq
(1958; 1963; 1990-1991; 1990-2003; 1998; 2003-2011), (46) Laos (1962-),
(47) Indonesia (1965), (48) Cambodia (1969-1975; 1975), (49) Oman (1970), (50)
Laos (1971-1973), (51) Angola (1976-1992), (52) Grenada (1983-1984), (53)
Bolivia (1986; ), (54) Virgin Islands (1989), (55) Liberia (1990; 1997; 2003),
(56) Saudi Arabia (1990-1991), (57) Kuwait (1991), (58) Somalia (1992-1994;
2006), (59) Bosnia (1993-), (60) Zaire (Congo) (1996-1997), (61) Albania
(1997), (62) Sudan (1998), (63) Afghanistan (1998; 2001-), (64) Yemen
(2000; 2002-), (65) Macedonia (2001), (66) Colombia (2002-), (67)
Pakistan (2005-), (68) Syria (2008; 2011-), (69) Uganda (2011), (70) Mali
(2013), (71) Niger (2013).
Yes, we must be the weakest country on earth. Damn.
Damn. Damn.
Can I quit my job on the pretext of having a sudden,
inexplicable urge to tell the truth, I wonder.
1 comments:
The sad thing is that not a single country in the world could impose sanctions on America.
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