Ports; Castro. Two items.
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Import Controls on Stupidity. Two days ago, Arnold Ahlert of the New York Post asked "Is there anything that can unite Americans of different political persuasions?" At the time, there seemed very little that might do that. Since then, however, a huge scandal affecting the management of American ports has arisen, and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have united to reproach the President. Since Port Newark is one of the six seaports in question, let me comment.
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Regular readers of this blog will know that I am enormously pro-Arab. But they will also know that I am militantly anti-globalist in the sense that I oppose giving over rights to foreigners that should be held only by Americans.
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So how do I come down on this question?
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I am utterly and unalterably opposed to ANY foreign country controlling ANY PART of ANY American port. I didn't know a British firm had any kind of control over the operations of any American port, much less six major U.S. ports. Had I known it, I would have opposed it. I don't want British, Canadian, Arab, Chinese, French, Russian, South African, Brazilian, or any other foreign company in charge of any aspect of port security in the United States whatsoever. Period.
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I am certainly not specially hostile to the United Arab Emirates. Quite the contrary. I am proudly pro-Arab, and I believe my older brother has had mutually profitable business relationships with the U.A.E. But I know full well that most of the world is fundamentally corrupt, and that most people who operate businesses, customs checks, and governmental operations in most of this planet's 193 countries feel that personal loyalties, family obligations, etc., trump any duty they undertake in filling a job with any company or government agency. Again, I have my older brother to thank, in part, for this understanding. He has told me stories about the way Philippine Customs operates.
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If you are a Filipino who has traveled abroad and bought something overseas that you want to bring in duty-free even tho there should properly be a tariff imposed upon it, you arrange to arrive at the (air)port when someone you know — a member of your extended family, a family friend, a close personal friend, an acquaintance — is working the line at Customs, and you bring it across thru his (her) line. Maybe you pay a little bribe. Maybe s/he does it as a favor, without monetary consideration. But the government doesn't get the duty owed (in any sense of the word "duty").
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That's the way most of the world works. We have tried in this country to operate like angels, and indeed to export our standards around the globe with prohibitions on bribery for American corporations. But the bulk of this planet is thoroughly corrupt.
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The exact same dynamics of family loyalty or friendship favor that operate to clear expensive imports thru Customs in Manila may well operate equally to clear dirty bombs thru ports managed by any Third World country. Republicans are right (in this case, not just "Right") to oppose this ports deal. Democrats are right. And the Republican collective leadership/cabal has, I suspect, seriously misjudged the willingness of Members of Congress, of their own party or the loyal opposition, to permit foreigners to endanger Americans in controlling things that only Americans should control. If Dubya dares to stand by his commitment to ram this deal thru over the popularly supported objection of Congress by vetoing any legislation to void it, he is almost certain to suffer his first Congressional override. Republicans will not face elections little more than eight months from now having consented to have foxes watch over the chicken coop.
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Is Castro Dying? A couple of days ago, I was struck by the feeling that Fidel Castro had died or was about to die. I have heard nothing to that effect on the news, so have explained away that feeling as wishful thinking. But the guy is getting old, and is going to die sooner or later. What will take his place?
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Will his brother be able to fill the imprint left in his glove by Fidel's iron fist? Will suchever successor as Fidel may have chosen be able to maintain Fidel's dictatorship? Or is Fidel Castro one of those unique characters in history (albeit a minor character in his case, in that Cuba is a nothing in world-history terms) who manage somehow to impose personal dictatorial rule that no one can inherit?
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Has Castro succeeded in creating a Latin version of "The Soviet Man", that perfect Communist automaton who truly believes in the madness that is Communism and will strive to perfect The Revolution to the end of his days? Or will the death of Castro mean the death of Cuban Communism? It will be very interesting to find out — the sooner the better.
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The United States Government has been craven in its behavior relative to the odious dictator Fidel Castro. When has Dubya demanded "regime change" in Havana? Exactly never. Which is more important to us, "regime change" in Baghdad or Tehran? or "regime change" in Havana? I say Havana.
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Millions of people raised in East Germany have been permanently crippled by Communism. Given freedom, they wrapped their broken chains around them in order to remain immobilized and useless. I have seen the same problem here. Gay men, freed from the restraints of intolerance in many parts of this country, have literally put themselves in chains — and I do not use "literally" to mean "figuratively".
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Freedom is hard. It requires you to work, to assume responsibility for your acts and your future. If you fail when being driven on a forced march, that's one thing. You can blame the slave-drivers steering you, and lashing you if you deviated from the mandated path. But if you fail when walking on your own, that's far worse. You have no one to blame but yourself.
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Oddly, Russians, who have suffered centuries of oppression, have adjusted to freedom better than East(ern) Germans, who suffered forcible direction for only some 45 years. Cubans have suffered Communist brainwashing and total control for 47 years, thus far. If Fidel dies tomorrow (or died two days ago, as I first thought/hoped), and his entire regime collapses, how long will it take Cubans to bounce back from their oppression? No one knows.
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Scientists have managed to create metal objects with "memory" of their original cast form. Such objects can be bent, twisted, crushed, but as soon as the distorting force is removed, they bounce back to their original shape.
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Some people are like that. Many are not. When Fidel dies, will Cuba regain its freedom? Or will Cubans internalize their oppression and carry it forward into the indefinite future? One never knows. Russians and Chinese, who endured century after century of tightfisted control, have jumped to make the most of the opportunities afforded them by freedom. Only some gay men in the United States have embraced the freedom that we who fought for them, for decades, won for them. Others have insisted on remaining self-despising, closeted, and unfree.
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So I guess the answer is that they become free who want to be free, and they remain oppressed who want to be oppressed. Freedom is more difficult than dictation. You have to make your own decisions, and live with the consequences of your choices. You make a mistake, you can't blame anybody else for your misery. It is so much easier to bitch about failure than to succeed.
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Which way will the Cuban people bounce? I look forward to finding out.
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(The current U.S. military death toll in Iraq, according to the website "Iraq Coalition Casualties", is 2,279.)
- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 8:16 AM