[R-G] "Historic suspicions"

[Sid Shniad]

http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/002943.html 

"Historic Suspicions" 

By John Caruso 

Here's Barack Obama speaking at the recent Summit of the Americas: 

I think it's important to recognize, given historic suspicions, 
that the United States' policy should not be interference in other 
countries, but that also means that we can't blame the United States for 
every problem that arises in the hemisphere. 

"Historic suspicions"? Yes, I imagine the International Court of 
Justice decision condemning the United States for its covert war against 
Nicaragua might have raised Nicaraguan suspicions of U.S. interference. 
And I guess the report of the UN's Historical Clarification Commission 
for Guatemala, documenting U.S. backing of the genocidal forces the U.S. 
had installed in the 1954 coup, might have made the Guatemalans 
suspicious as well. And I suppose watching U.S. planes, helicopter 
gunships, and warships destroying the El Chorrillo neighborhood of 
Panama during the 1989 invasion might also have given the Panamians some 
suspicions about U.S. interference. 

(For just one second, imagine the U.S. reaction if Germany's Angela 
Merkel gave a speech in Israel calling out the "historic suspicions" of 
Jews regarding past German "interference" in their affairs. In fairness 
to Obama, he did subsequently refer to "past errors, where those errors 
have been made," though he also said that discussion of those purported 
errors only rises to the level of "stale debates"; I'll leave the 
analogy to you.) 

By contrast, here's how Obama characterized Venezuela: 

You take a country like Venezuela -- I have great differences with 
Hugo Chavez on matters of economic policy and matters of foreign policy. 
His rhetoric directed at the United States has been inflammatory. There 
have been instances in which we've seen Venezuela interfere with some of 
the -- some of the countries that surround Venezuela in ways that I 
think are a source of concern. 

So centuries of extensively-documented U.S. intervention in Latin 
America can be dismissed as "historic suspicions"—but when we're talking 
about allegations pulled out of the collective ass of the U.S. 
government and leveled at an official enemy, there's no longer any need 
to qualify this "interference" (which any reasonable person should agree 
is rightly a "source of concern" to us, though Obama tried to keep this 
menacing threat in perspective by noting that "Venezuela is a country 
whose defense budget is probably 1/600th of the United States"). 

And this was Obama's laugh line in response to Nicaraguan president 
Daniel Ortega's account of just a fraction of the vicious U.S. 
interference that produced these historic suspicions: 

"I am very grateful that President Ortega didn’t blame me for 
things that happened when I was three months old," Obama said in his 
only direct reference to the Nicaraguan leader. 

("I am very glad that Prime Minister Netanyahu didn't blame me for 
things that happened before I was born," Merkel said in her only direct 
reference to the Israeli leader.) The article also notes that Ortega 
"prompted a smirk from Obama when he referred to 'Yankee troops.'" Yes, 
what a hilarious anachronism! How amusing our victims can sometimes be! 
Like when the U.S.-backed Contras in Nicaragua would cut off men's 
testicles and leave them in their mouths? Hey, what's the matter, cat 
got your tongue? Oh, no, my mistake, you've got a mouthful of balls! 
Ha ha ha! Maybe Obama should have quipped, "I am very grateful that 
President Ortega didn't blame me for the U.S.-sponsored castrations and 
nun-raping that happened when I was still snorting cocaine in my youth." 
The laughs just never stop, do they? 

The smirk in question—which, as this small survey of his comments 
indicates, was only the most visible sign of Obama's paternalistic 
contempt for the banana republicans all around him and their petty 
obsession with the hundreds of thousands of their citizens killed by 
direct and indirect U.S. intervention over the years—looked something 
like this: 

[How these lesser beings disgust me!] 

All of which illustrates why Obama truly is a perfect representative for 
the U.S.A., since he is, without a doubt, one of the most unbelievably 
sanctimonious assholes I've ever heard. 

— John Caruso