Hubris at work

Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com, had this interesting thought regarding the situation unfolding in Libya:

"The “responsibility to protect” doctrine, the banner unfolded as we went into the Libyan battle, represents the complete descent of the ruling elites of the West into madness. If insanity requires a certain unselfconsciousness, an inability as well as an unwillingness to see one’s actions objectively, then surely this describes the Western mindset as we hail Libya’s chaotic “liberation.” To look at what is happening in that country and declare it a “success” – or, indeed, anything other than a catastrophe – is clear evidence of mental disability. The blinding madness of our ruling elites has them lurching from one disaster to the next, and proclaiming it a great success – without any awareness of how close the whole imperialist project is to collapse."

Canadian politician and self-proclaimed foreign policy guru Lloyd Axworthy was very much involved with the development of the 'responsibility to protect' doctrine. It's interesting to see how well that concept is working when applied in the real non-western world.

Maybe we should demand that our governments stay home and just let those who feel the need to intervene in other people's business to do so with all their own resources, rather than allowing them to usurp taxpayer's moneys to pursue their dreams of glory in foreign lands.

Cynical old me, however, thinks that all of these disasters are driven by the corporate kleptocracy that is looking to steal the resources of places such as Iraq, Libya etc. These guys always manage to hide behind patriotic, religious or do-gooding pretences to get governments to do their dirty work.