Sunday 7 July 2013

Honesty ...

... is such a lonely word.   So sang Billy Joel.   I have been off this blog for weeks but it wasn't for lack of trying.   Every time I intended to resume, something new happened in the world, which I thought I should write about.   But then something else happened - and then again.   And now we're back in Tahrir Square - and who knows what happens tomorrow, to stop me ... so here goes!

What has been on my mind for some time, is why people just can't be honest.   We ordinary mortals of course, but most especially the great and the not-so-good, who rule the destinies of nations, of peoples and especially the ordinary people of this world.  

Why couldn't George Bush and Tony Blair just say, "Well, we're really not sure about those weapons of mass destruction, and we really don't want the inspectors to confirm they're not there; we want to get rid of Saddam Hussein because he's no longer playing ball, and anyway we need to finish the unfinished business of Bush One, so here goes; war it is ..."   Why don't the Russians just say, "We have to keep on arming Bashar, although we've always known that family breeds brutal dictators ... because if we stop, the Chinese will take over and we'll lose our sphere of influence.   So we'll condemn anyone wanting to arm the rebels, while we continue to arm the government .... "

Why doesn't Israel admit it took Palestinian land, Palestinian houses, that they're relentlessly building new settlements, while pretending to stop, because it's simply a case of us or them? Neither side wants a two-state solution, they want it all.   And only one side can possibly win.   Why can't the Arab States and the United States actually assert their influence on the two sides to finally get them to stop, and make peace?   Why can't they admit that the festering atrocity that is the Occupation and the resultant Intifada is too valuable to put an end to - on the one hand as a smokescreen to deflect attention from their own nefarious activities and on the other as an invaluable sphere of influence in the Middle East?

Why don't the Mandela family and President Zuma come clean and admit that they are to a greater or lesser extent manipulating the "health" of the dying icon that is Nelson Mandela (ignoring the fact that he is also a desperately sick old man) so that he can reach his 95th birthday still warm - and they can make even more money out of him?   Why does President Obama assiduously refer to the "removal" of the democratically-elected President Morsi, instead of talking about a coup - so that they don't have to remove the billions of dollars with which they fund (and thus 100% control) the Egyptian army?

Why can't they all just be honest?   It wouldn't really change what they are doing.   One might even admire them, in a terrible way, instead of just being sickened by the blatant hypocrisy; on such a grand scale and on such a global stage.    Do we really live in a world where no leader can be honest any more?   Or has it been ever thus, and we just didn't know about it?   Ferdinand and Isabella wanted the land (of Granada) so they waged a "holy" war ... which was simply a civil war, Spaniards against other Spaniards, albeit of different faiths.  (But that's another subject!)

The questions I ask!   But sadly, I don't have the answers :)



No comments:

Post a Comment