Political collateral damage inflicted by the West’s military action against Libya includes the destruction of two serious misconceptions long cherished by numerous experts in Washington.
It might help the U.S. media better understand the various rebellions breaking out in the Middle East if they could clear their minds of thoughts of 1776 and the strange idea that despots like Hosni Mubarak and Moammar Gadhafi are somehow equivalent to King George III.
Newspaper editorials that recommend policies to foreign leaders and governments are almost invariably pointless and patronizing – in short, a waste of time.
The European Union summit on September 16 was a disappointment to those who had hoped at last to learn how the royal heads of Europe view the EU’s role in the world – and thus, presumably, their own future global influence and status.
With the leaking Gulf oil well apparently under control, and the spilled oil mysteriously vanishing, the Obama administration has come under pressure from journalists to declare “mission accomplished.” It is understandably unwilling to do this, partly because things could still go wrong and partly because of the phrase’s unfortunate political baggage.
BP’s blundering CEO Tony Hayward didn’t escape the wrath of the U.S. media even after agreeing to step down on October 1. Amid the general cries of good riddance to the man accused of trying to minimize the extent of BP’s Gulf oil spill, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz erred inexcusably in the other direction by overestimating Hayward’s severance pay a thousand times.
Britain’s new prime minister, David Cameron, has created his first policy rift with France and Germany, the backbone of the European Union, by promising aggressive help for Turkey’s bid for EU membership, which both Paris and Berlin oppose.
The U.S. soccer team was lucky to tie its first game in the World Cup against a reputedly stronger team, but some Americans appeared unclear as to whom exactly they were playing.
The British media love to announce the end of the “special relationship” between the United States and Britain, and now they have been joined by a UK Parliamentary Committee, which recommends that the phrase, first coined by Winston Churchill, be abandoned.
There was a huge outcry in the United States in 2008, when the Pentagon awarded a $40 billion contract for tanker refueling aircraft for the Air Force to a consortium including a European competitor - EADS, parent of Airbus. EADS won the bid in partnership with Northrop Grumman, the U.S. defense contractor, beating a rival bid by Boeing, Airbus’s longtime antagonist.
