Today the BBC reports that Ms Rice has warned the United Nations against allowing Iraq more time. A selection of her utterances: "The world needs to pull itself together"; "The Security Council cannot continue on this path for much longer"; "It is time for this to end, enough is enough". How can someone apparently so smart be so bone-dumb about basic human nature?
Either the US wants the world's support in the forthcoming war against Iraq, or it doesn't. On the evidence, it doesn't, because when you want someone's support, it's a good idea to be nice to them.
There's a basic human instinct, unchanged throughout the course of history, that works like this; when you come along and start telling someone what to do do in an arrogant tone of voice, and you're not a parent, a boss, or a policeman, you're apt to be told to fuck off.
Perhaps the United States feels that they can accomplish their goals in the world without any friends or allies, aside from corrupt dictatorial clients like the al-Sauds. Perhaps they feel that their relationship to the other countries of the world is that of a parent, a boss, or a policeman. Perhaps, perhaps. I don't get it.
