Some quick thoughts as I fly from New England to California this morning.
In the Times Literary Supplement is a fascinating review of Francis Fukuyama’s new book After the Neocons. (“Doomed International” TLS 09/20/06, thanks to Arts and Culture Daily for the link) Whether you love him, loathe him, used to loathe him and now love him, or some variation thereof, Fukuyama always makes for an interesting read. In his new book he argues that the Bush doctrine failed for several reasons, the most important of which was a profound distortion of true Neo-Conservative principles and Fukuyama’s own ideas. The End of History was descriptive not prescriptive. That is, Fukuyama argued that History had reached a certain point in time where ideological struggles within modernity had disappeared in favor of Western Liberal Capitalism. This did not, however, account for challenges to this New World Order from forces “outside modernity” nor did it mean that inside every Iraqi there was an American just dying to get out.
“According to Fukuyama, a misinterpretation of neoconservative principles led the Bush administration to refight the last war – ie, the war on Communism – mistakenly believing that the Iraq war would fundamentally have the same result, a release of pent-up social and cultural demand for democracy, capitalism, civil society and the rule of law. It should have been clear that the social and cultural pressures for democracy and so on in Eastern Europe were the result of very long-term conditions simply not present in the Arab Middle East. Thus, in releasing the grip of the dictator, the US opened the door for forces of sectarian, tribal and other causes of violence and, potentially, civil war.”
As I said last week, who needs a unified Left when you have bloody tanistry on the right?
From China, a much blogged about piece in the NYT yesterday on the children of China’s urban elite. (“In China, children of the rich learn class without the stuggle” NYT 09/22/06) It seems no price is too high to purchase for the littlest emperors those all-important signifiers of class and cultural capital.
“Now the race starts early, with an emphasis not on ideology but on the skills and experiences the children will need in the elite life they are expected to lead. In addition to early golf training, which has become wildly popular, affluent parents are enrolling their children in everything from ballet and private music lessons, to classes in horse riding, ice-skating, skiing and even polo.”
There’s a good discussion of this article going on over at TPD. It is worrying that in China, currently suffering from a staggering and growing disparity of wealth, especially between urban and rural areas, there is such a desperate rush after the brass ring of ‘class.’ One of the worst epithets (and most common) thrown around by Chinese university students and 20-somethings is to call someone or something 土 (tu) meaning a country bumpkin or backwards and old-fashioned. The CCP is one party presiding over the creation of a markedly two-tiered society. This gap, more than any other, represents a fundamental and growing weakness in China’s social order.
Out of Thailand, news that the miltiary takeover has had an unintended effect on tourism: Foreigners who think the coup is ‘cute.’ Western tourists are lining up to have their pictures taken with soldiers and tanks decorated with flower wreaths.
“Okay guys, meet the army and the tanks,” said Jackie, a Thai tour guide, as she led a group of Americans onto Royal Plaza square guarded by paratroopers armed with M-16 rifles.”
Finally, from the picture and one-thousand words department comes this photograph which, even more than Francis Fukuyama’s new book, symbolizes the US policy dilemma over Iraq. Enjoy.
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photo of python swallowing a pregnant ewe courtesy of Yahoo!/Reuters
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