Pat Lang, of 'Turcopolier' fame, added a personal note about the change in culture within the military and intel circles that produced him, and spit him out. Since he, and his team mate TTG spit me out, by limiting access to ongoing debates, and calling me a 'Russian Troll', I decided it was a waste of time to write comments meant for publication on that site. Nor do I feel the urge to use this section of my own blog to get my revenge. I'm not in their league, since I'm no 'military expert', or 'Intel-buff', but I feel it is important to add a few words of my own to Pat's observations, which may help him, and others, to see the root causes of his troubles.
New York Times reporter Ron Suskind published an article in 2004, which contained a reference to a claim made by an unnamed official (aide) from the Bush administration. It read:
'The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' [...] 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do'.
The emphasis is mine, and the statement is aimed at people like me, 'Realists', who had supposedly reached the end of the line, and were no longer in demand. I'm thinking Pat Lang belonged to the 'Realists' too, rejecting the very idea that since the US became an 'Empire', facts and truth were a spent currency. These days we are all being lied to by the 'Ruling Elite' in our western hemisphere, and not necessarily in line with some sort of 'Great Plan', but simply because they can. And about everything. Not even coordinating among themselves, though careful not to anger or hurt their fellow 'Elitists'.
They rightfully trust the 'plebs' (that is us, educated or not, accomplished or not, qualified or not) to do as we're told, because we do. We bitch and moan, but in the end we fall in line behind the 'Flag', behind NATO, and do their bidding. We're their 'dogs', defending their 'Empire', and proud to 'serve'. Well, count me out. I'm too old to be proud about being anyone's servant, and I'm fed up with being lied to 24/7. But I refuse to come down hard on the people who are 'serving' the 'Empire', since they can't really help it. They trusted the rulers to create wealth for all of us, serving us, the people who elected them. Until the 'Elites' bypassed elections too, one way or another, behaving like 'Royalty'. 'Entitled' people. Not the 'Glossy version' used as glue, like this old lady they are mourning in the former British Empire, which ceased to exist a long time ago.
Though I do understand that in times of war facts are hard to come by, and lies are needed to fool the enemy, no serious analyst can afford to work with lies, and nothing but lies. Although, when in the employ of an 'Empire', the only remaining 'Super-Power', predicting the outcome as a 'Victory' for the 'Empire' is not really the result of some smart analytic insight at all. Missing important cues doesn't really matter all that much, as raw power erases the mistakes made, leaving the analysts with a troubling sense that they are 'Supermen/women'. Until people like Putin and Xi pop up, and mistakes become costly again. And thinking that your side won a decisive victory, while it was lured into punching air in already vacated territory, might result in a lost war, and an 'Elite' in rage, doing unspeakable harm to the planet to save their illusion of an 'Empire'.
Pat and TTG, and others they permit to comment in favour of what NATO is doing, serving Joe Biden and his entourage, which includes the vast majority of the Republican party and the Democratic party, with just a few exceptions, is not in line with who they endeavour to be. But since the 'Empire' erased the 'Middle Ground' and the 'Middle East', as it erased the 'Middle Class', we're stuck with George Bush' exclamation that you are either with their 'Empire', as the aide described it, or you are a 'terrorist'. Ironically you are very welcome to be a real terrorist, as long as you serve the 'Empire'. The thing about the truth is, that it often hurts. And since we detest pain, we submit. Closing ranks in order to defeat the 'Enemy' as identified by the ruling 'Elite'. This mechanism doesn't do us any favours.