Libya, BP Oil, Arms sales, Britian, France

The Second Time as Farce

Daniel Greenfield
Thursday, March 24, 2011

It was Hegel who said that history repeats itself because nations and governments fail to learn from it, but it was Karl Marx who added that history repeats itself a second time as farce. Which makes it all too appropriate that Obama is repeating the Bush era as farce.

For years American liberals accused George W. Bush of being dumb and unserious—only to elect a man who actually is dumb and unserious. Who announces a war in between his NCAA picks and a trip to Rio. Who has spent more time playing golf, than directing the war effort. Who spends more time in front of the mirror and the camera, than on policy.

They accused Bush of running an imperial presidency—and that is exactly what they got the second time around. A war without even the thinnest facade of congressional involvement. Without Dick Cheney being anywhere in sight. They accused Bush of having a Nazi collaborating grandfather, and their own grass roots efforts to elect an Un-Bush were funded by a philanthropic Nazi collaborating billionaire.

After all those years of calling Blair, Bush’s poodle—Obama turned out to be Cameron’s poodle

They falsely insisted that Bush went to war for oil. And now their Great Hope has actually gone to war for oil. For BP’s 900 million dollar Libyan oil deal, http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-201 ... 12221.html which Prime Minister Cameron endangered when he precipitously rushed to back the Libyan rebels who seemed on their way to victory, only to crumble at Gaddafi’s pushback. After all those years of calling Blair, Bush’s poodle—Obama turned out to be Cameron’s poodle. They’re no doubt laughing about it in London.

Back when Gaddafi was securely in power, BP lobbied to free the Lockerbie bomber http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... omber.html to avoid Gaddafi’s threat to cut all commercial ties with the UK. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... knees.html What a difference a year makes. Now the only thing that will save BP is a good old fashioned war. Gaddafi had already called on Russian and Chinese oil companies to replace Western oil companies. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-1 ... ields.html Not to be left out, the Libya rebels quickly created their own oil company reminding everyone of what this is really about.

History repeats itself as farce. But who’s laughing now?

There is a reason why Europe yawns at Turkey’s use of chemical weapons against Kurdish rebels, while sending in the jets when Gaddafi bombs rebel positions. Why the genocide in Sudan was not interrupted by a No Fly Zone, and top European firms still do business with Iran through proxies in Dubai. It’s not about human rights. It’s not even about the threat potential. If it were, North Korea or Iran would be in our bomb sights. Right now Syria is massacring protesters, but don’t look for military intervention there either. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about the bright boys deciding that Gaddafi stands in the way of the future, just like Slobodan Milosevic once did. Genocide, ethnic cleansing and terrorism are minor crimes, compared to obstructing the emergency of a stable order and the fat profits it will bring.

The idea that the US has become the ‘Enforcer’ for the Arab League is an ugly enough idea

Obama’s justification for the bombing to congress, http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/O ... ngress.pdf citing, “Qadhafi’s defiance of the Arab Leagueâ€