Truth! As if it were politic.

Article 2. Each article is a separate piece, unfolding a simple theme: the value of honest relationships. With this article looking at the geopolitical outcome of not being honest, even with ourselves. This is the longest of my eight articles.

      I started this series of articles with a very nice sentiment. You might recall, "Play nice"? And yes, I could be viewed as that simple, but that is also not what I meant. I recognize the complexity of politics, especially in a democracy that has chained itself to 250-year-old ideas. Producing a system that is defined by money and lawyers, who have bent our country to their purposes. All of which, supposedly, mirrors the desires of those whining, sniveling people in charge: the voting public. I defy anyone to find the least value in all that, much less the practicality of positive relationships and real listening. A depth of listening arising out of the candor of relationship (by the way, that is what I meant).
      On the other hand, some see all that as righteous American opportunity. For instance, we find our political system conspiring with Wall Street to enrich the powerful by sucking dry the middle class. Perversely, this includes all of us, as we sleepily assent, embracing our assigned bedfellow, 401Ks. Realizing ourselves uniquely fortunate in having Wall Street, that Machiavellian cat herder, generously installing Superfund* sites as a central feature of our long-term economic strategy (in their vast foresight, give or take 15 minutes, the globe becomes a very profitable *toxic cesspool). Not to mention, we find those very opportunists admonishing farmers, "Stop with all this nutrition! Our equity position, via a phone app, demands that you commit yourselves to pulling plastic specters of 'food' out of the ground. Much cheaper!" There may be problems, but at least we're quickly submerging under a capitalist utopia!
      Utopias aside for the moment, take for example, Afghanistan in 2021 (fools who stake their lives on nutrition and wouldn't embrace a superfund site if it came up and bit them on the ass). Two presidential offices diverging on everything but this one topic of Afghanistan (2016 and Biden). Two old white men having a similar opinion, "I'm done with those damn people," and a singular plan to fix the problem, which, as you'll recall, didn't end well. So now Biden, being the last man standing, finds himself holding a bag of excrement and most certainly chastised concerning the smell.
     Dog whistles are easily attached to these complex global issues, each of us instinctively salivating for our preferred politician. Followed by our patriotically swallowing the spin they provide, "especially as I shake my politician's hand, deeply felt!" I don't know about you, but I'd call that a lobotomy in a handshake, defining all too many hopes and dreams. One thing I hope you do agree with: it's disheartening seeing how easily our democracy is dropped in the gutter for the sake of a handshake. All of which leads to a political system that is solely focused on appearances. Add to that the inherent loss of executive function, and the best we can hope for is a confused and reactionary approach to problem solving, which absolutely undermines our response to world affairs. 
     With those world affairs affecting us at every level, for instance, it seems that we are all frozen in time by "9/11." Even those born after 9/11 sense our collective vulnerability. All of us feel that archenemy the Afghani Taliban breathing down our necks. Yet that generation-Z can't now imagine our isolated moment of unity following 9/11 (interesting dimensions that I'll follow-up in a future writing). Not coincidentally, we harnessed that unity in a decisively American fashion, doing the same thing, over and over and over... again, expecting different results. One might hope that our being attached to a country would be quite positive, for instance, Afghanistan 2001. My oh my, what the US can accomplish in two decades!
      Turns out, Afghanistan is also attached to Pakistan, an American ally. Sounds like we're off to a good start! That is, if you'll just ignore every single fact on the ground, which I'll touch on, ever so lightly. Truly perplexing how things rolled out, considering that we pay for the Pakistani military, with that military maintaining power within Pakistan's political system (getting better all the time! If you'll just ignore that slab of bacon we have to hang around our neck, so Pakistan will play with us; plus that undemocratic "maintaining power"). By President Bush's second term (roughly 2005), Bush came to find out that Pakistan had betrayed us, aiding and abetting the Afghani Taliban, thus crippling our strategy and getting Americans killed. 
      The sad news of Pakistan's betrayal became common knowledge well before 2021. Yet in 2021, we all focused on Biden's serious mishandling of a very leaky bag, bathing Afghanistan in a foul odor. A complex issue that left us confused; clearly, we're overly focused on our sense of smell, faced with the shitty results of our policies. Truth be told, the real offense of POTUS in Afghanistan was the roughly 16 years of hiding the problem and kicking the can down the road. As usual, the US government was pursuing purely transactional relationships while masking the truth with self-righteous Americanisms, like "we're a shining city on a hill." Whereas, the actual Americanism in all that, is our strategically avoiding the challenges of diplomatic dialogue. Lost in ideological babble, and certainly, our never once listening to a damn thing (plenty of insight was available, both historical and cultural). 
      By contrast, what I'm suggesting is very practical: prioritize listening and learning, essentials for a self-governing people. In addition, our becoming a country that knows what the hell is going on, mostly involves honest relationships with other countries. Including our actually promoting liberal democracy. That is, doing away with that colonial - currently Wall Street - way of doing business. The Wall Street model for diplomatic relations: find someone who will light their own people on fire, for nothing more than a fistful of dollars, and put that person in charge.
      Oddly, despite our slash-and-burn approach to other countries, most of the world sees America as a utopian ideal, and if we lived into that ideal, I'm quite certain we could do away with that bacon around the neck thing. As we would naturally open a huge opportunity for ourselves. That is, more so than most countries, we could reap the benefits of swimming with the geopolitical current (a less self-righteousness, "Our American way," bought and paid for!). In other words, if the US were to become sensitive to the geopolitical current, we could minimize our overall efforts while building relationships that globally net the greatest returns. Ironically, this would be the real Make America Great Again strategy. In a newly minted American confidence, we might have our cake and eat it too (plus maintaining a pair of towers). Opps, back to reality. Despite our lack of vision, there was a positive path forward in Afghanistan - a missed opportunity.
      Our main strategic concern in that part of the world is India. Their enclosing a region that buttresses China, plus India being the only real pushback on China's agenda. More so, India should be one of our closest allies. Yet India must distance itself due to our attachment to Pakistan, an Indian archenemy. Concerning Pakistan, their support of the Afghani Taliban was solely a socio/political complexity and not directly tied to their military. Given that lay of the land, I'm suggesting that we should have admonished Pakistan for their support of the Taliban, as in, "This death to America shit stops now!" With the Pakistani military easily maintaining our relationship by simply disowning the issue. At the same time, our disapproval of Pakistan's duplicity would naturally have opened a door to India. Politics at its best: kick some right-wing ass, save Afghanistan, and get on India's dance card! 
      "But wait, Pakistan?" I agree, how silly of me to have ignored the right-wing sympathies of the Pakistani military. Plus, China's increasing presence along that road; that is, we find China strategically preparing to belt India and the US in one swing. And our strategy: country after country, hundreds of billions of dollars; end of the day, as we're shown the door, "what just happened?" 
      Nothing but wasted efforts, for instance, twenty years ago, the Taliban was ripe for honest dialogue. Unfortunately, lacking that skill set, we chose to instead become the puppet master. Our imagining a poseable character figurine of "American Opportunity!" A peripheral arrangement, requiring that we pay dearly to pull the strings. A strategy that has increasingly isolated us, relying evermore on seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and spinning... You know, whatever.

      One more thing, a side bar: we should open our pocketbooks for Ukraine, including supporting their military. Why? We have a natural relationship with the Ukraine, but they will cease to exist if we don't help them today. No bacon, just compassion aligned with our national interests. Curious that 2016 has argued against this investment, thus conjectured, "in Putin's pocket"? Everyone looking to the past, not directly at 2016, a business entrepreneur, of very predictable behavior. Fact is, 2016 is trying to add a pocket to a worn-thin banner, his family name. To a fault, 2016 never looks back; whereas, all of us, so easily lost in the spin that surrounds these complexities, see very little, in any direction.

      Geopolitical is synonymous with “fluid,” and we are like amphibians, frozen in our icy superficial politics, missing a world of opportunity beneath. With voters not nearly treading water within these complex issues, easily disoriented by the spin we're asked to swallow (god knows what fluid that is). As the whole swamp discharges from various "political necessities." Like the quagmire of an incoherent and vacillating POTUS, driven by a political system that strategically avoids accountability. And that busily spinning while stridently dissecting earlier frogs. Always more "Winning!" and hoping to dump shit onto the next POTUS, avoiding responsibility for, "What in the hell is that smell?"