Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz called it "the darkest 24 hours in our nation's history". Was he referring to:
• The outbreak of the Civil War.
• The assassination of Abraham Lincoln or John Kennedy or Martin Luther King.
• The 1929 Wall St crash.
• Pearl Harbour.
• 9/11.
• The realization that the immensely costly and destructive Iraq War was launched on the basis of a lie.
None of the above: according to Cruz, America's darkest day was when the Supreme Court decided not to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage. Thus the extension of health insurance, previously the preserve of the rich, and marriage, previously the preserve of the straight, is worse than war, depression, assassination and mass murder.
And what does fellow Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee believe will "bring death to America":
• Bird flu.
• Climate change.
• Isis.
• North Korean nuclear missiles.
• Obesity.
• Psychopathic gunmen wrapped in the Confederate flag.
Again, none of the above: Huckabee was referring to the just-announced nuclear deal with Iran. He wasn't alone. It appears all 17 Republican presidential hopefuls believe the treaty painstakingly negotiated by the US, Russia, China, Britain and France is not merely not worth the paper it's written on, it's positively catastrophic.
It will - Huckabee again - "wipe Israel off the map". It's worth pointing out that Israel, itself often accused of being a terrorist state, has a nuclear arsenal whereas Iran doesn't and, by virtue of this treaty, won't have for at least a decade.
So apart from bringing death to America and Israel, are there any other flaws? You bet: it will lead to widespread war in the Middle East.
Fittingly, given that the Republicans are now essentially a party of religious fundamentalism, their candidates are partly taking their lead from Zionist Israel and Wahhabist Saudi Arabia who are terrified - hopefully with good reason - that the Iran deal foreshadows a seismic realignment which reduces their malign influence on US Middle East policy.
But their kneejerk denunciations also signal a frightening abandonment of diplomacy as a means of defusing tension, avoiding conflict and managing international affairs. The mindset seems to be that diplomacy should be reserved for friendly nations with whom you have interests in common. That they remain disposed towards armed intervention which has accelerated rather than suppressed Islamic militancy shouldn't come as a surprise since persisting with policies that achieve the exact opposite of what was intended is something of an American speciality.
The takeover of American conservatism by evangelical Christianity, Fox News and a handful of shadowy billionaires has transformed the Republicans into the party of wilful ignorance: doctrinal purity is more valued than intelligence; tolerance has been supplanted by persecutory moralising; paranoia has replaced realism.
Note EU-Digest: If this article by a New-Zealander does not open the eyes of US voters, probably nothing else will. Just think if any of these idiots having their finger on the launcher of the US nuclear arsenal??If this article by a New-Zealander does not open the eyes of US voters, probably nothing else will. Just think if any of these idiots gets their itchy finger on the launcher of the US nuclear arsenal??
Read more: The greatest threat to America? Republicans - Opinion - NZ Herald News
• The outbreak of the Civil War.
• The assassination of Abraham Lincoln or John Kennedy or Martin Luther King.
• The 1929 Wall St crash.
• Pearl Harbour.
• 9/11.
• The realization that the immensely costly and destructive Iraq War was launched on the basis of a lie.
None of the above: according to Cruz, America's darkest day was when the Supreme Court decided not to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage. Thus the extension of health insurance, previously the preserve of the rich, and marriage, previously the preserve of the straight, is worse than war, depression, assassination and mass murder.
And what does fellow Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee believe will "bring death to America":
• Bird flu.
• Climate change.
• Isis.
• North Korean nuclear missiles.
• Obesity.
• Psychopathic gunmen wrapped in the Confederate flag.
Again, none of the above: Huckabee was referring to the just-announced nuclear deal with Iran. He wasn't alone. It appears all 17 Republican presidential hopefuls believe the treaty painstakingly negotiated by the US, Russia, China, Britain and France is not merely not worth the paper it's written on, it's positively catastrophic.
It will - Huckabee again - "wipe Israel off the map". It's worth pointing out that Israel, itself often accused of being a terrorist state, has a nuclear arsenal whereas Iran doesn't and, by virtue of this treaty, won't have for at least a decade.
So apart from bringing death to America and Israel, are there any other flaws? You bet: it will lead to widespread war in the Middle East.
Fittingly, given that the Republicans are now essentially a party of religious fundamentalism, their candidates are partly taking their lead from Zionist Israel and Wahhabist Saudi Arabia who are terrified - hopefully with good reason - that the Iran deal foreshadows a seismic realignment which reduces their malign influence on US Middle East policy.
But their kneejerk denunciations also signal a frightening abandonment of diplomacy as a means of defusing tension, avoiding conflict and managing international affairs. The mindset seems to be that diplomacy should be reserved for friendly nations with whom you have interests in common. That they remain disposed towards armed intervention which has accelerated rather than suppressed Islamic militancy shouldn't come as a surprise since persisting with policies that achieve the exact opposite of what was intended is something of an American speciality.
The takeover of American conservatism by evangelical Christianity, Fox News and a handful of shadowy billionaires has transformed the Republicans into the party of wilful ignorance: doctrinal purity is more valued than intelligence; tolerance has been supplanted by persecutory moralising; paranoia has replaced realism.
Note EU-Digest: If this article by a New-Zealander does not open the eyes of US voters, probably nothing else will. Just think if any of these idiots having their finger on the launcher of the US nuclear arsenal??If this article by a New-Zealander does not open the eyes of US voters, probably nothing else will. Just think if any of these idiots gets their itchy finger on the launcher of the US nuclear arsenal??
Read more: The greatest threat to America? Republicans - Opinion - NZ Herald News
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