Whether it was Kerry or Bush, the French would betray us.
Chirac's War for Oil
What most people in America don't know about the French and the real war for oil, or rather in France's case, the anti-war for oil.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13021
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You could make Polish jokes, but that country is one of our closest allies.
The following Pole, has a blog site. It's a great blog and the Polish know what freedom means. It means you don't turn your back on those who are fighting for it themselves..
Chrenkin' off
It's been a nice present for yours truly's birthday today - all those thousands of visits since yesterday afternoon. I hope that at least some of you like what you see and will keep coming back to take an occasional peak inside my head and be exposed to my "chrenkin' off" about what's going on around the world.
Since you're all here, a word about where I'm coming from. I was born in the then communist Poland (in Krakow to be precise) and I grew up in a stifling, oppressive, dreary society that (I'm paraphrasing P. J. O'Rourke from memory) didn't kill you anymore, just bored you to death. In 1988 I migrated with my parents to Australia; it was a year before the Wall collapsed; and no, just like the CIA and all the experts, we had no inkling when we left that the communism wouldn't be around much longer. I was then still a naive youngster who thought that the Cold War was a simple struggle between the communist world (where everyone but the elite wanted the other side to win) and the Western world, which was free, capitalist, and fiercely anti-communism.
Boy, wasn't I in for a shock. Very soon I discovered that while I was correct in first part, the West, to a large extent, was either indifferent or quite friendly to the whole idea of socialism. In particular I was shocked to find out just how many among the Western elites (political, media, academic, etc.) thought that the communists were the good guys, or at least believed in moral equivalence between the free and the un-free world; how many thought that free market was bad and socialism in some form was still the way of the future; and how many were hostile and patronising to the values that I held dear.
Well, almost 16 years on, nothing shocks me anymore. But thanks to the magic of information technology I no longer have to rave on about it only to my friends. So welcome to the world of Chrenkoff.
...and this, boys and girls, is why most* of the left shits me to tears.
* having friends on the "other side" and appreciating good debate with decent people of genuine good will on the left.
Why I'm not an isolationist
George W Bush has been described as Wilsonian (I think it's meant to be an insult for a Republican) for his desire to spread democracy and liberal order around the world; neo-conservatives are routinely accused of radicalism. Critics variously advise us to leave others alone, mind our own business, and concentrate on our own patch. Internationalism is deemed respectable only if it's of a multilateral variety. People who normally can't be accused of championing isolationists wish that President Bush was.
I don't know how our latest adventure in the Middle East will end. It might be unrealistic, or culturally insensitive, or even imperialistic to try to impose on other cultures and other peoples democracy, freedoms, human rights, open society and open markets, but I, for one, am glad that we're trying.
There is an old Polish motto that says "For your freedom and ours." Many who live in advanced Western societies take their security and prosperity for granted. Poles, who've experienced so little of either over the past two centuries, are much more aware of how precious and precarious freedom is. They also understand that freedom is indivisible; that increasing it even in the remotest corner of the world enriches the whole of humanity. And so, for the past 250 years, Polish émigrés and exiles have been involved in many a struggle for independence and liberty around the world - fighting for "your freedom" if they weren't always able to fight for theirs.
Hence, my American readers might be familiar with the Pulaski Day, named after a Polish general who had died in the American War of Independence. The history buffs among you might even be aware that the Texan artillery at Alamo was in the hands of Polish gunners, exiles from the failed Polish uprising of 1831. The Australian readers might be aware of the fact that Australia's highest peak, Mt Kosciusko, is named after a general and a freedom-fighter both in his native Poland and in the United States. And the American, British and Australian veterans of World War Two will remember fighting alongside Poles at Narvik, Tobruk, Monte Cassino, Arnhem, on the North Atlantic and in the Battle of Britain.
The point I'm making is this - we in the West all too often take freedom for granted, because we've never lived without it. That complacency also creates a temptation to discount the value of freedom for others; to try to spread it around is too hard, too costly, and ultimately not our business.
In the end, however, the costs of lack of freedom are much higher than the costs of promoting it. Yes, it's hard, it's expensive - in terms of both blood and resources, it's very often a thankless task (as the Coalition is discovering in Iraq), and in short term the results are often disappointing. Mistakes are made, good intentions are led astray, human nature intervenes and stuffs things up. But - there's more freedom in the world today than there's been at any stage in the past - and it's very difficult to argue that the world is worse off for it. Nor indeed that the American War of Independence or the Civil War, or World War Two, or the Cold War were not worth fighting for. Retreating into own private shell is not the answer - however easy, or comforting it may be to wash one's hands of the world's troubles and say f*** it. That's why I'm thankful for all those who today continue to fight for "your freedom and ours."
http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/2004_05_16_chrenkoff_archive.html
