Demagogues Rising: Global Crisis Unleashes Evil

The New York Post ^ | March 4, 2009 | Ralph Peters

[Scanian]

ECONOMIC hope produced the American Revolution. Economic hopelessness delivered the French Revolution. Demagogues, not democrats, will hallmark the worsening economic crisis.

The potential for political turmoil is vast. Among the populated continents, only Australia has a chance of avoiding serious violence. We in the West stand at the brink of a terrible global struggle. Our response has been to fight among ourselves.

The order that diplomats adore is crumbling.

Here in North America, Mexico battles a savage narco-insurgency within a crippled economy. Ciudad Juarez, a key border city, is already far deadlier than Baghdad. Canada's scared, and a demoralized United States elected a mere orator as president.

In South America, the economic crisis threatens the regional ambitions of strongmen and hustlers who profit by association: Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador and everyone's favorite child-abuser, Danny Ortega of Nicaragua.

Our natural reaction is: "Great - let 'em hurt!"

The problem is that demagogues move sharply to deflect the pain from themselves - blaming imaginary enemies, foreign or domestic. Violence looms, from Venezuela to Bolivia. And the odds are that it will take the form of pogroms against citizens calling for freedom, the rule of law and food.

[Rummyfan]

It has always been thus. Any student of history would look at our current economic mess and conclude that if it gets much worse we are heading for a violent cataclysm.

[Rummyfan]

From the article:

Looks like a Venezuelan toad....

More from the article:

Europe's tilt toward economic civil war only emboldens Russia's Vladimir Putin, who needs to direct the attention of his bewildered population away from economic collapse at home. Putin will create foreign threats - and, he hopes, foreign triumphs. (President Obama's disgraceful secret letter begging Moscow for help with Iran and offering to sell out the Poles and Czechs didn't exactly discourage Putin, either.)

Thanks Hussein!

[Neoliberalnot]

We are seeing the calculated death of capitalism and a free market economy and replacement with a nazi style of socialism. The money being wretched from the private sector, as markets fall in unison, is being replaced by handouts from Hussein’s socialists thugs to every sniveling liberal with a tin cup. This is Hussein’s redistribution of wealth that he promised, ie, money leaving the private sector being replaced with money by the government sector. Capitalism will continue to collapse as long as Hussein is in power and nothing will stop this rise of a truely evil ruler. Hussein is doing precisely as Mugabe is doing to Zimbabwe. We haven’t seen nothin yet.

[GonzoGOP]

it gets much worse we are heading for a violent cataclysm.

Actually it doesn't even have to get worse. It just has to not get better for a year or two. The nations of the world are all deficit spending at record levels just to keep their fed and keep the heat on. Now deficit spending in the US is normal, But we had, and i stress had, a longer credit line. South America and SE Asia don't. Everyone is issuing debt, and very few, like China, that are still buying debt, are not buying as much as they did before. If things don't get better in a year or two the world's trade and transportation systems will collapse.

And no what we are in now is not a collapse. Its bad, but with the exception of Zimbabwe and Somalia nobody has gone full collapse. Nations still accept each others money, nobody is sending their army across the border on food or fuel raids, and everyone seems to be getting fed. If the entire global trade and especially transport network breaks down the those sort of things will become common.

[familyop]

Most of the Chinese indexes are up over 6% at this time.

[livius]

Economic crises inevitably become political crises. And political crises in fragile states become violent crises. Stirred by firebrand rhetoric and hooked by the absolving taste of blaming their ills on others, put-upon populations default to fundamental ethnic, religious or ideological identities...The neighbor becomes the enemy. And then the knives come out.

The only thing that has been holding things in place, except for outbreaks here and there, has been US stability. But we have seen that destroyed in less than two months. People I have spoken to say that they wake up in fear every day, wondering if this is going to be the day that all hell breaks loose and Barry sics his goons on someone he will designate as the "enemy of the people." That's why gun sales are soaring in this country.

The odd thing is that our economic crisis, while bad, was not at the insoluble point and until the crisis mentality was pushed upon us by Barry and the people behind him, most Americans were moderately confident, both in our future prospects and in our present stability and order. But that confidence is gone now, and I don't know what it would take to restore it. Overnight, I feel that we have become one of those "fragile states." Who would ever have thought it?

[TurtleUp]

Global Crisis Unleashes Evil

I would have titled this: "Global Crisis Unleashes Obama". Their version is the same.

[Rumplemeyer]

Obama is trying to be just like his hero FDR and again give Eastern Europe to Russia.

FDR gave Eastern Europe to “Uncle” Joe Stalin at Yalta, he condemned them to 60 years of slavery and he is haled as a great statesman, same as JFK, this clown was no more qualified to be POUS than Obama, and JFK's behavior under pressure showed it.

[mom4melody]

The article is like reading the Book of Revelation...

[jdsteel]

Most of the Chinese indexes are up over 6% at this time.

Only because tomorrow the politburo will be discussing a new Chinese stimulus program. Yawn. Pure fantasy.

[familyop]

Well, there’s one bright side to the mostly ugly scenario. The stupid spending policies are buying us more time, before they cause a greater collapse. As for China, here’s a Forest-Gump-like answer. Sooner or later, we have to make things in order to have things. The more things that we’ll have to trade, the more things that we’ll get in return. ;-)