America’s Democratic Bomb

How does a democratic bomb differ from an autocratic one?

It’s too profound a question for a regular guy like me, rack my brains as I might. After all, to someone like me who doesn’t think in such complex terms, a bomb is a bomb, whether it’s from a democratic or an autocratic country; its ultimate purpose is destruction and slaughter.

Fortunately, Malaysia being a galaxy of talent, renowned “strategic and security analyst” Collins Chong Yew Keat provides an answer for everyone in a piece he wrote for the Oriental Daily News.

The title of Chong’s masterpiece (“Steel on the Seas: Is Trump’s ‘Golden Fleet’ Becoming the New Peacekeeper?”) suggests a question, but the article is, in fact, a full-throated endorsement from start to finish.

It states that the new class of warship Donald Trump plans to build will be “larger, faster, and over a hundred times more powerful than any warship that has come before.”

Even when compared with the rapidly rising Chinese navy, the article continues, “the United States still maintains a roughly twofold tonnage advantage, and the ‘Golden Fleet’ will further widen that gap,” thereby “maintaining unrivaled superiority.”

Lavishing praise on Trump’s philosophy and foresight, Chong continues: “Strength is the ultimate guarantor of peace,” and that “what Trump intends to safeguard is not just American security, but also the global peace and the international order that depend on American strength.”

And in closing, the author issues a parting reminder to any adversaries who would challenge the United States’ “arsenal of democracy”: Think twice before acting.

Reading the entire article has been more than just an epiphany; I’ve also gained a profound respect for Trump’s unquestionable probity and his all-embracing vision. In particular, Chong’s labeling of the world’s largest arms factory as a “democracy” perfectly dispelled my doubts: A democratic bomb really is a good bomb.

With this in mind, as I followed the news of the United States and Israel launching attacks on Iran — where an elementary school was hit and over 100 pupils massacred, I should have felt anger and sorrow. But knowing that they died under “democratic bombs,” I couldn’t help but think of the famous quote by American actor Angelina Jolie, “They have nothing, but they are free”: They may have died, but their souls have gained freedom and democracy.

That’s right: As long as it’s under the banner of “freedom and democracy,” whomever the United States chooses to bomb and however it chooses to do so is all for the sake of world peace. Whether it’s hundreds of Iranian schoolchildren or the 70,000 women and children in the Gaza Strip, their deaths all contribute to the peace decreed by the United States.

In pursuing American-style peace, the White House can assassinate or kidnap leaders of other countries at will, toppling their regimes by any means necessary. Just look at Venezuela: After President Nicolas Maduro’s abduction by U.S. forces, even the 80 million barrels of crude oil recently seized by the United States exude the fragrance of freedom!

Never doubt the United States’ motives in promoting democracy around the world. As long as it (oh, and Israel, too) deems a country insufficiently democratic, it has the right to bomb it into becoming a democracy.

Iraq, Palestine, Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Syria or Afghanistan: All were baptized in the artillery fire of American democracy. Their lands may have been reduced to ruins, and their grounds may have been littered with corpses, but the flower of democracy got watered with blood, and the soul of freedom was allowed to soar.

And most importantly of all, the American weapons manufacturing business is thriving, with guns and bombs bearing the stamp of “democracy certification” being shipped all over the world. Arms dealers are making a killing, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are overjoyed, and people around the world are receiving the sacraments of peace and freedom via democratic bombardment.

Trump is seen as a madman and disrupter of the world order. Most normal people find his words and actions unacceptable, and even allies of the United States are increasingly distancing themselves. Only in Malaysia does Trump have a kindred spirit, Chong, who not only praises the United States in a series of articles but also vigorously applauds Trump’s foresight. The incisiveness and originality of Chong’s insights truly demonstrate that he is no ordinary strategic analyst.

As Chinese people around the world celebrate the Lunar New Year, fireworks and firecrackers are set off to cracklings and bangs, beatings of drums, and the smell of gunpowder filling the air, and everyone prays for favorable weather, peace and prosperity in the year to come.

Meanwhile, far away in Iran on the Persian Gulf, the air is likewise filled — with the roar of artillery overhead. Schools and houses are being destroyed; people are fleeing, terrified and screaming; children with bloodied faces cry out for their mothers; and the upcoming festival of Eid al-Fitr may be a day they never live to see.

This, apparently, is what Trump “the peacekeeper” looks like when he’s promoting “global peace and the international order.”

This, apparently, is what happens when the powerful, under the banner of democracy, decide for others who is fit to lead their countries.

This, apparently, is all it takes to justify killing: Label a weapon as “democratic,” and the devil himself can masquerade as an angel.

This, apparently, is how democracy plays out.