Where Is the Rebellion against Kerry?
Published in Dagens Nyheter
(Sweden) on 15 May 2013
by Erik Helmersson (link to original)
(Sweden) on 15 May 2013
by Erik Helmersson (link to original)
Translated from
by Grace Olaison.
Edited by Natalie Clager.
An American secretary of state is on a visit to Sweden. He is a secretary in an administration that should get anti-American reflexes twitching like a rabbit’s nose among every Swedish habitual protester worth the name.
So just what has happened within only the last few days? The U.S. Department of Justice has been snooping through the phone records of the Associated Press, after the agency posted about a foiled terrorist attack in Yemen. And it's not the first time: According to TT,* six of Barack Obama's state employees have been indicted for leaking secret information.
Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service is being accused of targeting organizations critical of the Obama administration for special scrutiny of applications for tax exemption. Indeed, the IRS is an independent authority, but the response can still be seen as an attempt by the powers that be to crush legitimate opposition. These very tactics were used, with varying success, against President Nixon's opponents.
The Department of State has its own problems and is accused of having given an entirely deceitful picture of what happened in the attack against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya in 2012. Obviously, it was an act of terrorism; however, it was close to the election, and Obama desperately needed to present his war on terror as a glittering success. "A spontaneous demonstration" sounded like a better description of the attack, according to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's public relations people.
Add to this that Obama's highly dubious, in terms of international law, war on terror has hardly eased up since Benghazi. Drone attacks continue to claim civilian lives far away from television cameras; the military operations in Afghanistan continue, as do internment camp operations at Guantanamo.
Nonetheless, the protests against Obama never really seem to gather speed. True, he is American, but still he is one of “us,” as opposed to sly dogs such as George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, who were always two of “them.”
If John Kerry had been met with a demonstration in Stockholm, it is unlikely that it would have been against the wars of the U.S. More likely, it would have urged him and Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama to start a new one against Bashar Assad in Syria.
* Editor's Note: TT refers to the Swedish Tidningarnas Telegrambyra [Newspapers' Telegram Bureau].
So just what has happened within only the last few days? The U.S. Department of Justice has been snooping through the phone records of the Associated Press, after the agency posted about a foiled terrorist attack in Yemen. And it's not the first time: According to TT,* six of Barack Obama's state employees have been indicted for leaking secret information.
Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service is being accused of targeting organizations critical of the Obama administration for special scrutiny of applications for tax exemption. Indeed, the IRS is an independent authority, but the response can still be seen as an attempt by the powers that be to crush legitimate opposition. These very tactics were used, with varying success, against President Nixon's opponents.
The Department of State has its own problems and is accused of having given an entirely deceitful picture of what happened in the attack against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya in 2012. Obviously, it was an act of terrorism; however, it was close to the election, and Obama desperately needed to present his war on terror as a glittering success. "A spontaneous demonstration" sounded like a better description of the attack, according to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's public relations people.
Add to this that Obama's highly dubious, in terms of international law, war on terror has hardly eased up since Benghazi. Drone attacks continue to claim civilian lives far away from television cameras; the military operations in Afghanistan continue, as do internment camp operations at Guantanamo.
Nonetheless, the protests against Obama never really seem to gather speed. True, he is American, but still he is one of “us,” as opposed to sly dogs such as George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, who were always two of “them.”
If John Kerry had been met with a demonstration in Stockholm, it is unlikely that it would have been against the wars of the U.S. More likely, it would have urged him and Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama to start a new one against Bashar Assad in Syria.
* Editor's Note: TT refers to the Swedish Tidningarnas Telegrambyra [Newspapers' Telegram Bureau].
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