Considering the current state of world peace and NATO’s Responsibility to Protect (R2P) policy and to maintain a proper sense of balance, George Orwell’s book “1984” should be reviewed periodically. In the spirit of the NATO Summit in Chicago, I present a few quotes from that textbook-for- tomorrow:
* “If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say this or that even, it never happened-that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death.”
* “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? Has it ever occurred to your, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”
* “All rulers in all ages have tried to impose a false view of the world upon their followers.”
* Then the face of Big Brother faded away again and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”
* Once when he happened in some connexion to mention the war against Eurasia, she startled him by saying casually that in her opinion the war was not happening. The rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably fired by the Government of Oceania itself, ‘just to keep people frightened’. This was an idea that had literally never occurred to him.”
* The object of waging a war is always to be in a better position in which to wage another war.
* The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.
* The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture, and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy; they are deliberate exercises in DOUBLETHINK. For it is only by reconciling contradictions that power can be retained indefinitely.”
* He also said they were wrong in equating the military alliance to a “war machine.” “If that’s the basis for the protests, it’s actually based on lack of knowledge. our organization is a peace movement.
[Oh wait! That’s not the Ministry of Truth speaking, that’s NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen! [1] ]
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
I and so many others have struggled to understand why we need a world “war machine” in society today and finally, Fogh Rasmussen, NATO’s titular leader, has provided the enlightenment:
NATO is a “peace movement”!
I now understand that the NATO dropping of the most bombs since WWII on Yugoslavia in the early ’90s was actually just blanketing the area with peace droppings.
Clarity now exists for NATO’s recent peace initiative in Libya, i.e. just exercising their Responsibility to Protect, using the tools of peace such as missiles, bombs, etc.
NATO’s decade long Afghanistan mission comes into view as actually one of “spreading peace” near and far while roundly scolding the indigenous folks if they didn’t understand.
Then there is the on-going U.S. and NATO supported march towards peace in Syria, with assistance from many of Syria’s friends such as Saudi Arabia. Syria’s leader, Assad, just doesn’t seem to get it that War is Peace and peace is what is being thrust upon him and his country, gushing in from Turkey, Iraq, etc.
Russia should not be concerned about the ring of Aegis missile systems being deployed around them, as it is merely a “friendship ring of peace”.
Finally, well not really finally, as “1984” reminds us that “The object of waging a war is always to be in a better position in which to wage another war” (reminder: war is peace), which now makes clear to me and hopefully the millions of citizens of Iran that they should just hold on through the many debilitating sanctions being imposed upon them, because peace is coming!
NATO and friends/partners are even now preparing their peace offerings and delivery tools because they fully understand their responsibility to protect you! Peace to all!
“Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.”
Ross Ruthenberg is a Chicago area political analyst [email protected]
Note
[1] Excerpt from: “The stage is set for summit, protests”, By Bob Secter, Chicago Tribune reporter, May 20, 2012
Andy Thayer, one of those organizers, said he and colleagues met briefly Thursday with a top NATO official and told her that “we are very aware of the immense violence and oppression that the U.S. and the U.S. in its NATO guise does to the world, and that no amount of words from her or pronouncements from the summit itself will obscure that.”
Speaking to the Tribune’s editorial board Saturday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he recognizes the right of protesters to express themselves but also said they were wrong in equating the military alliance to a “war machine.”
“If that’s the basis for the protests, it’s actually based on lack of knowledge. NATO is a peace movement,” said Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark.
“During more than 60 years, NATO has been the bedrock of security in Europe and North America. And thanks to NATO, we have maintained peace and stability in Europe during that long period, since the 2nd World War. It is the longest period of peace in the history of Europe. That’s quite a success. That’s what I call a peace movement,” he said.
Citing NATO’s role in helping to reunify Europe, develop new democracies after the fall of communism and develop actions to protect civilians in Libya, Rasmussen said, “It’s not justified to call NATO a war machine. But again, in a free society, it’s a constitutional right to express yourself — even if your statements are not justified or incorrect or inaccurate.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-hd-nato-chicago-0520-20120520,0,1571541.story
