Today's headlines are yesterday's headlines. Only the dateline is new. What we read from month to month is like a mantra. It is repetitive to the point of hypnosis. CIA director George Tenet once again offers vague warnings about al Qaeda and WMDs in Congressional testimony. The U.S. intelligence community, with $30 plus billion in funding, waxes equivocal on who has what where. (One might call this an intelligence regime of "no claim, no blame.")
Rumors persist that bin Laden has been killed, or that he is surrounded. The Islamists drone on about America's inevitable doom, despite the fact they have been unable to stage another terrorist spectacular on U.S. soil. Tall stories of their interminable maneuverings to topple the Saudi monarchy or trigger a civil war in Pakistan continue to trickle in.
The democratization of Iraq remains a snail's errand performed at breakneck speed. Israeli sources allege that Syria is supporting Iraq's anti-American insurgents. We also hear rumors of Iranian machinations. Predictably, the Bush administration will not open another front in the War on Terror until after the election (which features a left-wing Democrat versus a "right-wing" Republican). Polls indicating a momentary advantage for the president or his challenger vary without rhyme or reason. The election will probably be decided by the state of the economy, which continues to improve as it stumbles jerkily toward an abyss. Alan Greenspan says an economic recovery is well under way. Job creation is certain and Greenspan is obliged to say so (since pessimism is no longer an option). It is an odd sort of economy that can be talked up or down, depending on the talker.
One thing that cannot be talked down is the WMD problem. Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan continue to export WMD technology and the U.S. seems unable to stop them. Russia recently trained several hundred Iranian nuclear technicians at a facility south of Moscow. Tehran's ruling "moderates" continue to develop Iran's nuclear industry despite the country's vast supply of cheap oil. Russia's reasons for giving nuclear technology to Iran are obvious. The official Russian press condemns U.S. imperialism as it did during the Cold War. Meanwhile, in America, the New York Times continues to be a better-written and more persuasive version of Pravda (with the added authenticity of decadent self-portrayal).
In the Far East, North Korea's official press warns that America is using diplomacy as a smokescreen to prepare military aggression against the Democratic People's Republic. According to the North Koreans, American imperialism will be smashed by the vigilance of the nation's playboy dictator - especially since Pyongyang has deployed a new and improved tank regiment. Despite the acquisition of new armaments, the North Koreans are hungry. Starvation has been reported in remote villages. The longstanding communist method for dealing with scarcity is well known: "Let them eat tanks."
China's military buildup opposite Taiwan continues as rumors persist that a crackdown against Hong Kong is being prepared. Toward this end Beijing has received more advanced Russian weapons. At the same time, Beijing's economic penetration of America, Canada and Latin America advances unchecked. Chinese front companies continue to operate the Panama Canal and other ports in the Western Hemisphere (for purely commercial benefit, of course). But watch out for "Yankee imperialism." China's secret friend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, claims that the Bush administration is planning an invasion. In response to this supposed threat, Chavez has threatened to cut off oil exports to the U.S. (Meanwhile, in neighboring Colombia, communist rebels continue to receive support from Chavez, though his government denies any involvement.)
Brazil's crypto-communist leadership has sent up a series of anti-U.S. trial balloons masquerading as policy statements. Brazil is now sympathetic to terrorism, supportive of rogue states and eager to stick a finger in the eye of George W. Bush. Anti-Americanism thrives in Brazil, fed by an irrational fear of imminent U.S. aggression and a supposed U.S. conspiracy to subjugate the Brazilian people.
The Caribbean news involves similar themes. In Cuba the bearded dinosaur, Fidel Castro, made yet another self-dramatizing statement about a final apocalyptic battle with U.S. imperialism. In Haiti it is déjà voodoo all over again with another U.S.-facilitated change of government. Prior to getting involved in Haiti President Bush was accused of heartless indifference. After getting involved he was accused of naked aggression.
At this moment in history a reader of the news may be likened to Rip Van Winkle. But instead of falling asleep and waking years later, today's Rip only has to read a few headlines to be catapulted forward across time. Mesmerized by the steady droning of the ideologists, by one repetitious moment after another, he is soothed to an easy oblivion. This oblivion is based on the assumption that tomorrow will be like today as today was like yesterday. This is an illusion, to be sure. "All things change," wrote Marcus Aurelius 1800 years ago, "and you yourself are constantly wasting away. So, also, is the universe."
It seems we are at a moment of balancing. Things are meticulously maintained, preserved and pickled because turning back is not possible while the path ahead remains undiscovered. Perhaps the major players are hesitating for good reason. Perhaps they are afraid of what logically follows. The next economic, military or political step might be a fatal misstep. But even so, men crave change and so does history. A dull, eternal repetition is unendurable.
In closing I will quote from Alexander Pope, who described the inevitable triumph of Chaos over the Empire of the Dull.
Lo, thy dead empire, Chaos, is restored;
Light dies before thy uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal darkness buries all.
