Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Proud Owner of a Cold War Mentality

Twice, yes, twice in one day I was "accused" of having a "cold war mentality." Once in a Twitter duel, and the other time in some weird Craig's List site which excerpted a couple of my posts, and let the lefties have at them. I also got called a "blithering idiot," which seems overkill since if you are blithering, then presumably you already are an idiot and vice versa; anyhow, it must have been a blithering idiot who made the accusation. It reminded me of my closing days at State when a senior guru in HR, informing me that my second ambassadorial nomination would follow my first one down the sewer, told me the same--not the "blithering idiot" thing, the "cold war mentality" thing.  "Lew," she said, "you won't make it to the top because you won't let go of your cold war mentality."

Well! What an insult! How is it bad to have a "cold war" mentality (CWM)? Would it be an insult to tell somebody, "Sorry, you can't make it here because you can't let go of your anti-fascist mentality"? This CWM accusation seems to be a meme (may we still use that word?) of the left. During one of the Obama-Romney debates, Obama snidely told Romney, "The 1980s are calling. They want their foreign policy back." The lefties thought that was so very clever. It is of a piece with other lefty "zingers," to wit, "I guess you watch FOX News," the oldie, "Cowboy," and, of course, "Racist!"

Let's look at these "insults," starting with the one about FOX News. I watch FOX off and on, as I do the other TV news outlets, and have not found FOX wrong about the major events of the past few years. FOX called it right, for example, on Benghazi, Fast and Furious, Solyndra, the IRS scandals, and, of course, the horrendous disaster known as Obamacare. The FOX pundits, in other words the people who come on expressly to opine, seem to range all over the place, with, admittedly the largest bunch gathering somewhere in the range from establishment GOP to Tea Party. I, however, see lots of "progressives" on FOX who state leftist opinions and keep coming back on. I have not heard the slime-ball language, gutter-level insults, and race-baiting on FOX that I have from MSNBC "progressives" such as Bashir, Baldwin, Sharpton, Maddow, and Harris-Perry. We owe a debt of gratitude to Rupert Murdoch, who similar to another Australian, General Sir John Monash, nearly 100 years ago saved the day for the West.

Cowboy. What a weird insult. I thought the lefties were for the common working man? I guess once you get an expensive degree from an expensive university that specializes in content-free education, you can ridicule people who work for a living. I always thought of a cowboy as an honorable, hard-working, independent-minded sort who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. On second thought, I now realize that I know why lefties would find a cowboy frightening; just compare a cowboy to pajama boy . . . best to demonize the cowboy before that happens.

The racist tag is so overused it is losing its impact. When all else fails, however, the left still drags it out. It is the flare gun you fire in the air as the global warming-formed ice floe rips your ship to shreds; the one-shot derringer as a pack of giant zombie corporation-created werewolves rushes your campsite; the soundless scream in the void of space as the multi-headed GMO monster prepares to eat you; the, well . . . you get the idea. It's what's used when there's nothing else in your kit. Anybody who expresses doubts about the liberal policies that have made generations of African-Americans wards of the state is a racist. Anybody who questions the wisdom of essentially open immigration as long as an entitlement bonanza awaits those immigrants is a racist. Anybody who works hard for his or her money, and wants to keep most of it for his or her family is a racist. Anybody who thinks voting should be for citizens is a racist. Anybody who watches FOX News or is a cowboy is a racist, and on and on.

Cold war mentality. My favorite. To be called a cold warrior--brrrrrr--how horriblenot. I do not understand what is meant by that "insult." It seems a cousin of the old label "Red Scare," or "Witch Hunt," or "McCarthyism." The implication is that somehow you are deluded, delusional, wacky, insane, and laughable if you have a CWM. Excuse me, my low-information lefty friends, there was a real and frightening threat from the Reds: the "Witches" were quite real. McCarthy might have had a face made for radio; maybe he was crude and rude; and maybe he was not elegant and refined. As the historical record shows, however, he was right. Pro-Soviet Communists had infiltrated State, the White House, and other branches of government; the Soviets were conducting an aggressive campaign of espionage, subversion, and influence inside the US, Canada, and the UK.

To have a CWM, means, therefore, to root and work for the victory of Western ideals of liberty and freedom. It means to oppose totalitarian ideologies and regimes. It means finding, for example, the Soviet Gulag, and the horrid North Korean and Cuban regimes repellent in the extreme and worthy of being opposed and, if possible, destroyed. It means celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Empire, and opposing efforts to undermine our system of liberty and checks-and-balances at home. It means being appalled by the resurgence of the "dead" Al Qaeda; being furious over this Obama misadministration's giving away our hard-fought victories in Iraq and Afghanistan; its sabotaging of our long-standing network of international alliances; its sell-out of our friends; its misuse and destruction of our intelligence agencies; and its deliberate sabotage of economic liberty at home.

We can safely conclude, therefore, that this misadministration certainly does not have a Cold War Mentality.

As for me, guilty as charged. I am proud to have a Cold War Mentality.

40 comments:

  1. If even one of those offering CWM as a pejorative actually knew anything about the matter it would be impressive. Sadly, these sort only know the words and are completely ignorant of the meaning or facts in the terms.

    Essentially all the words used by these fools are Pavlovian responses that get regurgitated on que.

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    1. Well Mr. Mad,
      I wonder if it occurs to any of your critics that if there had not been you and other CWMers, they would not be here to to spout stupid things about you and have the freedom to be silly destructive morons. Of coarse that is stating the blazing obvious, but with these people it can never be said enough.
      Oh yes, when these people insult others I really wish they could do it well and at least with some spark of intelligence.

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  2. I too suppose have that CWM "diagnosis" albeit somewhat oh ... nuanced I suppose where the, "giving away our hard-fought victories in Iraq" is concerned.

    Too much to get into on that except perhaps for a link I doubt some ... maybe many would consider "pertinent" except I know from experience - but then I'd humbly submit, ask ourselves where the McCain-Graham Doctrine would've placed us had McCain et al convinced us to do another Libya. Recall

    http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/149429-mccain-calls-for-immediate-no-fly-zone-over-libya

    Of course that would mean taking the time to actually read it (six minutes tops):

    http://warontherocks.com/2014/01/its-an-anbar-thing-not-an-aq-or-u-s-thing/

    Where the ME is concerned - and Africa for the most part - other than ensuring navigable trade-routes, guarantees for the sole model we recognize as a Democracy - heck I say, feed the rest cake. If that.

    Unless perhaps, any of that region's "allies" are gonna be making US arms purchases with their own money.

    Arkie

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  3. This Cold War sub-guy finds the CWM even more relevant today. The former head of the KGB running Russia (and rings around our current State Dept)? The lunatics in NorK offing his untouchable uncle? China rising and building an open ocean navy designed to control the Sea Lanes Of Communication? AQ running rampant in every territory Obama abandons? Europe falling farther into financial paralysis? Drug Cartels operating with impunity on our southern border?
    Yeah, me and my CWM.

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    1. paul vincent zecchinoJanuary 9, 2014 at 6:01 PM

      Agree. A Cold War mentality is a fine asset. So the soviet experiment 'collapsed' twenty something years ago.

      Our friends think as do we, proud owners of a Cold War mentality.

      History has proven that if anything, Senator McCarthy had a gift for understatement.

      People are infected with communist thinking today and they don't even know it.

      This is why the Medical Model comes in handy in identifying commies as spriochetes. As with syphilis, the spirochetes of communist ideation corkscrew deeply into the human psyche, infecting every element of the body politic.

      Sooner than later critical thinking extinguishes, to be replaced by emotionalism and the habitual repeating of insipid commie slogans.


      They've done their work well. Yet in their worst of nightmares, these bugs never imagined something completely beyond their control, the Net, would allow citizens to bypass media propaganda to get at the truth.

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    2. Hey, I've got a Cold War mentality, too. I sat down and ate and drank with Communist officials in China; got to see corvee used in public works including child labor (just little peasant girls of twelve, no matter); saw egregious human rights violations and dutifully reported back to my masters in Washington--and saw the Clinton admin and the Congress of the time give permanent MFN status to Communist China.

      Also, as someone raised with Social Democratic ideals, I long ago reached the conclusion that civil liberties won't stand a chance when everyone has the same landlord, employer, and now, physician. When I was a schoolkid, I heard Americans being so impressed that "independent" Marxists (something like an independent colony) had left East Germany for the Bundesrepublik. Well, we later saw what kind of New Left follies those creeps produced.

      We need to strive for the day when whenever someone mentions Marx, he hears, 'Do you mean Groucho, Harpo, or Chico?"

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  4. Bugger me. I wondered what it was I had. Now I know - a Cold War Mentality.

    Progressive little twerps can "insult" all they like. Often the insult gets worn as a badge of hounour - for example in WW1 the Germans called the BEF of 1914 a "Contemptible Little Army" and they wore it with pride until they all died out. In WW2 the defenders of Tobruk were labelled the "Rats of Tobruk" and the survivors wear it to this day.

    Dip you may be the leader in a new group with an appropriate label, CWM. Perhaps the logo could be a hammer and sickle with a red diagonal line through them. What ever transpires wear it with pride.

    Incidentally my maternal grand father was a Sergeant in Sir John Monash's Army and thought the sun shone out of him as did his comrades - all now obviously long gone to God.

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    1. The more I read about Monash, the more impressive he is. No wonder the American troops wanted to serve under him.

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    2. Indeed a fascinating man.

      He is attributed with conducting the first ever offensive combining artillery, armour, infantry and air power and his planning for the battles of Messines, Broodseinde Ridge, Hamel [the combined arms battle] and Second Amiens is compulsory study for all young officers [or it used to be - must ask my son, a Colonel, if it is still so].

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  5. I've been accused of being many things, but I hope to... no, rather... I aspire to be accused of having a CWM.
    Some day...
    - reader #1482

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  6. a6z
    " where there are cows there is cow excrement" that's why cowboys stay on their mounts until the work is done.

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  7. Nicely put. Btw: have you read Diana West's "American Betrayal"?

    Also, I've linked back to you here: http://consul-at-arms2.blogspot.com/2014/01/if-you-read-only-one-thing-today-let-it.html

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  8. Your last couple of years at State must have been a real laugh riot!

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  9. Where there are cows there are rib eye steaks. A ranch is simply many cows standing around uncooked.

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  10. A CWM. Heck, I grew up with one. And it's not like those values suddenly should have gone away when most of the American political establishment (if not the public) took a vacation from history from 1990 onward.

    There was so much waxing eloquent about how it was a new era...then all those old problems came to the forefront (the Balkans) and suddenly that sneaky CWM popped up again---though the left fought it tooth and nail.

    Have seen the West book--some of her conclusions about WW2 strategy are pretty whacky, to say the least, though her broader arguments about the post-war period are better grounded.

    There are excellent military reasons why we didn't do D-Day in Yugoslavia or try to "rescue MacArthur" that have nothing to do with communist subversion.

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    1. Normandy not so much but I tend to think Churchill had a point about putting Dragoon ashore somewhere in the vicinity of Greece/Yugoslavia and forestalling as much as possible Soviet occupation of eastern europe.rather than the sidetrip through the Riviera.

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    2. Having a CWM is the best way to prevent the next one. Community Organizers are not equipped to understand how easy it can be to turn a struggling country like Ukraine from the route to freedom to a client of Russia. Also, a religious war like militant Islam is waging against the West has similar traits to the CW...fanatical beliefs, willing to win at any cost and prepared to fight for decades are facts too hard to face for the uninformed Lefty. We will pay dearly.

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  11. ....and then we have the current MISadministration of Ozymandias-on-the-Potomac, whose foreign (and domestic) policy could be abbreviated as RTM ---

    Room Temperature Mentality

    D.O.A.

    Well put, says this USAF vet and his USN vet wife.

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  12. Diplomad? Fellow Readers?

    A fellow Arkansanesian alerts me to an alarming post - of a mere 45 words - so alarming I thought, it might be best I help spread the word:

    http://www.areawidenews.com/blogs/1215/entry/56601/

    Ark

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  13. While getting my MA in Russian Studies in the mid 90's, I was told by a Colonel at a gathering at Leavenworth, that I, at the age of 25, was a "Gawdamned Cold War Dinosaur" heading for extinction. One of my favorite stories.

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  14. I'm with Reagan on the CW, we won, they lost. And now professor Ditherton Wiggleroom* is busily handing it all back just as fast as he can.


    *via Vodkapundit

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  15. I thought you might find this story interesting sir.

    http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/06/utah-gunmaker-turns-down-15m-from-pakistan/

    leaperman

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  16. Obama's continuing betrayal of the coalition's military victory in Iraq is borderline sinful. His failure, deliberate I believe, to secure a status of forces agreement there has effectively cost us all a hard won win and a fairly stable ally. When all the "correct people" in Washington pronounced the Iraq war lost or unwinnable in 2006, GW Bush responded with the right general with the right plan and ultimately committed his greatest sin-- he turned a loss into a victory thereby humiliating the "correct people".

    For the sake of the Progressive psyche, Iraq must be lost by any means necessary and any betrayal will do. I believe Afghanistan will go the same way. Progressivism and its delicate mental state need it.

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    1. There's already a SOFA in place. But I'd personally prefer US Forces not having to operate in compliance with Article 3.

      http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/122074.pdf

      Ark

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    2. Using my favorite search engine I see doesn't get me to that old 2008 State link. Here's the text of Article 3:

      "Article 3
      Laws
      1. While conducting military operations pursuant to this Agreement, it is the duty of members of the United States Forces and of the civilian component to respect Iraqi laws, customs, traditions, and conventions and to refrain from any activities that are inconsistent with the letter and spirit of this Agreement. It is the duty of the United States to take all necessary measures for this purpose."

      Perhaps it might be noted the US has had a SOFA with Japan for quite awhile and it's pretty easy to find some few US Servicepersons doing time in Japanese prisons owing to being subject to Japanese legal system jurisdiction.

      That sort of precedent is what gives me the heebie jeebies - having US personnel under the jurisdiction of a Shari'a-based system.

      Ark

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  17. "Where there are cows there are rib eye steaks."

    Tell it to Argentina.

    "A ranch is simply many cows standing around uncooked" in a field of crap. How appetizing.

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  18. Back to CWM: I am starting a club. Interest shown by a number of people. http://yourfreedomandours.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/we-who-have-cwm.html

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  19. paul vincent zecchinoJanuary 9, 2014 at 9:22 PM

    I'm in. Put me down for the CWM. About same age as Dip. Grew up listening to R. Moscow on the Zenith Transoceanic, tube model. Then progressed to HF/SSB mil comms in high school. Made a business out of rehabbing R-390s during the 80s.

    Providence, RI hometown, Brown University crawling with commies, the late 60s/early 70s, once one knows the beast & its patterns one knows it forever.

    Put my lifelong friend, Steve in Mississipoil, retires Army Aviator, down as having CWM as well.

    As Lt. Roark said in "Act of Valor", 'there's threats everywhere and the world is draped in camouflage'.

    That's the Cold War Mentality defined, isn't it?

    Only a compleat dope would buy the BS that we can all get cozy with rattlesnakes, lay down our arms, and eat Happy Soup forever and ever.

    Give me danger & paranoia anyday.

    Having experienced the butt end of a multi-million dollar lifelong estate grift which involved the commission of capital crimes, it's a point of honor to say that paranoia is my business as well as a cherished avocation.

    Among my many failings in life, chief among them is that I've not been paranoid enough.

    It's amazing what goes on under the blanket, the sub rosa relentless subversions of the demi monde and the communist rats - think the opening scene in "Blue Velvet" as the fire truck passes the beautiful cottage as the camera pans down deep into the grass to reveal the dark insects preying on one another.

    McCarthy was not only right, he was a master of understatement. Dig six feet, you find a stiff. Dig six, you find nine. Dig twelve, you find fifty.


    "You've seen the mansion of Man's achievements, now may I show you the basement?" - S. Freud, M.D.

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  20. Dip, when someone says that you have a Cold War mentality, remind them that our side won the Cold War.

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  21. I used to listen to Radio Havana, and VOA on short wave. I was 12, but I knew propaganda when I heard it.

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  22. "remind them that our side won the Cold War. "
    I beg to differ, we have had a marxist in the white house for the past 5, almost 6 years.......

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  23. (sigh) City People.

    You don't eat the cow below the ankles. Feel better now?

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  24. Open immigration is an abomination on any grounds.

    Bravo for your CWM!

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