The always reliable Claudia Rosett (who decapitated the Saddam/UN/France/China “Oil for Food” scam) examines the latest tyrant scam. Excerpt:
… With regime change off the table, and President Obama dishing out “mutual respect” faster than the rulers of Tehran, Tripoli, Pyongyang or Caracas can spit their contempt right back in his face, tyrants are becoming ever more weirdly trendy. They are globalized, in our face, on the Web, on television–and as New York braces for the September opening of the United Nations General Assembly, some of them, with considerable ceremony, are coming to town.
<snip>
But however enlightened the world around many of us may appear, this is happening now. The social circuit for this crew is also a conduit for deals, alliances and a kind of gangland solidarity that makes it ever more difficult to shut any one of them down.
These are celebrities who answer to no law and no electorates. They are increasingly in the business of eroding rules of conduct that are vital to any civilized world order. They are riding much too high these days, and while it may be human nature to watch them with interest, it would be folly to forget for even a moment that all that glitter, wealth and showmanship–from Bedouin tent to designer shoes to creamy stationery–comes from the barrel of a gun.
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