Grand illusion

Give ’em a happy ending every time

Take our president and tweeter-in-chief’s word for it, if you can. He’s had a long and heartening conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin who, it turns out, is no longer to be feared but favored. You heard right: This country’s Fighting Russian Allies are back. Between this country and the Bear that Walks Like a Man, there is now to be a new and lasting era of Mir y Druzhba, peace and friendship, for ever and ever. It’s not a brutal world of unpredictable dangers out there but a fairy tale sure to come true. Tell us another one.

Around the world these two leaders went, divvying up spheres of influence and ignoring any elephant in the room like still Communist China, which just might have something to say about their neat arrangement. According to President Trump, he and his buddy Vlad the (newly) Lovable have spoken “very strongly about bringing peace to Syria” and just as strongly about North Korea and the clear and present danger it presents to world peace.

What about other danger spots like Iran and Ukraine? Fuhgeddabout ‘em. That’s all been taken care of. Ask them no questions and they’ll tell you no lies. Our new friend Vlad, if we may take the liberty of referring to him on a first-name basis, has already played host to wobbly Syrian dictator Bashar al- Assad at Sochi-by-the-Black-Sea. This historical re-enactment would have been complete if it had taken place at Yalta, where Comrade Stalin suckered a sickly Franklin Roosevelt while Winston Churchill could only stand by and growl.

American diplomats have backed away from taking any action against Syria’s murderous dictator, at least for now, leaving Iran and Russia to handle his defense while our sometime ally Turkey backs the freedom fighters in that contest, which is sure To Be Continued.

Meanwhile the happy talk from Moscow proceeds as Vladimir Putin promises that his military operation in Syria is really “coming to an end,” honest to goodness and fingers crossed. Not since the Second World War, the natural result of the grand illusion that free nations could do business with the aggressors of the moment, has the future been seen through such rosy-colored spectacles. Even as, behind the scenes, the natives grew restless waiting for the next world-shaking eruption to come.

Leave it to Marcus Aurelius, emperor and stoic, to raise a couple of caveats when presented with such a fairy-tale version of unfolding events in the news.

First, the emperor suggested that each of us ask ourselves: Why is this man or woman saying these things? What ulterior motives might he be harboring? What does he have to gain by voicing so optimistic a view? The adulation of the unthinking crowd? Or maybe just re-election by popular demand. Or perhaps just the plaudits of would-be historians who would try to rush Clio, the muse of history, to misjudgment.

Second, the emperor suggested that each of us put the same skeptical questions to ourselves, and examine our own motives. For behind this latest grand illusion there may still lurk the same old human struggle for pelf and power. So before the world ties a bright ribbon around this pretty package, it would be only prudent to listen carefully to the ticking sound coming from inside it.

Upcoming Events