Axis of something
by Scoop Shachtman, 23 September 2007
George Bush has been heavily criticized for his Axis of Evil speech in 2002:
States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger.
He named Iran, North Korea and Baathist Iraq directly. Despite the continuing terrorist activity in Iraq ,and the perilous state of any hopes for democracy, there is no longer a potential military threat in terms of future development of nuclear, chemical or biological weaponry that could threaten its neighbours, or Western states. The real weapon of mass destruction, Saddam Hussain and his Baath party, is no more.
Iran continues to develop nuclear weapons, and seems set to obtain them if left unopposed. A not unsurprising outcome given the head of the IAEA thinks his job is to “keep the peace” between Iran and the US, rather focusing on his job to police nuclear proliferation effectively. Still, even he has limits.
Meanwhile the North Koreans appear to be shipping nuclear material to Baathist Syria and Iranian technicians were killed in an accident involving an airburst chemical warhead (including VX and Sarin nerve agents and mustard blister agent)) that they were attempting to place on a Scud Missile in Syria.
Some will automatically dismiss all of these reports as propaganda, after all didn’t Bush and Blair lie about WMD in Iraq? Others will argue that Bush’s Axis of Evil speech created the very problems we are seeing. Neither of these are tenable positions. That WMD was not found in Iraq, does not mean that WMD are not a problem elsewhere. Bush’s rhetoric may make relationships strained, but to suggest that North Korea, Iran and Syria would be playing a more constructive role in the world, but for George Bush strains any rational mind.
There’s an axis of something, what are we going to do about it?
Sunday 23 September 2007 at 13:41
Hitchens used to criticize Bush for including Iran in the list. I haven’t heard him repeat that criticism lately.
Sunday 23 September 2007 at 22:07
Meanwhile in 2005 IAEA ceased inspection of Saudi nuclear facilities in an approved and legal manner.
Sunday 23 September 2007 at 23:28
I’m with Postel:
http://tinyurl.com/3dk9op
Tuesday 25 September 2007 at 4:58
Heh - you have it backward. They’re all EVIL, but there’s no axis there.
The Axis in WWII had shared promises and plans. The Axis of Evil only shares evil interests. Action is appropriate, but the President just loses potential war supporters each time he says something that just doesn’t add up like that.
Tuesday 25 September 2007 at 12:20
Yeah, the Germans and Japanese had been so tight before WWII, and had so much in common. Best buds, really.
Progressives just loses potential anti-Bush supporters each time they say something that just doesn’t add up like that.
Tuesday 25 September 2007 at 13:12
“Meanwhile the North Koreans appear to be shipping nuclear material to Baathist Syria and Iranian technicians were killed in an accident involving an airburst chemical warhead (including VX and Sarin nerve agents and mustard blister agent)) that they were attempting to place on a Scud Missile in Syria.”
So what part of the definition of the word “Axis” is giving you trouble, anyway?
Tuesday 25 September 2007 at 14:04
Assistant Village Idiot said…
…..”Best Buds, really”
It is very risky for liberals to make statements about history, because their education is not up to the task.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/HMASSydney/HMASSydney-1.html
Image1.jpg
As early as September 1940, Adolph Hitler had a meeting with the Italian representative Ciano and the Japanese Ambassador M.Kurusu. Japan was now under the new government of Prince Konoye who promised “new life” and “new order” to his people, in much the same way that Hitler had promised a “new Germany”. Between them, they made a pact, an alliance that would bond them together in any conflict against the United States and her allies. Proof now that America was to become a target. Included in this pact, known as the Tripartite Pact was the following clauses” …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_Powers
The three major Axis powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact on September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers. At their zenith, the Axis powers ruled empires that dominated large parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Ocean,
Tuesday 25 September 2007 at 16:53
> Meanwhile the North Koreans appear to be shipping nuclear material . . . So what part of the definition of the word “Axis” is giving you trouble, anyway?
That’s what they call globalization, friend. Somebody wants weapons, and somebody else wants cash. Desperately, in North Korea’s case.
Where are their formal treaties? Where are their JOINT plans to take over major turf or the world? Where are their promises to all declare war if one goes to war (sure didn’t see THAT in Iraq…)? What kind of government do they share? How does Kim Jong Il even begin to see the world like Hussein or Iran, beyond shared anti-Americanism?
If just making deals with evil partners is enough to put you in an axis of evil, then why don’t we need to take military action against Google, IBM, and Yahoo?
Tuesday 25 September 2007 at 17:11
Er, no dimwit, because google don’t do evil, and Yahoo haven’t threatened to wipe out a nation state.
So to recap your argument, even if the North Koreas and Iranians are arming Syria with non-conventional weapons the fact there isn’t a bit of paper doesn’t make it an axis?
A bit like saying if two single people are caught having sex, then it can’t be classified as sex because they weren’t married.
Jon,
can you think of a reason why the North Koreans and Iranians are not waving bits of paper about saying “Look, we have a formal treaty to do this!”?
Try really hard. Go on.
Wednesday 26 September 2007 at 6:06
> Er, no dimwit, because google don’t do evil, and Yahoo haven’t threatened to wipe out a nation state.
…Exactly. We aren’t bringing out the military for evil transactions, but for what each of the parties does separately. That is, we’re confronting the Axis of Evil not because of the nuclear trade, but because of the threats these countries individually offer. They’re all EVIL, separately.
> the fact there isn’t a bit of paper doesn’t make it an axis?
The WWII Axis used said pieces of paper as deliberate intimidation; the pieces of paper showed it could be a threat to the defensive alliance of nations they knew they’d face. When Bush used the term “Axis,” he was clearly trying to invoke the picture of the WWII Axis. But the WWII Axis was a different kind of threat, and thus I and many others thought it was a misfire. See the other questions in that same para, which you haven’t answered yet.
Oh, and the above-mentioned Axis pact was preceded by the Anti-Comintern Pact, which just happened to include, well, exactly Germany, Japan, and Italy. It came before hte war.
Lest you misunderstand my position, let me note that I was and remain an Iraq hawk, ad approve of the recent Israeli action in Syria.