But wise people know better. William R. Hawkins, writing in FrontPage Magazine, is a wise man:
Daniel Singer, the late European correspondent for The Nation, was among those on the Left who look to foreign powers for help in thwarting policies of their countries of which they disapprove. In the October 14, 1991 issue of The Nation, Singer lamented the fall of the Soviet Union, "The tanks that brought the Stalinist regime up to the Elbe were the same tanks that had liberated that part of Europe from the Nazis. Even more recently, while infecting all countries that entered its orbit with bureaucratic inefficiency, the Soviet Union was also the only potential external obstacle to the expansion of American imperialism."
Today, the Left is looking for a new champion to "contain" the United States, and, if possible, impose such a major defeat on America that a crisis of legitimacy will pave the way for revolution. It was, after all, Russia’s debacle in World War I that brought down the Romanov dynasty. And aging New Leftists still revel in how much the anti-war movement during Vietnam changed America, even if the desire to “turn the guns around” and "bring the war home" did not pan out. The attempt to recreate the 1970s mood of national decline by reviving a mass post-9/11 anti-war movement has fallen flat because Islamic fanaticism is a tough sell, even when dressed up in the rhetoric about Third World resistance to Western aggression. Islam has some charm, in that it has long been the main enemy of Christendom, but leftists are rooted in the atheistic materialism of Marx which rejects all religions.
Terrorism, of course, appeals to the romantic nature of the Left. But even they know that al-Qaeda is far too weak to pose a real global threat to U.S. hegemony. What they want is the rise of a new superpower to replace the USSR, and many seem to have found it in the People’s Republic of China. Beijing may not be as attractive as it was during the reign of Chairman Mao, when his "little red book" was all the rage, but China is still ruled by a Communist dictatorship and its "market socialism" and five year plans can still offer the "alternative model of development" that Singer called for in 1989 as the Soviet model disappeared in Europe.
With that in mind, although it appears not to be an official visit, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is in Shanghai today.
As I've noted before, Iran appears to be cozying up to enemies of the United States, forming a group I've called, in a tip-of-the-hat to kids show Jimmy Neutron, The League of Villains.
Related posts: This can't be good...Sudanese president in Iran
League of Villains update: Senior Iranian and Cuban meet
Technorati tags: Iran خبر زنان China PRC Leftists Ahmadinejad
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