Sword and Spirit to Save the World
Maduro, well, it was like a Western, you need a strong, silent type to go in and take out the bad guy without excessive attention to due process. Then the dust settles, and the peaceful idyll of the pioneers can resume.
It remains unclear whether President Trump found a deal maker who is also a peacemaker in Caracas, one who will stop the illegal drug traffic that kills Americans North and South, but the fact they are still blasting speed boats out of the water without what you might call due process (but all’s fair in international waters, right) is kind of worrisome so let’s hope they were not ordinary unarmed poor fishermen, and anyway who is going to ever know?
Well, still, you can say that war is war and Maduro, the fiend, started it, and you can’t blame the Lone Stranger, or the cavalry, or the sheriff, or the Hemispheric policeman, if there is collateral damage on the way to a safer, better, richer Venezuela. From which we’ll surely all benefit, not only at the pump.
Khamenei now, that was a longstanding evil thug, imagine what, armed with nukes, he would do, or rather try to figure what he wouldn’t do by way of destruction and mass murder, so, no question, it was another case for the man with the big iron on his hip (if you catch the Marty Robbins reference). No, you can’t argue with that, except maybe it is a bit odd to send forth the message that the cavalry’s on the way and suddenly warn the people — the captive people — their entire thousands of years of ancestors and music is going up in smoke because Khamenei Junior and the others in that gang still haven’t heard the news. (RELATED: A Mad Defense of Madness)
But, again, you can say it will work out because negotiations, deals, stand-offs, give it some time, and in any case, jawing is better than warring, as Churchill, who knew something of the latter, pointed out more than once; then, too maybe you have to have been in uniform to know the difference between talking and shooting. (RELATED: It May Not Be a Ceasefire. It Might Be a Strategic Pause.)
So far, so-so. But pick a fight with Leo XIV? Going after him is an own-goal. One in five Americans, a billion and a half on the planet, 300 million in Africa, where Leo happens to be traveling this week, and now you’re saying mean things about him?
Sword and spirit, might it possibly have occurred to anyone in the presidential entourage that now’s the chance to strike a mighty blow for Western Civ, which, after all’s said and done, and with all due caveats, is founded on Greco-Judeo-Christian foundations? Principles? Codes of behavior, honor, justice, courtesy?
So what if Leo is against war? Good Lord, man, he’s right to be against war! He’s right to call for brotherhood and peace, as he is doing in Algiers even as these lines are written, which some people who went to school actually remember is on what once was called the Coast of Barbary where the United Navy States boldly brought, however briefly, hope and glory and the hand of friendship (with guns on the deck and Marines ready to hit the beach, just to underscore the point, peace though strength, you know?) And returned 140 years later with a great army of liberation to begin the reconquest of the old world. They remember that, even if some speechwriters in the White House do not. We should evoke it. We should be in harmony with Leo. Evoke freedom. Evoke freedom of religion. (RELATED: On Presidents, Popes, and the Parlous State of International Affairs These Days)
Sure, you can criticize Leo for being maybe a little muted in his comments on how the current masters of Algiers are treating Christians (Catholics and Protestants both), not to mention Greeks and Jews, but hey, interfaith deals aren’t made in a day, any more than are deals between Yankees and Shiite Persians. Anyway, that is not what Mr. Trump criticized him for. He did not say, Leo old boy, you ought to speak up for Christians and Jews in Algeria since you and those A-rab boys are interfaith. No, he lost his temper because the pope said nuking Persia back to the Stone Age — very unflattering to the cavemen (our ancestors), by the way — might be worth a second thought. Which, mind, the prez did think.
But did he think that a fit of temper directed at Leo might be inopportune just when Leo had a chance to tell the Bey of Algiers that beating up on Christians is a no-no. Maybe he did convey the message: after all, they’re his flock. But it got drowned out by the prez vs. the pope. Didn’t make CNN. Or Fox News either, though at least they showed he’s out there.
Well, let it pass. Forward, ho, as John Wayne says in Fort Apache, let’s get on with it. Leo is still in Africa. Donald is still in Florida, unless he is in Washington. Why don’t they agree to meet in … the Azores? Sort of halfway for each, and in the manner of Henry and Gregory at Canossa, Donald could fly in on a C-130 (they are unheated), and Leo could fly economy on Icelandic Air, a model of penance on both sides. They could meet in the officers’ mess at the base the USAF maintains there, if they stand on ceremony, or eat with the EMs, and talk things over.
“You know, my son, I know the job is stressful, but you do go over the top at times.”
“Well, father, it’s not personal, and how else can I get these losers’ attention?”
“Maybe on this quiet island, away from all the noise, we could discuss that very question. Or just enjoy the scene? the vast ocean? the great outer space that I’d like to visit next time you send a craft up there… by the way, how about a little exercise, do you good.”
As a matter of fact, there’s a tennis court at that base, and yes, a lesson and workout might be just the ticket. I’ll pay my own way there, though normally that is covered in my fee; this time, for the sake of amity… I’ll slip a word to one of the president’s aides and see if they are still taking applications for DWHTC. Lotta folks in Washington know I’d be a good fit in that job.
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On Presidents, Popes, and the Parlous State of International Affairs These Days