Losing our place as Numero Uno in the real world means we're more vulnerable to attack from all those people who hate us and who are taking the world away from us. Can you hear our teeth gnashing?
"U.S. government officials and private analysts say the economic turmoil has heightened the short-term risk of a terrorist attack, as radical groups probe for weakening border protections and new gaps in defenses. A protracted financial crisis could threaten the survival of friendly regimes from Pakistan to the Middle East while forcing Western nations to cut spending on defense, intelligence and foreign aid, the sources said.
"The crisis could also accelerate the shift to a more Asia-centric globe, as rising powers such as China gain more leverage over international financial institutions and greater influence in world capitals."
Once again, the nasty truth. We have a defense industry, nurtured by a corrupt Defense Department which is more about making war -- and making war enormously profitable -- than about making sure we have good enough defenses to take us through hard times. Once again, the glaring absence of planning in "central right" America weakens us.
The threat lies not with random Muslim fanatics but with a decades of political leadership which has encouraged our "defenders" to get profitably obese and unwieldy rather than lean, mean, and healthy. We've learned during the eight years of the Bush administration is that there's no Plan A, much less a Plan B. Why plan? If our military can't do it, call in Blackwater, a political ally.
The relationship between political administration and actual governance has been entirely about predatory greed. Here we go again.
