Two Skits of George W. Bush

Conditions under which North Korea was added to the notorious “axis of evil” a year ago resembled an untalented skit. Karen Hughes, then presidential aide for public relations cold have highly likely mentioned not Pyongyang, but Bhutan or Pakistan among the countries included into the “axis of evil.” In fact, it made no difference for George W. Bush which country to bomb and to curse before the Congress; he just wanted a war to be permanent. As it turned later, Pyongyang was rather inconvenient for the USA as a member of the “axis of evil”, as it actually upset Washington’s plans. This is the reason why Karen Hughes, so much devoted to George W. Bush, had to quit the post; however, other PR advisors devoted to the US president invented another “skit” in a year: they blamed North Korea for making fake dollars and for drug production. So, the substantiation of the doctrine appeared in a year after the doctrine itself was formed.

Former speech-writer of George W. Bush, David Frum explained the president’s inclination to misanthropy in his memoirs under the title The Right Man: “Every morning he wakes up with the realization that it is going to be another day without a single jigger.” Due to this book the world learnt about the details of making the “axis of evil.”

As it turns out, by the moment the “axis of evil” appeared, Bush was ready for another (after Afghanistan) mass execution. He asked his speech-writer David Frum to make up a speech to be delivered in the Congress; the speech must reveal a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda. The speech-writer suggested the phrase “axis of hatred”, on the analogy of the Nazis’ “axis” of WWII. At that very moment National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was in the room close to the US president. She said: “Axis sounds good, David, but now Iran is important for us, insert Iran instead of al-Qaeda.” Karen Hughes, in her turn added that in addition to the two elements of the axis, there must be one more member, like the axis of WWII (Berlin – Rome – Tokyo). George W. Bush understood that some third country must be added to the new “axis”, but couldn’t choose which one. Finally, he preferred Pyongyang’s regime.

So, this is the way how the peculiarity of Bush’s speech was composed, as if George W. Bush was inventing a skit. On January 29, 2002 the three countries belonging to the “axis of evil” and picked out for execution were officially announced in the Congress. North Korea was included into the black list as a result of the ill fate, or because of Hughes’ erudition, rather unfavorable for North Korea. If the US public relations advisor had mentioned some other countries instead of North Korea, Kim Jong-il together with South Korea President Kim Dae Jung would have been currently busy with joining of railway and main roads and would be creating a free economic zone in Sinuiju following the Chinese model. George W. Bush himself would have felt much better as well.

In several months, “the nuclear problem of North Korea” arose. It is a paradox: all neighbors (South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and other remote countries as well) ask America and North Korea to become reconciled. At that, America is asked to change the intention to deliver a blow against North Korea and North Korea is asked to give up the nuclear missile programs. The strong USA is ready to say YES, while small North Korea repeats its NO. Isn’t it an absurdity? It is not quite an absurdity, judging by the remark of Madeleine Albright who called the speech of George W. Bush of January 29 a mistake, “as it justifies North Korea’s statements saying about the threat from the USA.” Ex-president of the USA Jimmy Carter said that it would take many years to compensate the damage caused by this statement of President Bush.

There are lots of paradoxes. Here is another one: half of the authors of “the axis of evil” doctrine will have to celebrate the doctrine’s first anniversary outside the White House. Speech-writer Frum resigned in February; the American mass media reported that he had to do so because of his wife’s talkativeness: she published a message on the Internet saying that is was her husband who invented the “axis of evil.” Karen Hughes, so much devoted to George W. Bush, had to quit the post in April. Karen Hughes got involved into the discussion concerning the “axis of evil” a year ago, and consequences of it can be described with the words of a Russian classical writer “We did the best, you see the rest”. She did more harm than good to her idol George W. Bush and resigned without complaints. A journalist asked the advisor in her parting interview: “You were the star in the Washington administration. What will the president do without you?” Karen Hughes’ reply was: “It is the president who is the star.”

Yes, Kim Jong-il is an inconvenient part of the “axis of evil.” From the point of view of the Bush doctrine, it would be OK if Kim Jong-il followed the example of Iran that now doesn’t even dare to say protests against US’s attack at Iraq. However, the North Korean leader doesn’t pretend that nothing extraordinary had happened on January 29 last year. On the contrary, he decided to use his “frozen” trump cards, the nuclear and missile developments in embryo, in order to obtain guarantees of security for the country.

Some of North Korea’s actions may seem funny, for instance, the ban for dollar circulation in the country or some too reckless threats. To tell the truth, humility to the aggressor and attempts to ignore America’s spits in the face look much funnier and certainly sadder. North Korea’s intractability also ruined George W. Bush’s plans concerning Iraq; the US president has to face problems with obtainment of maximal support to a prospective attack at Iraq. Despite the boasts of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld saying that the USA “can wage two wars at the same time”, it’s inconvenient for the USA to start military operations in the Far East at the time when the US troops are concentrated in the Persian Gulf region. America would like to hush up the scandal with North Korea for some time at least. For this very reason the second skit was invented: it was reported that North Korea made fake dollars and produced drugs, but the information had no sufficient evidence. What is more, the information was dated for the visit of Russian special presidential envoy Alexander Losyukov to Pyongyang.

Picture: this is how fates of the nations are decided; from left to right: Condoleezza Rice, David Frum, Karen Hughes and George W. Bush

Andrey Krushinsky PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: https://www.pravda.ru/world/34882-kapustnik/

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