On the Other Hand...

not all of the apparatchiks of the Bush administration are without ego. R. Nicholas Burns can be counted on to function as the official liar of the White House. He is a champion at disinformation presented with a winning smile. He is also proof that there is in fact a permanent government, since Burns served as ambassador to Greece.

When Israel was bombing the hell out of Gaza and then invaded Lebanon, it was little Nickie's role to repeat as many times as he could in as many media venues as would have him, "Hezbollah started it." This is the dark side with a smiley face label.

Although he has supposedly resigned from public service roles which essentially had him looking for ways to antagonize reason in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, he has surfaced to go on the record in support of Kosovan independence. This should be rich. If anyone wants to know what is really going on in that section of the world, read Chalmers Johnson. In his work, he alludes to the fact that the military base in Kosovo (a five star accomodation for our fighting men and women) is in a class with the Great Wall of China for the ease with which one can spot it from outer space.

Even Jeffrey Sachs' "shock treatment," it appears, was not enough to entirely subdue the Russians, so now we will really teach them a lesson. We have more sabers rattling through the air right now than a performer at the Peking Opera. Missiles in Belarus and the Ukraine, Kosovan independence, shooting down errant satellites. Prod the Russians enough, and who knows, we could get a real war going.