Dick Cheney has recently conducted the annual Edgar J. Hoover Memorial Lecture at the Hoover Institute; a notable think tank renowned, among other things, for its publications on foreign policy.
Cheney’s speech had a rather mixed reception; however, his discussion was certainly provocative. Here is a brief excerpt, entitled:
Stand Firm Against Those Who Defile the Honorable Name of Freedom
The paranoid, belligerent North Korean regime is quite possibly the greatest threat to world peace on earth.
Do not be fooled. Yes, they have one of the largest armies on earth; and rumors persist of underhand dealings in the area of nuclear warfare strategies, and the closely related area illicit of transfer of military technology.
Pyongyang follow the old proverb: they say ‘peace, peace,’ but there is no peace. Their lips are near to freedom, equality and national sovereignty, but their hearts are ever far away.
Far from being defenders of liberty, North Korea are the greatest destabilizing force in the world today. They are not content with their own material resources; rather, they exploit their neighbours close to home, and they cause trouble for those far away in other lands who have done them no harm.
The word ‘freedom,’ from the mouth of a Pyongyang apologist means very little. So also ‘equality,’ ‘democracy,’ ‘prosperity,’ or ‘independence.’ These words do not apply to their neighbours or their adversaries far afield; but only to they themselves.
They are utterly merciless in the enforcement of these great political goods when others violate them; but not so much, when they themselves trample these noble principles under foot.
They howl in outrage when others (in their view) consider themselves exceptional, and fit to disobey these supreme principles of a civilized polity; but they consider themselves, and themselves alone, the supreme exceptions, and the sole true arbiters of the true, the good and the beautiful.
Do not be fooled by the hollow, insincere and hypocritical rhetoric of those who preach ‘freedom’ day and night, but who have never once lifted a finger to practice what they preach. If you see those whose hands are swift to shed blood, do not listen to them. The paranoid, belligerent barracks mentality of these people is refutation enough!
If I got offered a Dick like this, I would keep the change!
Still, tomorrow we’ll see how others are taking what Cheney is gushing, er, dishing out.