Just Thinking

Several generations have passed since George Orwell wrote "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "Animal Farm", but in real life we are nearer now to the situations described in those books than at any time since he wrote them. The person acting as the Minister of Truth is none other than George Walker Bush.

Busch sprechen

According to Dubbya, the USA is installing a "missile shield" in Eastern Europe. According to dictionaries, a shield is "a protection used to block attacks", "a device or part that serves as a protective cover or barrier". So one might expect that a missile shield would be something that can absorb missiles. But not in Busch sprechen, where it actually means missiles themselves. There appears to be a little bit of confusion between a weapon and a shield.

The one in his left hand is the shield Mr President. The other one is called a weapon. The left hand is the one holding the big shield shaped thingy. The right hand is the one swinging the big sword shaped thingy. Hope that is clear to you now Mr President.

As far back as 2001 the BBC reported "Bush to push for missile shield".

"United States President George W Bush is expected to outline his vision of a national missile defence (NMD) programme on Tuesday.

Following conversations with allies, he is likely to argue that the US cannot be bound by the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that bans such systems."

Other countries have argued that this will lead to a new arms race, but Bush seems quite happy with that. Indeed that may be the very job that he is being paid large sums to do if one is to believe Michael Moore.

"We will deploy defences as soon as possible. Therefore, we believe that the ABM treaty will have to be replaced, eliminated or changed in a fundamental way," US defence official Lucas Fischer said last week. Of course the word defences actually means weapons of attack.

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When BBC News reported that "Amnesty accuses US over 'torture'" stating that "In a 300-page annual report, the group accused the US government of damaging human rights with its attitude to torture and treatment of detainees" Busch sprechen "Bush says Amnesty report 'absurd'".

"I'm aware of the Amnesty International report and it's absurd, it's an absurd allegation," the president said during a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House. Mr Bush said that accusations against Americans were "fully investigated in a transparent way".

Yes Mr President, a very transparent way. We can all see right through them. Why Mr President is it absurd for your country to apply the same standards of rights to people from other countries that you ask for your citizens? Methinks that you do not know the meaning of absurd.

If you were a Russian Mr President, how would you feel if in your lifetime you had seen a war-mongering foreign power attack, occupy and threaten many countries around your borders? USA has forces on South Korea, it threatens North Korea with attacks on a monthly basis. USA has forces in Turkey, Kuwait and other countries in the region. USA has occupied Afghanistan and Iraq, it threatens Iran and other neighbours with attack regularly. USA is now putting missiles in Eastern European states that were formerly part of the Soviet block. What would America';s reaction be if Russia were to do any of these things in USA's neighbours?

We do not have to speculate as we have experience of that. On one occasion Cuba was installing Russian missiles and the USA threatened to bomb them in retaliation leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Do not forget that that this situation arose because of the USA attempt to invade Cuba in the Bay of Pigs Invasion and so Cuba had every justification in fearing the USA.

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But George Bush states "We are a peaceful people", although that was in a speech where he was threatening to attack Iraq under a set of excuses that he knew at the time to be lies. Yes Mr President, your destruction of the language which we used to call English is now almost complete.