Paul Krugman is a useful weathervane for gauging the dynamics of the most thoughtful currents of elite liberal opinion. So his piece today—one of the most emailed at the Times—illustrates just how devoid of principles he is when it comes to war, regardless of the title of his book and blog: “Conscience of a Liberal.” His “Why We Fight Wars,” published over a week after Obama became the fourth consecutive U.S. president to initiate military action in Iraq, discusses the rationale for wars in ancient Rome, colonial Spain, the 1980s-era Argentine junta, sub-Saharan Africa, Putin’s Russia (where “the headlines from Ukraine [are] getting scarier by the day”), and of course, Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Krugman, an unrelenting critic of the 2003 attack, refused to spend a single word on the Obama administration’s airstrikes, which violate the War Powers Resolution, while his piece pushed stale and hypocritical Cold War rhetoric about Russia (“authoritarian regimes without deep legitimacy are tempted to rattle sabers when they can no longer deliver good performance”). He even engages in shameful Sinophobia, offering up unfounded speculation over possibly bellicose “incentives China’s rulers will face if and when that nation’s economic miracle comes to an end.” Krugman’s tribalistic finger-pointing against other countries and Republican presidents is totally divorced from rank-and-file Democrats’ priorities, as shown, for example, by MoveOn activists’ attempts to rein in executive lawlessness through Congressional action (See #5 j.mp/1pWxtbd). His silence on Iraq even contrasts with most Democrats in the House, who overwhelmingly passed a resolution insisting on Congressional authorization for airstrikes, which Obama ignored. “Starting a war is a very bad idea. But it keeps happening anyway,” concludes Krugman, apparently oblivious to his own complicity in Obama’s new intervention by disregarding it in favor of objecting to historical, current and even hypothetical cases of war around the world. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that Krugman’s piece is another indication that liberal intellectuals are becoming increasingly detached from any meaningful constituencies for their opinions when it comes to foreign affairs.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:54:21 +0000
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