Strangers on the Peace Train
Strange but true, Charles Koch and George Soros team up to end "forever wars"
Strangers on a Peace Train first appeared in the 2019 Sturbridge Times Town & Country Living Magazine. In it we examined the plutocrat peace team of Soros and Koch.
Their creation, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft has so far acted more responsibly than other other think tanks, which is not a high bar. We hope it continues so under the leadership of Andrew Bacevich.
Strangers on the Peace Train
The American public loves superhero movies. The genre garners big box office here and abroad. Up on Long Hill, we are not addicts.
That may be due to advanced age. Before the constant release of new and bigger productions, back in the day, I was a reader of Superman and Batman comics. My addiction did not last long, by the end of the seventh grade, it was over. The stories seemed basically the same with only an occasional deviation in plot.
There was always a villain. The authors came up with many new ones, but often, old ne'er do wells would reappear. The two worst bogeymen were Lex Luthor who would go toe to toe with Superman and the Joker who bedeviled the caped crusader.
Every now and then, the bad guys would turn good for an issue, but it never worked out. The reform was either feigned or too much against type to sustain. Superman and Batman would overcome their natural suspicion for most of the story, but realize it was not true before losing a superpower or something.
What if Lex and the Joker saw the light and decided to work together for the good of humanity rather than its destruction? That might sell a few extra comic books. Recently, something analogous did happen in the real world.
Stephen Kinzer reported in the Boston Globe on June 30, that two famous or we might say infamous men joined forces to clean up Metropolis and Gotham. Actually, that is not it at all. They are taking on a task far more difficult than Superman and Batman ever attempted.
The headline says it all: "In an astonishing turn, George Soros and Charles Koch team up to end US ‘forever war’ policy."
Soros is unbeloved by ideologues on the right and Charles Koch, is seen as evil by the multitude à gauche. Needless to say, many would be doubly skeptical if they became a tag team.
Yet the stated goal, to end the forever wars we are engaged in does not seem an unreasonable quest for what is to be called the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Being a think tank, it will be located in D.C. and not in the city of that name, just south of Boston. So, why Quincy?
John Quincy Adams was our sixth president. He had been one of the delegation to negotiate an end to the War of 1812. President Obama called Iraq a "dumb war." 1812 was even dumber. We went into it unprepared and almost lost our freedom. The resulting agreement was status quo ante bellum, that is, everything would go back to the way it was before the war. A waste of time and lives, we got an anthem out of it.
Adams learned well from the folly of 1812. On July 4, 1821, while serving as secretary of state, He addressed Congress regarding our foreign policy. The most oft quoted words are:
"Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend the general cause, by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example."
If such a policy can be considered wise, then, in comparison, foreign affairs as conducted in this administration and the last several can only be described as foolish. The name Quincy Institute pays homage to John Q's middle name.
According to its website, "The Quincy Institute promotes ideas that move U.S. foreign policy away from endless war and toward vigorous diplomacy in the pursuit of international peace." A couple of plutocrats backing such a sentiment is a breath of fresh air and a shock.
Reaction to the new think tank has ranged from highly skeptical to cautiously optimistic.
As would be expected, the anti-sentiment was expressed by the man who exemplifies neocon buffoonery. Bill Kristol tweeted out "75 years of a US-led liberal international order, based on a US forward presence and backed by US might, with regional and bilateral alliances and relatively free trade, has enabled remarkable peace and prosperity. But let’s go back to the 1920’s and 30’s!"
That "remarkable peace" included the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Two Gulf wars, the Afghan War and side shows such as Panama and Grenada. The bombing of Serbia was in there somewhere. Two wars are ongoing and we have troops uninvited in a sovereign country (Syria) doing something murky. Our fingerprints are on the mess that is Libya.
Criticism from Bill is an endorsement for sane people.
Among those expressing hope is Scott Horton, editorial director at antiwar.com. On July 16, he wrote an article with the title, "2¾ Cheers for the New Quincy Institute." He does like the idea, but is not selling his soul, yet. The staff as proposed are all with records of opposing needless interventions, so there is hope.
Others in the anti-intervention camp have expressed support, but there is dissent. Caitlin Johnstone describes herself as a rogue journalist and she is not without controversy. Johnstone has a litany of sins both men have committed. The Kochs are major donors to the American Enterprise Institute and Soros is a big funder of the Atlantic Council so both support neocon entities.
She is suspicious of the form of organization they propose:
"The term “think tank” almost always refers to a group of academics hired by plutocrats to come up with reasons why it is very good and smart to do something very evil and stupid, and then to market those reasons at key points of influence. They are key tools of narrative management for the billionaire class, and the interests of the billionaire class are rarely in alignment with those of ordinary people. This is especially true when said billionaires are operating in a bipartisan manner."
Hard to argue with.
Soros has had a hand in funding the color revolutions that plagued Eastern Europe and took advantage of currency mismanagement to profiteer. He has said, "I am basically there to make money. I cannot and do not look at the social consequences of what I do."
The Kochs have made money in US wars, though they profess libertarian sentiment against them.
Why would Soros and Charles Koch choose now?
The foreign incursions are not working out well. They are a waste of human life and resources. We are long past the point of diminishing returns if there were ever any at all. The economist Herb Stein came up with Stein's Law: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” Soros and Koch might be smart enough to see that the result of the aforementioned law will affect everyone including the one percent. Either we stop the wars or they stop us, all of us.