NOBEL PRIZE – STUPIDITY — Prof Michael Brenner

Prof Michael Brenner
Professor of International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, USA
Honourary International Advisor, Ground Report India

The genius of civilization, as one sage has told us, is to bring together a mass of flawed individuals to form an intelligent social design marked by sophisticated, self-sustaining institutions. Thereby, the practical communal intelligence far surpasses that of single persons or small groups. The learning that then takes place within those societies raises the overall mental capacity of humankind. So ineluctable does that process seem that we easily overlook, and undervalue the place of stupidity in human affairs – private and public. Stupidity, though, is making a comeback. Indeed, there are growing signs of a pandemic.

So, let’s give stupidity its due. Here are a number of singular examples of the outbreak.  They are selected from a richly abundant pool of idiocies. Listed below are ten that may be taken as a short list of dim-witted actions which qualify for the annual Nobel Prize in dumbness. 

• Joe Biden declares that he is ready to select a Republican as his Vice-Presidential running mate. That seasoned campaign Sarah Palin is available; so, too, Mike Huckerbee and George Pataki.
• Harvard and MIT Presidents collaborating with Jeffrey Epstein after his first conviction – and then lying about it.
• Publication in Sunday Times Magazine of long, featured story ascribing the BOEING 737 MAX problem to pilot error
• Washington’s assassination of Iranian Quds Commander Qassim Suleimani
• Washington’s strategic decision to take steps likely to provoke a region-wide war with Iran
• The United States’ large-scale attacks on bases of Iraqi’s Shi’a militias, the Hashemi, who mobilized to defend the country against the Islamic State (our own justification for being there). That triggered the fierce anti-American protests that, in turn, led to the assassination.
• In Iraq, that sequence jeopardizes Washington’s plans to maintain long-term military facilities in both Iraq and Syria. The supposed justification is retaliation for mortar attacks a few days earlier against an American outpost. However, the facilities struck are hundreds of miles away and no evidence is presented that the Hashemi militia were responsible for the initial hostile acts. Most likely, it is ISIS remnants who are the culpable parties. Those are the same people we allowed to escape from Mosul and Raqqa in order 1)to obstruct the Syrian and Iraqi government efforts to consolidate control of their territories; 2)to provide an excuse for keeping American forces in the region; and 3)to harry the Iranian allies in the hope of provoking an incident that would justify toppling the mullah regime by force – as relentlessly advocated by the Israelis and Saudis. Odds against achieving any of those objectives have shot up as a consequence of this obtuse action. So too the prospects of the Iraqis selecting a Prime MInister less rather than more hostile to the U.S. – and the reverse re. Iran

Doing something dangerous and counter-productive simply because you have no idea of any more sensible action or because it gives you a “kick’ is the distilled essence of Stupid

• The European allies tacit acceptance of Washington’s sanctions war on Iran by refusing to take measures that could ameliorate the deleterious economic effects of sanctions+ - despite their stated commitment to preserving the nuclear pact with Teheran.

• Nancy Pelosi starting a feud with Alexandra Octavio-Cortes out of envy and spite despite the damage it does to Democratic Party unity and credibility. Pelosi concluded her denunciation with the immortal phrase: “And I raise more money than she does!” – and then called for a moment of prayer.
• Jeremy Corbyn resurrecting Boris Johnson from the dead by obstinately refusing to join forces in Parliament with those other parties and renegade Tories who together could have tossed him out of office. In the process, he also balked at the idea of requiring a popular referendum on any BREXIT Treaty even though there was a Parliamentary majority in favor.
• Awarding Noble Prizes in Literature to authors whose works you haven’t read
• The New York Times’ celebration of Nikki Haley as the first great statesman of the 21^st Century
• Washington’s, and London’s, decision to participate in the homicidal  assault on Yemen’s Houthis to indulge Mohammed bin-Salman’s drug induced fantasies
• Barack Obama’s proclamation that women 'indisputably' are better leaders and 'old men' need to get 'out of the way'
• The 45% of American’s who declare Donald Trump the most respected man in public life (tie with Obama)
• Jared Kushner
• Davos financial powerhouses inviting self-avowed Fascist Jair BOLSONARO  to give keynote address – slated to be named Annual Franz von Papen Lecture

Special Career Achievement Award 

​To Thomas FRIEDMAN of The New York Times for his long propagation of the message that Mohammed bin-Salman had arisen to bring Peace, Tolerance, and Women Drivers to his People, to the Middle East and to the world beyond