RIP Suharto

Your government is saddened by the loss.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_hails_Suharto_as_a_historic_figu_01272008.html

 

TIH

 

The Year Of Living Dangerously soundtrack has popped in my head. Had a cool title song.

More to the point, where does Suharto rank among despicable despots propped up by our government? Seriously, there should be a Hall of Fucking Fame (Shame) for all of the bastards the U.S. has bankrolled in the cause of "freedom".

 

Right up there with Ferdinand Marcos, who took the millions that the U.S. was paying for the use of land that was Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Station and put it right in his pocket. The president of the Philippines, as of the early '80s, was supposedly to earn a salary of $6,000 U.S. annually.

You think someone was making those shoes for Imelda for nothing? And while Marcos wasn't as known for mass killings as Suharto, do you think Benigno Aquino's assassination was a random act of violence?

 

For egregious meat-puppets running US client states, you've got to go a long way to top the Shah.

In fact, in a Hall of Fame/lifetime-achievement setting, he'd be the one they named the award for, like Cy Young.

Of course, South America is the stronger league.

 

The Shah had a long run, for sure, but I gotta go with either Pinochet or Galtieri. Probably the former, since the wingnuts are still defending his murderous ass to this day.

 

If Suharto wins the Cy Young, who's the Rolaids Relief Man?

 

Damn.
That's a tough one.
Maybe the Guatemalan guy whose name I can't remember. The guy we tossed Arbenz out for.

 

Somoza was a peach too. Along with Duvalier. And Stroessner ... and Saddam Hussein ... and list goes on and on ...

 

Trujillo was probably the ultimate charicature of US-sponsored Third World terror. It takes some arrogance to name the oldest colonial capital in the hemisphere after yourself. He sucked so bad, the CIA finally killed him to keep the country from going the way of Cuba. I love how his last word was supposedly "conyo."

 

On the other hand, he did a lot for baseball.

 

While I grant all you Sabremetrics guys that the US-sponsored 20th century Central/Latin/South American players have gaudier individual stats - especially in categories like "opponents disappeared," "dissidents pushed from helicopters into the sea" and "bronze statues of self on horseback erected in rural village plazas in lieu of sufficient food to sustain life," the Shah's contribution's to the game are broader, deeper and more lasting. His glorious blowback is still being felt today.

In his installation by US-engineered coup; his oppressive, murderous rule and his eventual humiliating removal, we have to credit him with destabilizing the entirety of the subcontinent, inspiring the global revolution in violent Islamocentrism, and changing the course of world history.

Sure Suharto stole more money. But with all due respect to the statheads, it's not just about numbers. Some dictators are just bigger than the game.