WHITE FLAGS OVER THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE.: PREMONITION ?

During the night of July 22, the American flags on the Brooklyn Bridge were replaced by bleached American flags.  This might have been a prank, a Dadaist statement of sorts (Jeff Koons is in town) but it might also have been something more sinister.  Since 9/11 all important landmarks in New York City are under constant surveillance.  Nevertheless the Freedom Tower has already fallen prey twice to intruders.  Replacing the flags over the bridge certainly required skills, climbing and construction experience. The NYPD is left with a black eye. Let's hope that the white flags are just what they are, devoid of ulterior meaning or foreboding. 

Everything in the current torn American political landscape feeds the beast of discord. The degeneration of political discourse is accelerating.  The President's way of letting decision making mature in his private greenhouse enervates and weakens his standing.  He is often right but the outrage or reaching out are lackluster.  Meanwhile the nostalgia of "mission accomplished" feeds the media with Munich and even more unpleasant mementos.  John Bolton, former Vice-President Dick Cheney, the intelligent Pythian Fox star Charles Krauthammer, Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz (remember?), William Kristol are on the anti-Obama warpath.

It has to be said that the accumulation of plagues that assault the Administration looks like an attack from all sides.  Some have taken the White House (and others) by surprise, some could have been averted, some are of the White House's own doing.  Never have personal attacks been so ad hominem rather than ad rem. There is plenty to criticize, but the political discourse is becoming devoid of any class or honorable dissent. The leadership of both parties in Congress would be laughable if it were not so destructive.  The advisors to the President often act more like "interns" who mistake "gaffe" for "act". One wishes for a major clean-up or "massacre redux" in the President's entourage.

At a time when some European "shopkeepers" run like sheep without a shepherd, choosing self-interest above moral attitude, Putin gets a soft slap on the wrist and the victims of Flight MH17 have already become "collaterals" to a horror story in "civilized" Europe.  It is to be hoped that Obama will find his voice.  In Thomas Mann's words:  "Best not too soon make too plain how much mortal time must pass over his head while he sits spun round in his spell."

The ostracizing of yet another evil aberration--European-made this time--(coming after ISIS, Boko Haram and Co.), rather than looking solely after the interests of French, German and other Anglo-Dutch book-keepers and ship builders, will send a message to Moscow.  Sometimes indignation speaks louder than the the pathological sound and fury which is better left at the doorsteps of Senators McCain and Graham, who can do better. The dignity in the Netherlands was the face of civilized grief , more eloquent than the repetitive comments of the usual pundits.