[PEN-L:6224] Re: Re: U.S. HOUSE REJECTS NATO'S WAR

[Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol@xxxxxxx>]

At 06:23 PM 4/29/99 -0400, Michael Hoover wrote:
>
>watching the debate and vote on this matter on C-SPAN last evening, I
>couldn't help but notice that 'socialist' Bernie Sanders voted for the
>resolution to sanction the bombing...how fortunate that there aren't
>more leftists like him in the assembly casting their lot in favor of
>war credits...Michael Hoover
>
Michael, I am somewhat nonplussed that US-ers still get excited about such
maneuvers.  I think we, Eastern Europeans are more street wise in this
respect - we simply do not trust politicians no matter what they profess,
because it is quite clear to us that whatever they profess serves only one
goal - advancement of their own political careers.

Yoshie's posting on Vuk Draskovic is a classic example.  We used to call
those people "nomenklatura" - implying a list of names that would pop up
whenever a political opportunity arises, and saying the most opportune
things for the occasion (Milan Kundera's novel _The Joke_ contains a nice
study of such a character).  Some newer terms are "radishes" (the idea is
"red outside, white inside" - which sounds like an accurate description of
Rep. Sanders) or an acronym TKM which roughly translates as "now is our
fucking turn" (the idea is that those who have been finally admitted to the
halls of power now have the chance to do their worst - think of it as the
Eastern European version of the King-Sun's saying "after me, deluge.")

Wojtek