Antonio Navalón
Last week, it marked the 23rd anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. I have argued for many years that 9/11 was much more than one of the best-planned and most savage terrorist attacks in world history. Following once again the theory that the ink of history is blood, this attack was the watershed of a way of living and coexisting in the modern world. But, above all, it marked a change in a country’s military and defense dynamics that, until that day, the Republic of the North, the United States of America, was considered untouchable.
One God, theirs, and two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, had been useful tools for the country of the Stars and Stripes – except for the Pearl Harbor attack during World War II – always to feel safe as if a superior entity protected them. However, that day, thanks to the failure of its administration; thanks to the arrogance acquired over the years; and, thanks to all the elements that were later shown in the investigations carried out and having all the information to have avoided the tragedy, the great defense and intelligence system of the largest empire in the world known to this day was unable to assimilate what it had been collecting.
Many years ago, I made a trip to Peru, where I was able to meet with intelligence officers of the U.S. government. At that time, specifically in the 1980s, the Maoist terrorist movement “Shining Path” had already succeeded in establishing terror in the country. Since then, I discovered something: Americans always know everything, but they know it wrong. And the fact is that, despite having all the information in their hands, the Americans have not been able to prevent catastrophes like the one that happened in their own territory 23 years ago, nor has it been enough to stop the advance and growth of their enemies. In addition, there is the fact that in order to take action there is a series of bureaucratic processes that include getting budgets approved, getting intelligence agencies to collaborate, and bringing a series of actors into agreement. In the end, these processes hinder the dynamics and functioning of the defense and intelligence sectors, which, in turn, are responsible for ensuring and safeguarding the integrity of the country and its citizens.
It is evident that the general crisis the world is experiencing, although notably in the United States, is causing adjustments and creating new dynamism in global structures. The U.S. Deep State can be considered as the last bastion of the great empire that it was, has been, and – with some doubts about it – still is. It is not just any empire; it is the nation with the greatest military, economic, and even political capacity – comparable to the influence of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire in his time – in the history of humanity. However, political games; social degeneration; internal civil war; the war of disqualification, and the war of excess, among many other elements, are weakening the world by leaps and bounds and, mainly, the still greatest military and economic power on the planet, the United States.
From this point on—and with the coin tossed in the air about what may happen in the U.S. elections—it is very difficult to know what will happen, for example, in the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States. However, it is not necessary to be a genius to know that the war has already begun and that the only thing we can expect is an increase, decrease, or graduation of pressure depending on the political evolution.
Analyzing what happened in last Tuesday’s debate, it is worth noting that Donald Trump and his system of crushing anyone who gets in his way, as well as his system of creating terror in his enemies even before he gets in their presence, in the past, served him to win the presidency of the United States for the first time. However – and depending in large part on what happens in the next debate and how his campaign unfolds – it is not entirely guaranteed today that Donald Trump will return to the White House.
In the debate, Kamala Harris just had to hang in there, not get crushed, overcome stage fright, change the disapproving, don’t-take-it-seriously look, and speak the truth in front of the camera and in front of Trump. It was enough to survive the contest to get the win. And so she did, she kept the look, and above all, she kept – although in my opinion in excess – the hilarious and unserious moments that come when one faces Trump, and it was a way of telling the world who he was. To many parts of the world, Donald Trump is an incredible and frightening phenomenon, however, he is not a serious one.
From holding her own and being able to compete with Trump without falling into provocation or succumbing to the figure and intimidating tactics of the former president, Harris knew how to handle herself efficiently during the contest. She was not crushed, and that was enough to win this first onslaught. Just as Martin Luther King is remembered for his iconic phrase “I have a dream”, with her performance last Tuesday, Kamala Harris established a phrase that – probably will end up giving her the fortune she needs or maybe not, that will partly depend on her campaign strategists – in the face of the explosion of character and lack of seriousness in managing the State. This phrase was, “I have a plan.”
Harris has a plan that, while it is too early to tell if it will truly give the undecided and middle classes back the strength to vote for her, is more than her opponent can offer. It is a plan that does not only benefit the rich, where everything is not formulated from a position of strength and from, as she mentioned, assuming the role of the responsibilities that being the greatest power on the planet generates for an empire.
It was a great debate. It is a debate that politicians, presidents, those who enter, and those who leave should look at very carefully since, even in the case of Mexico, no situation of pity or understanding towards our reality can be expected. We are the first internal security problem of the country of the debate. Naturally, whoever arrives and whoever wins, the Deep State has as its first obligation to combat the domestic and international elements that could weaken it. Ergo, the outburst on the pending issues with our country will occur sooner rather than later.
As for the rest, I was impressed by the number of Americans who—one day after Joe Biden dropped out of the race—are willing to financially and morally support Kamala Harris’s candidacy. If they have already dipped into their pockets to donate any amount of money within their means, I have little doubt that they will not end up doing what their hearts tell them to do and voting for her next November.
Last Tuesday, Harris said many important things, probably the most important of which was to show the world that the old man is now Trump—which indeed he is—and that the world needs a new generation of politicians. Let’s hope to God that the new generation turns out to be better than this one, which created a world where chaos, hatred, and crisis reign.
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