There are two definitions for the agreement in the Russian language: dogovor( treaty) and sgovor (deal). Dogovor means an agreement between the parties that really had goals, sometimes contradictory, came to the table with mutual respect and readiness to compromise and maintain a long-term relationship. No malice here, just a legitimate fight between the equals. Sgovor came from the jargon of the organized crime. There it means the temporary alliance between the parties in order to perform a hideous act together; the parties unite just because neither one of them can do that on her own. That hideous act could be robbery, murder, betrayal or anything malicious, never good. Sgovor does not presume that the parties even like each other. It presumes two packs of wolves on the same path.
History knows many dogovors and sgovors. Kyoto protocol is a dogovor. UN charter is a dogovor. Several nuclear non-proliferation treaties are dogovors.
The most perfect example of the sgovor is given in the movie Godfather when the members of the families decided a deal about narcotics. Old Don Corleone made a deal but as soon as he died, Mike Corleone murdered his counterparts in the sgovor. He did not need them anymore. The most repugnant diplomatic sgovor is Munich 1938 when England and France betrayed Chechoslovakia to Hitler. In their vehement racism western countries abandoned the Slavic nation. Obviously, Hitler, the same as Mike Corleone, betrayed them back at the right moment.
It was a sgovor which happened in Washington several days ago. Two groups of goons had betrayed the American people and the principles of democratic governance. They cynically made a deal and let the rich get richer and poor get poorer. Obama and his cronies sold out. Not for the first time.
Our President is a bad liar. He comes out to the podium and lies like he is told to do but he had not taught himself to feel happy about it. He rolls his eyes and points his finger but he oozes so much desperation that it would be enough for the whole new generation of Desperate Housewives. He is a pathetic liar to say the least and that's why when he brags about "hostage situation', no one believes him. We all know that the issue of the unemployment benefits had been on the table since the start. We all know he could push it through for 2 years more (instead of meager 13 months now) long before it became a matter of Christmas. We all know that if we had public option in the Healthcare the unemployed now could be fully protected in that area. We all know that even now Obama could easily decouple the two issues, open a vehement campaign for the money for unemployed and, for instance, offer Treasury loans to the unemployed and poor under zero interest and extended debt repayment. He could at the same time let the Bush taxes on the people expire and openly proclaim that he offers a new package to cut taxes for the lower income people while using the revenue from the rich explicitly for jobs. He could do a lot. But neither him nor the Dem. Establishment fought for anything. Obama should point his finger into the different direction. If he had withdrawn from Afghanistan the money saved would be enough to pay all the benefits. If he had pushed BP in a right way, if, if.. whatever.
No, that was not a negotiation. That was a sgovor. But it was not Obama base that was betrayed. He never had a base. When Obama was running the powermongers made sure that he did not have good opponents. Really, who would in good faith vote for a possibility of Palin appearing at Presidency out of nowhere. GOP and Dems made a deal then or rather they were told what to do. People like me would have voted for anything anti-Bush and we had no choice. No base, just no choice and a lot of promises. Those promises flew away on the wings of the drones Obama sent to kill people in other countries. No, he had not betrayed the base. He betrayed himself.
Having said all that we must consider a real picture: what did Obama and his cronies gain from that sgovor or at least what they thought they gained? If we throw away the rhetoric and look at the timing and numbers we can see that the crucial time had been moved to the Y2012. That's when the tax issue is going to be on the table again and that's when Obama will run for a new term. The obvious conclusion is- the puppetmasters told GOP to promise Obama a free ride for Presidency in the Y2012. That is supported by a sudden U- turn of the GOP establishment, revival of Huckabee and denigrating their darling Sarah Palin. Funny thing- in the chorus of GOP celebration her voice is not heard at all. Think about it.
In a nutshell, Obama guaranteed to the powermongers that he would play ball. Who are the powermongers we don't know. But we know WHAT they are. They are the organized crime, the new mafia of rich and lazy. They are our rulers now. And mafia knows only sgovors as well as it knows the drill- sgovors are very temporary. New Mike Corleone comes and throws them away.
It would be advisable to stop discussing Obama as a ruler. He is lost. It would be also advisable to stop calling us his base. We should concentrate on something more meaningful.
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