Hubris leads to delusions. That's when you lose.

Yesterday was Independence Day for the US, marked by an outpouring of utterly puerile self congratulation, which is terrifying because it prevents any introspection and chokes national conscience, permitting the commission of horrifying crimes against humanity all over the world. There is no doubt that Americans have a lot to be proud of. They are the richest nation in the world, built on hard work, risk taking and fantastic innovation. They have the top universities in the world, because of billions of dollars of endowment gifted by the wealthy, producing top class scholars in virtually every field. Unfortunately, they are also leaders in inventing new weapons of torture and mass slaughter, the only country to have used nuclear weapons. " And in some distant land a soldier stands guard defending our nation - tending liberty's flame." Not really. The US has been losing every war after World War II. The US has a huge collection of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles, stealth fighters and nuclear submarines to deliver them. It can only win by inflicting infinite numbers of casualties on the enemy from a distance, while remaining relatively immune from counterattack. That can only work against conventional armies where soldiers are massed together, such as Saddam's army, but not against asymmetric tactics used by the Viet Cong, the Taliban and now the ISIS. " We are a noble people forged by freedom's fire." Perhaps, you should ask the Indians, who are now known as Native Americans, whom you slaughtered in their thousands, robbed their lands and imprisoned them in reservations. Or the blacks, now known as African Americans, who were brought in chains as slaves and are now being used for target practice by white police. " Charleston, what courage you showed just three weeks ago. What unity, which I know this community has actively worked to build, and believe me it showed in the aftermath of the shooting." What shooting does this anodyne babbling refer to? The killing of 9 black people in a church by a 21 year old white man. Dead people are courageous because they are dead, which is final. If a Muslim had committed such a crime it would instantly have been labeled an act of terrorism. But no such word is being used for this crime and reasons are being sought to excuse the killer. One fellow has blamed right wing Jews for radicalising this killer. The Boston Bomber has been sentenced to death for the terrorist offence of killing 3 people. Let us see if the Charleston killer gets the death sentence or not. We want the US to remain powerful and rich as it is the only defence against brutal China and even more brutal ISIS. But to do so it must get rid of its delusions of nobility. We wish them well.