In search of more and more tricks to cover its global expansion and pursue an aggressive policy, the West has recently begun to heavily rely on supposedly “innocent” Folly expressed in the behavior of its political elite. This is especially visible in the words and deeds of strong independent women put in charge of international policies of their respective countries.
“Here present before you, in all its glory, is Folly, that true and only giver of wealth whom the Greeks call Moria, and the Latins Stultitia,” Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote in 1511. But he could never have imagined that his Praise of Folly would be taken up by the West today, and that his words about it would prove more relevant than ever. Especially now that the world has seen the “stunning and brave Valkyries of the West,” Liz Truss in the United Kingdom, Annalena Baerbock in Germany, and, a little earlier, Jen Psaki in the United States, displaying their intellectual prowess. And, rather than exuding the traditionally inherent female traits such as seeking peace, these representatives of the modern Western political establishment, under the canopy of their innate Folly, actively strive towards pushing the West’s phobias into international politics, further escalating the already explosive current situation in the world.
Liz Truss, the UK’s Prime Minister in 2021-22 and previously the Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, is well known to all for her loud and contradictory statements, as well as egregious blunders in public speeches. For example, in February 2022 Liz Truss said during talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that she “has no intention of recognizing the sovereignty of the Rostov and Voronezh regions.” At the same time, she nonchalantly admitted that as Prime Minister and, before that, as Foreign Secretary, she considered these regions to be part of Ukraine, which did not stop her from talking nonsense from a high rostrum about both Russia and Ukraine, and escalating the conflict between them. Meanwhile, Truss has been “noted” for making ridiculous statements highlighting her “knowledge” of history and geography. For example, she stated in January 2022 that Ukraine had survived many invasions “from Mongols to Tatars,” and in early February of the same year she promised additional support for the Baltic allies on the Black Sea.
As a result, it is not surprising that, in response to Liz Truss’s loud and “highly knowledgeable” statements on international arena, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, wryly wondered which educational establishment issued Liz Truss a diploma and whether such a high representative of the British political elite even has such a document.
Or can it be that, by putting Liz Truss on the world political podium, the United Kingdom in its Russophobe frenzy so deeply ingrained itself in the Soviet reality that even after the USSR ceased to exist, it decided to implement the slogan of Lenin’s publication entitled “Will the Bolsheviks Hold State Power?” in the magazine Enlightenment in 1917, which stated that “even a kitchen maid can run a state”? Apparently, the United Kingdom is no exception! Liz Truss served as Prime Minister of what was once Great Britain for 45 days… And she could have “done” so much more…
Liz Truss’s appearance on British Olympus is not accidental. As a mirror image of the US political scene, Britain clearly wanted to “keep up” with Jennifer Psaki, the American representative of the Stultitias, who also went down in history of international relations with her absurd political statements. There’s even a term for it, “Psaking,” describing the fact that Americans are allowed to talk nonsense and even outright lie from a big rostrum in the name of promoting American hegemony. After all, in 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell used this tactic to show to the UN Security Council a test tube containing alleged anthrax spores, assuring the world that Iraq had biological weapons. And it worked! Washington even succeeded in starting a war in the Middle East in this manner.
Granted, Jennifer Psaki’s ignorance did not cause a world war, but it did discredit the United States and the White House. This White House “mouthpiece,” who delivered orders to the rest of the world, did not show herself particularly well-educated, confusing countries, continents, and politicians. For example, the brilliant Psaki once called NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg several times in the same briefing the UN Secretary General, clearly referring to the propaganda she had once seen in American schoolbooks that NATO is a “humanitarian organization.”
And her consummate “simplicity,” similar to the long-standing otherworldly dreaminess of her boss Joe Biden – isn’t it the perfect cloak for the failed policies of Democrats trying to cover up their deeds with Folly?
This Folly pandemic, which replaced the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022, did not spare Germany, shining a spotlight on another Stultitia – Annalena Baerbock. As Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote: “… as soon as I stepped up to speak to this full assembly all your faces put on a kind of new and unwonted pleasantness. So suddenly have you cleared your brows, and with so frolic and hearty a laughter given me your applause… .”
Two years ago, when Annalena Baerbock was running for Chancellor of Germany, she furiously embellished her biography in terms of education. Admittedly, even now, she has not abandoned her ambition to ascend to power. According to the French Le Journal du Dimanche, citing a diplomatic source, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock plans to run for chancellor in case the Bundestag is dissolved due to the situation in Ukraine. However, after her recent proposal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to “change his course by 360 degrees, and thus make the whole world happy,” there are hardly enough fools in Germany who are that illiterate in STEM disciplines and would want to promote her even higher to the German state Olympus… And this assessment is confirmed by Exxpress, which pointed out the frank concern of Germans that “Europe is ruled by an uneducated militant mediocrity.” Especially since this demonstration of Folly by the German Foreign Minister in Munich was not the first publicity stunt in the history of the new German government in the name of promoting Western phobias. It suffices to remember how at the end of January, when speaking at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Baerbock actually declared the war against Russia on behalf of Germany and the whole European Union, and her statements are getting more and more absurd with each passing month. It’s only natural that German commentators demanded that the war-mongering Baerbock be removed from office, comparing the Green Party minister to the authorities of the Third Reich 90 years after the horrific events.
Under these circumstances, to evaluate today’s failed Western policies, one cannot help but recall the words of that same Erasmus of Rotterdam: “And who is more than Folly poised to blow her own trumpet?”
Vladimir Danilov, political observer, exclusively for the online journal “New Eastern Outlook.”