Have a Merry Covid Christmas!

Today is the day we ostensibly honour the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. By what I remember from Sunday School, he was a mellow dude who encouraged his followers to be kind to the less fortunate, to eschew conflict, turn the other cheek, and so forth. The Jewish fringe cult he founded "went viral," as we would say today, and eventually evolved into "Christianity," the more-or-less official religion of the Nations of Virtue, and especially of the USA.

I'm pretty sure if the guy who delivered the Sermon on the Mount came back today, he wouldn't recognise the Christianity of men like Mike Pence or Mike Pompeo or Tony Blair, just to choose three high-profile names who profess to be followers of the Prince of Peace.

While everyone in America is riveted by the duelling dumpster fires of covid and Trump, nobody seems to care what America is doing in the rest of the world while this shit show is going on. 

In country after country America has been using its enormous economic clout, which is backed by what is by far the most expensive military in the world, to bully weaker nations in this time of global pandemic. Rest assured this is a fully bipartisan initiative. Democrats and Republicans can't agree on whether $600 or $2000 will tide you over while the virus runs its course, but they're in full agreement that this is a great time to further tighten the screws on people living in Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and anywhere else that folks would prefer not to be governed by Washington. 

Those sanctions have real consequences, especially among the poorest in the target countries. They cause more suffering to people who are already suffering, in the cynical expectation that if they suffer enough they will rise up and overthrow their government, making room for a US-approved stooge who will allow Washington to call the shots. These policies come from a Secretary of State who claims to be a devout follower of that mellow dude on the mountain.

This Christmas, let's think about what kind of foreign policy Jesus would have.