SHAME all around: at the BBC and in Slovakia

I am on vacation; so, this will be short.

But yesterday I heard such stuff and nonsense on the BBc that I have to say something.
A voice was interviewing a former CIA agent. I don't expect seriously probing questions, but the timidity of the questioner deserves mention.

At the one point a little bit of questioning occurred, as in (my paraphrase from memory) some people might think that your activities are not moral....
The CIA Man replied by invoking words like "moral" and "principle"--and he did this repeatedly during the interview. He said it was his moral principle to defend the US. end of story.

Now, the BBC man missed a chance to make several elementary points which I will now make:
Just because you say it's a moral principle, that doesn't make it morality. Morality is not simply whatever you say it is--even if you are being interviewed by the BBC.

Secondly, does that principle justify unethical actions? Do the ends justify the means?

A more telling question is who really benefits from this so-called protection. CIA activities have rightly created great antipathy toward the US.

The CIA man (ex-CIA man) did, however, make one remark worth repeating: The US government is lying when it tells people it wants to spread democracy. US foreign policy serves US self-interest. (And, of course, not the self-interest of most Americans...)

SHAME IN SLOVAKIA

I want to recommend an article by Edward Chmelar ("a" should be long) about the recent election. It is shameful for someone who calls himself a "leftist" to be in a coalition with nationalists who feel no shame over cooperating with Nazis. Secondly, it's bad insofar it creates God knows what kind of ideas among people about what leftism is.... (my best answer is Ted Honderich's book "Conservatism")

As Chmelar points out, it's clear that Fico is not true leftist because he has no interest in such things as social support--no real interest that is...... uvidime....
Here's the link:
http://www.noveslovo.sk/clanok.asp?id=14262&cislo=27/2006