Bewilderment, a Punishment from God? – Folha de S. Paulo, November 24, 1974
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
The elections remain the big topic of the week. However, discussing them is not in line with the intentions I have remained faithful to since I began writing my column for Folha de São Paulo.
In fact, I have committed to commenting only on issues where, in my view, public opinion is insufficiently informed. In this way, I seek to complement the great efforts of the media.
In my view, national public opinion (which is not necessarily the same as that of the mainstream press) is assessing the significance and scope of the recent elections quite accurately. To this end, it is drawing on the lively yet placid sagacity that characterizes the intelligence of our people.
Therefore, dispensing with the subject, I will address another issue that affects our country because it is universal. The apathy of public opinion throughout the West—concerning the communist threat—so mysterious as to be disconcerting, and I emphatically include Brazil—is evident. Thus, faithful to my purpose of complementarity, I address the subject once again.
So I invite the reader to take note of the incredible events unfolding between the US and Russia under the label of détente.
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I read in the April 4 issue of Time magazine that the supercapitalist American power is providing Russia with numerous services of enormous magnitude to build its communist economy. Construction has begun in Moscow on the Russian version of Manhattan’s World Trade Center, funded by Americans to the tune of $110 million. The complex will include offices for 1,200 employees, 625 apartments, 600 hotel rooms, restaurants, a swimming pool, a convention hall, and stores. Pepsicola has opened a factory in Soviet territory that produces 200,000 bottles a day. Raymond Loewy and Snaith are teaching the Soviets how to update their products, including automobiles. Coca-Cola is studying the construction of special air-conditioned buildings for growing cereals. American tariffs on Russian imports will be reduced from 40% to 10% or less.
Cooperating on the task of building the communist economy, in which the Soviet regime had failed, Western Europe maintains trade with Russia that is 10 times that of the United States. The Russians eat spaghetti and bread made in factories built by the Italians, drive Fiat cars, wear clothes made from English fibers, and will soon watch shows broadcasting communist propaganda on color TVs made in France.
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All this is done by granting credits to Russia. How does Russia respond? By announcing that it will not pay the debts it incurred with the US during World War II unless it receives the “most favored nation” trade status with the Americans.
Thus, in today’s international trade, the way to obtain credit is to be a deadbeat.
Furthermore, this week’s newspapers report that Moscow has begun to openly intervene in U.S. domestic politics. Kissinger told Gerald Ford that the Soviets might not reach agreements on strategic weapons if the president does not run for reelection in 1976. The Soviets may even go so far as to “take risks in the Middle East” (i.e., tighten the oil blackmail) if Ford refuses to run. This open interference in the American electoral process is intended not only to get Ford to run but also to frighten the American electorate into re-electing Ford to the White House.
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Such is Kissinger’s détente.
Given the Americans’ prodigality, it would be impossible for the Russians to respond with greater aggression. This heralds a dangerous situation. However, the danger inherent in the stunned and apathetic attitude of world opinion in the face of this fact is even greater.
Would you like to gauge the extent of this stupor? Try commenting on the ultra-documented and ultra-significant news covered in this article. Most of the time, you will encounter disinterest, evasiveness, or silly explanations.
Countless people among us no longer want to think about the communist danger. Ipso facto, the danger progresses covertly amid general unconsciousness. This apathy seems like divine punishment: “Quos vult Deus perdere, dementat prius,” as old Euripides put it. “Whom God would destroy, He first drives mad.”
