Posted by Randy Scheunemann on Fri, 05 Dec 2014 15:05 | #
Skiing with the Enemy
Hovering as friends above, friends below and not realizing it - with bad effect.
Richard B. Spencer · November 26, 2014
In January of 2013, the fates seated me next to a heavyset, bearded man on a chairlift. I started up small talk . . .
— Where are you from?
— Washington, DC.
I never would have imagined that this conversation, which began so innocuously, would transform into a fixation of an erstwhile neoconservative operative, capture the imagination of many in the national media, launch a local witch hunt, and damage the reputation of a place I call home—Whitefish, Montana.
Everything or Nothing
So what happened?
The answer is nothing . . . and everything.
I got into an argument with a man named Randy Scheunemann on a chairlift. At the time, we were both members of the Big Mountain Club, a small social organization for skiers.
It was nothing, in that nothing of significance occurred. There was no “fight,” in the sense of a physical confrontation. No voices were raised; no threats were issued; no laws were broken. My only crime was sarcasm and snark. And after spending some 10 minutes seated next to Scheunemann, I was eager never to see him again.
So it was nothing . . . and then it became everything. The event catalyzed an unpredictable chain reaction. Many around the world have seen the salacious reports of this incident—from Rachel Maddow, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, and others—and, equally distressing, stories of the proposed enactment of “anti-hate” legislation by Whitefish locals. These onlookers must be asking themselves—What in the Hell is going on in Montana!?
The sole reason why the event became public knowledge is that the person I argued with while dangling 50-feet above a ski run was Randy Scheunemann, and he has obsessed about the encounter for a year and half. He’s whined to the management of the ski resort. He’s whined to journalists. He’s made himself into a princess, who mustn’t be subjected to opinions she doesn’t want to hear.
Perhaps Scheunemann’s feelings were terribly hurt by my criticism of him . . . perhaps he knows, deep down, that everything I said is true. What’s indisputable is that he won’t let it go.
I refused to write about this situation for months. At first, it was not worth discussing publicly. After Scheunemann got a friendly journalist to write about his supposed trauma, I still hoped that the matter would go away on its own. Finally, I refrained from commenting at the direct request of Daniel Graves, the CEO of Whitefish Mountain Resort, who also hoped that it all might blow over.
It’s time to break the silence. It’s time that I write clearly and explicitly about this now infamous non-event.
So where to begin? Who Is Randy Scheunemann?
Perhaps the place to start is with Randy Scheunemann himself.
Euphemistically, Scheunemann is a “foreign policy expert,” though at the age of 54, he’s produced no published writings or research. He is, or was, one of those invisible people in Washington, DC.
Scheunemann is a man of many loyalties. He’s been a registered agent for foreign governments; he’s advocated for wars around the globe, from the Middle East to the Caucasus; he’s received grants from George Soros and been employed by Sarah Palin.
These seemingly disparate threads come together in the George W. Bush presidency and, in particular, the “neoconservative” moment, both of which defined Scheunemann’s career.
From 2002 to 2003, Scheunemann was Director of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq(a name that is difficult to write with a straight face). He was also in charge of the Project for A New American Century, which, in 2001, called for regime change in Iraq, “even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the attack.” When it comes to Scheunemann’s involvement in that disastrous war, these are only the first few bread crumbs. . .
The accusation that has dogged Scheunemann for his career is that he, ostensibly, operates under a conflict of interest in matters of war and peace. This came to the fore in 2008 when the Republic of Georgia started a war with Russia. Scheunemann had long been a lobbyist in Washington on behalf of European states that sought NATO security guarantees. In other words, his job was to increase America’s exposure to foreign wars. His firm, Orion Strategies, had been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by Georgia—then governed by Mikheil Saakashvili—to lobby for the nation’s entrance into NATO.
That summer, under the cover of the Beijing Olympics, Saakashvili ordered a bombardment of Tskhinval, the capital of the autonomous, disputed, and troubled region of South Ossetia, to Georgia’s north. The targets included Russian citizens and Russian peace-keeping troops. Moscow’s retaliation was swift and decisive, and within five days, Georgia had been soundly defeated.
Not surprisingly, the western European and American media ran with the false narrative of a “Russian invasion.” Senator John McCain, then-Republican candidate for President, topped them all. He declared,
I know I speak for every American when I say . . . today, we are all Georgians.
Perhaps this line was mere posturing, but coming from a presidential candidate, it sounded a lot like a NATO security guarantee.
Right in the middle of this debacle was Randy Scheunemann—Saakashvili’s agent in Washington, one of John McCain’s advisors, and the man tasked with coaching VP candidate Sarah Palin on foreign policy. As Pat Buchanan wrote at the time, had Scheunemann succeeded in his efforts,
U.S. soldiers and Marines from Idaho and West Virginia would be killing Russians in the Caucasus, and dying to protect Scheunemann’s client, who launched this idiotic war the night of Aug. 7.
Whatever you thinks of Barack Obama, we can only shudder at what might have happened if John McCain had become President in 2008, and people like Schuenemann had gotten closer to power.1
I’ve gone into length about this history because these events defined me, too. I began my writing and publishing career in 2007, as an Assistant Editor at The American Conservative, expressly for the purpose of opposing everything Scheunemann was involved with and represented.
So my encounter with him was fateful. But by 2013, it felt more like a blast from the past. The neocons and their allies had been ousted from power and influence. And Scheunemann seems to have fared worse than others. Scheunemann’s final days on the McCain campaign were reportedly a mess. Sarah Palin got rid of him in 2011. He now appears to be unemployed, and has been so for a couple of years.2
So you could say I pissed off a man with a lot of time on his hands…
Scheunemann remembers saying (to Spencer), “You’re a fucking racist pussy.”
Legal and illegal immigrants will hit a record high of 51 million in just eight years and eventually account for an astounding 82 percent of all population growth in America, according to new U.S. Census figures.
A report from the Center for Immigration Studies that analyzed the statistics said that by 2023, one in seven U.S. residents will be an immigrant, rising to one in five by 2060 when the immigrant population totals 78 million.
Posted by Randy Scheunemann on Fri, 05 Dec 2014 15:05 | #
Skiing with the Enemy
Hovering as friends above, friends below and not realizing it - with bad effect.
Richard B. Spencer · November 26, 2014
Full article at Radix:
http://www.radixjournal.com/