Politics & Power Quote by Bianca Jagger

Jagger isn’t trying to sound like a diplomat; she’s trying to make it harder for Americans to keep treating Nicaragua as a footnote. The line opens with “still,” a small word that does heavy lifting: this isn’t a hot take but a moral hangover, an insistence that time doesn’t launder wrongdoing. “Profoundly troubled” reads almost restrained for what follows, and that restraint is strategic. It positions her as someone speaking from conscience rather than ideology, which matters for a celebrity whose credibility is always on trial.

The phrase “covert war” is the hinge. It calls out not just violence but secrecy as the real scandal: a democracy outsourcing accountability to shadows. By saying the U.S. “launched” it, she rejects the euphemisms that dominated the era (aid, advising, containment) and assigns clear agency. The “violation of international law” clause is a deliberate escalation from sentiment to indictment, echoing the International Court of Justice’s 1986 ruling against the U.S. for supporting the Contras and mining Nicaraguan harbors. She’s not pleading; she’s prosecuting.

Then comes the double punch: “wrong and immoral.” It’s redundant on purpose. “Wrong” appeals to rules and legitimacy; “immoral” appeals to human cost. Together they deny the listener an escape hatch: you can’t file this away as merely a policy mistake or Cold War necessity. The subtext is a rebuke of U.S. exceptionalism and a reminder that power doesn’t just commit harm; it narrates it into acceptability unless someone interrupts the story.