The Cold War is Back and America Is Shrinking

We won the Cold War but lost the peace.  We lost by abandoning our position as the world’s unchallenged leader.  First we apologized for all the good we have done in the past – in the apology, we stated that we had no right to impose our view of democracy on other nations.  Later we drew red lines that we allowed Syria to cross without any response.  (The red line was intended to stop the mass slaughter of the Syrian people; not to eliminate one means of conducting the mass slaughter.)  Then we gave concessions to the Iranians for the mere promise of later promises.  Then we told the world that we are going to shrink our military to a size not seen since before World War II.

In effect, we have rented advertising space on every billboard in the world that says “America is weak.  America knows it is weak.  America prefers weakness.  Tyrants of the world- do as you wish.  And, because of all of the above, there is no need to criticize us anymore.”

Once upon a time, when America was the unchallenged leader, there was a lot of criticism of America.  It was the natural bashing that leaders receive because to be a true leader, you have to make the tough decisions and you have to take some hard positions.  American bashing went hand-in-hand with American greatness.  In the past, we and our leaders let this American bashing run off our backs.  We knew our intentions were not only to keep the world safe but also to make it a better place.  When America bashing morphed into radical-Muslim terrorism, we shrank from our position of the world’s leader.  We humbled ourselves through apologies and concessions.  Our worst act of conciliation was announcing that we will no longer maintain the military that has, for seventy-plus years, kept the world safe.

Now the modern day Stalin (Vladimir Putin) has invaded the Crimean peninsula and is threatening to take over other parts of Ukraine.  What has the former world leader’s response been - condemnation with nothing more than the threat of possible economic sanctions (if we can get the Europeans to go along)?  Oh, I almost forgot, we will probably not attend the G-8 meeting in Sochi in June.  I’m sure Mr. Putin is shaking in his boots.

The Ukrainian people are rallying to the call of its interim government and volunteering to join the Ukrainian army.  These people desperately want freedom and they know that the definition of freedom is the democracy that America used to preach (before the apologies).   They also know that freedom is the exact opposite of what Russia will impose on them.  The people of the Ukraine had their Arab Spring to rid themselves of the corrupt, Russian-styled, and Russian-linked government of Mr. Yanukovych.  These brave people have not seen the American billboards.  They believe that the West (meaning America) will support them and even fight for them.  Unfortunately, we have already apologized for such actions in the past and we are now in a period of penance where in order to be forgiven for our past sins, we must not repeat them.  In other words, those brave Ukrainians are toast.

Thus, the evil empire will expand.  I never thought I would say that I miss George W. Bush – but I do.  I believed in his policies but became a little worn by his brashness.  Now, I miss his brashness – and his policies.

Can someone explain to me why there are no American military maneuvers in the NATO nations that border Ukraine and the Black Sea (Poland, Romania, Turkey)?  The sad commentary I have heard is that we do not want to ratchet the situation up.  Is the entire world afraid to call Mr. Putin’s bluff?  Has the American military deteriorated to the point that we cannot beat the Russians in a conventional battle?  How would the Cuban missile crises be handled today?  Yes, ratcheting the tension up steps the world closer to the nuclear brink.  Isn’t that why we have the nuclear brink?  Does anyone think that unlike Khrushchev, Putin will pull the trigger?

How about a little saber-rattling to show that America still has a back bone?  Darn, I keep forgetting, we gave the back bone up.  Please accept my apology for mentioning a tactic that may garner criticism of America.

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Of course you can never tell if some rogue idiot soldier may start shooting at the other side (either a Ukrainian shooting at the Russians or a Russian shooting at a Ukrainian).   That is the case with or without an American military presence.  However, if there were an American military presence in the area I am sure the Russians would be instructed to exercise restraint at all costs.