On the subject of Policeman of the World – It is rarely controversial to believe that the vast majority of citizens of these United States believe that We are too involved in the disagreements of other Nations amongst themselves as well as with Us. Thusly this country has been referred to as the Policeman of the World, mostly in a negative context. The current subject de jour is Turkey and Kurd conflict. Like most conflicts, the usual ‘bone of contention’ is LAND/Politics and who controls the land in question. To the layman, our sending troops to keep the warring parties apart, supposedly until we can negotiate a peaceful settlement is a good thing. In the etherial mind, perhaps that sounds good and noble. In practice, our experience has shown that the opposite is true. I’ll not discuss WWII and older as the more current will take up enough time. Remember the Korean Police Action? OK, War. We invaded to keep the North Koreans from overrunning the South. Lots of people died (i.e. Americans) and we are still there with a line drawn across the country dividing the N from the S. The important part is We are Still There. Vietnam pretty much the same thing except we lost, retreated and now we are doing business with unified Vietnam we fought so hard to prevent from happening. Loss of life (ours) was pretty high for such a low rate of return, thinks I. The only positive thing I saw was that we did not go back and rebuild the country the way we have in so many cases.
Extracting the troops from all these volatile places around the world is an election pledge that appears to be in progress with this Administration. But, as we see, actions have consequences that sometimes don’t play well in the media (read TV mostly) and in the nieve hearts of the young, minds of peace (almost said Mush) and that of the old hippy of yesteryear. If I have not insulted your age group yet, be patient. The fact is, this country did not start most of these conflicts we have stuck our troops in and once we leave, no matter how long we stay, they will go at it again. Heck, they’ve been doing it for centuries now. The truth be told, if it doesn’t affect us, we really don’t have an ax to grind there.
At one time, this country had a military that was so configured that we could fight two wars simultaneously. A lesson learned from WWII if you’re old enough to remember that. Over peaceful time, came the belief that conscription via the draft was not a good thing and going in the military should be voluntary as some folks just didn’t want to do that kind of work. And so it was written. Then the wisdom was that men and women were equal not only in mental ability but physical ability. So the idea that women should not be denied entry into whatever branch of the military was addressed. Women in combat was a sticking point along the way but appears to have been resolved. Then came along LGBTQrstuv question. Which has not been resolved yet? The result of events since the last war has been to degrade the effectiveness and resources of our own military to the point we cannot fight two wars, we can’t even fight one effectively. Our volunteers are tired, undertrained, physically weak and ill-equipped. Unless this changes when we need them they will be in another country, wearing a UN hat and guns with plastic bullets.
But, I seem to have drifted from the subject. Which was being the policeman of the world and the benefits associated with it.
The situation we find ourselves in at the moment is having wished for a leader to get us out of these conflicts, is actually having one. All the talk over all the years and now we have someone that is taking action in that direction. The thought pattern has been ‘get us out of the policeman role’ without regard to what happens next. The obvious happens next, the two sides do what they want to do. Duh. In most cases, it seems they have just been waiting for us to leave so they can git back at it. Our naive ideas of fairness, compassion, equality, forgiveness, and all the other standards we, in this country, profess but don’t live up to ourselves should apply to others. Course, they don’t do what we think they should and why should they? It’s time for us to get real in our thinking as to other countries, nations and ethnic groups.
The inhumanity of it all. Unless you’ve traveled a great deal and spent time in other countries it's hard to understand why they do things or how they think. China, North Korea, Asia in general, will all act the way they act and won’t change because Americans think they are wrong. Get used to it. As bad as it is, its what they do and we can’t change it. As a country on this planet, we must deal with these countries. Some because we trade with them, they pose a potential threat and others just because they are there. Isolationism like socialism doesn’t work and attempting to redo is a waste.
What we can do, however, is preserve our way of life. We have enough battles here to occupy our time. The swamp and its swamp life are being uncovered and the stench realized. The effort to convert this country to a socialist/communist one is now out in the open and the fight is on. This war would not have been realized were the 2016 election different. We have dodged one bullet, here come some more.
Concern yourself not so much with the trials and tribulations of other countries, focus on this country and do something or support those that are doing something.
