As the world continues to weigh in on President Obama's efforts to rally "allies" to his crusade to save al Qaeda from Bashar al-Assad, I thought I'd take a look at this from a somewhat different angle. Maybe this is American Manifest Destiny in the 21st Century. The Great White Fleet is passé of course. It's replaced by Fifty Shades of Gray with radar absorptive coatings; to be stealthy in plain sight naturally. And the new protagonist cause has more in common with Paul Mua'dib and his Fremen of Dune. So let's examine some of the things this "militant activism" White House could have in store for planet Earth.
A Man of Unilateral Action
Who in the heck cares about right from wrong anyway? The world is all about segregated factions played against one another and as long as our side comes out on top that's all that matters. If people don't like being in our way, that's just too bad. We take care of our "allies" -- even if they are imaginary voices in our heads or real friends related to "He Who Must Not Be Named" -- and anyone who doesn't agree with our point of view -- whatever that is -- is an avowed enemy waiting their turn for their pounding. It's our myopia and we're proud of it. The world beyond America's borders could not possibly be different from the discord of Americans arguing with each other over trivial annoyances like some sort of dysfunctional family after all.
A Man Who Would Marginalize the International Community
Let's face it, what good Yankee Imperialist respects the United Nations? Like the opinion of a rabble dependent on our money to operate at all matters. International law only matters as long as it's our international law. Why won't they just be good grateful spectators? Come on already. We don't have to listen to U.S. citizens anymore in this country, what makes non-citizens so special? They're just diplomats concerned with global stability and world peace. Oh wait, one exception, we do listen to non-citizens who are here illegally. How silly to forget that. My bad. Team America! We need a man who will insist that the U.N. be the rubber stamp for the leader of the "free" world. Was that just an oxymoron phrase that went in one ear and out the other? Yup.
Destabilizing Nations Is Good for America
Well, you cannot very well get away with a lot in a tranquil world can you? We've already proven that so well in America. We've been doing such a good job reshaping the Middle East into a modern day caliphate colony. Just look at the shining successes of our multi-decade campaign to disassemble the post-World War II governments of the Middle East left the by the British and French; we are paving the way for American style tumultuous "democracy" in the region. We can't stop now! We do have a "Coalition of the Willing" even if they are a bunch of willing royals and their minions seem to have a nasty penchant for ethnic cleansing that rivals the tenacity of Slobodan Milosevich and his cronies. Oh these Muslim Tides. What's the difference eh? Wax on, wax off.
The silly counter argument to all of this of course is that the planet has a long history of punishing delusional unilateral actors. Reichs and Co-Prosperity Spheres are the most recent in human history but such mistakes go back to the days when the gladius was the "assault weapon" of the day. Lest we forget, Pharaoh's army woke up to reassert the tranquility of the Middle Kingdom a few months ago. The human race is not composed of the fools its Gilded leaders think it is. That's why we also mark things like Bastille Day on the calendar.
When the Russians of all people come to believe they need reach out to us they are no longer reaching out as enemies. They are trying to save us from ourselves. America is better than this. The United States Congress is better than this. Somehow we need to find a way make our White House better than this again.
A personal message to Gen. Linhard's widow. "Per my promise to Bob, still on station, still on mission."