Posted on 08/23/2016 9:56:31 AM PDT by Kaslin
An ancient proverb says, “When elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers.”
By now you have seen the heart-wrenching video of a 5-year old Syrian child pulled from the rubble of a house destroyed during another indiscriminate bombing campaign over the city of Aleppo. No tears. No wailing. He sits there unflinching, caked in soot and a face half-covered in blood from a nasty gash atop his head.
It’s hard to stomach as a human. Nearly unwatchable as a father.
While many remain deeply divided over how America should respond to the growing number of atrocities, the same audience seethes at knowing this evil is up against a routinely unprepared and seemingly impotent U.S. administration. The greater concentration of power in the hands of those cold to human suffering may bring the world to a humanitarian tipping point.
The tyrannical cooperation between Iran and Russia, and now perhaps Turkey, is shaping up to Biblical proportions. The dictatorial instincts of those invested in this three-way marriage of convenience and their collective disregard for innocent life when it stands in the way of their insatiable thirst for power serves to affirm the United States as the last great hope for human flourishing. Warts and all, America still stands as the counterweight to the inevitable despotism that overwhelms the world in its absence.
Yet, this critical moment in international history elicits little more than a soundbite from the current administration while it passes from the fairway to the green. World leaders are now disinclined to consult the United States. Instead, they begrudgingly phone Putin, believing him to be the de-facto maestro of world events.
Russian warships carrying Kalibr cruise missiles are gathering in the Caspian and Mediterranean seas. Media outlets report 40,000 Russian troops, tanks and armored vehicles amassed along the Ukrainian border. The administration and NATO feel 4,000 troops to the Baltic States and Poland adequately serves as a “trip wire” against Russian aggression. A force that RAND analysts say would be overrun in 60 hours.
Meanwhile, Russia continues to assist Syria in its heartless war against dissidents. And Iran quite literally reconfigured runways and hangers so that Russia could relocate aircraft to a resident base. This marks the first time since Iran’s 1979 revolution that a foreign military has used the Islamic Republic to launch attacks elsewhere.
The U.S. government’s claim that the revelation took them by surprise leaves Americans to wonder if leadership honestly missed such a visible military maneuver or whether leaders are hiding the truth. There’s no other option. It all comes just as the White House admitted that the $400 million cash payment to Iran was essentially ransom. The habitual I-confess-because-you-caught-me routine is maddening.
The Turkish president’s snuggling up to Putin in the wake of his crackdown in Turkey could be perhaps the most frightening element of all. A NATO member pulls closer to the very country that inspired the organization’s creation. The same NATO ally cut power to U.S. airbases during the alleged coup without cause, leaving operations and facilities without adequate electrically for weeks; 1,500 U.S. airmen stationed at Incirlik Air Base remain quarantined.
At the time, all the administration could muster was a public pronouncement for the Turkish public to recognize Erdogan as their leader. Now the administration is allegedly moving tactical nuclear weapons stockpiled at Incirlik into Europe, presumably over fears of Erdogan’s next move with Russia. But again, the administration says things are under control.
To borrow from Michael Corleone, “Can’t you give me a straight answer anymore?!?”
The strategic alignment among three major powers who share a disdain for liberty and a disregard for human suffering creates a remarkable bloc of authoritarianism. The next president will hold one of the worst hands ever dealt an incoming administration. But a comprehensive and imaginative strategy that treats traditional areas non-traditionally would be a good first step.
For instance, help draw U.S. allies into an unprecedented alliance against the emerging group, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. Also, begin to treat traditional criminal enterprises as national security concerns. The illicit market of goods, whether drugs, pirated movies or looted antiquities, funds everything from the Russian economy to terrorist organizations. Likewise, emphasize the use of financial strategists and analysts to follow the money.
View the cyber threat as one capable of physical injury rather than primarily data manipulation. Employ strategies that presume malicious codes contain physically destructive capabilities. Finally, return to a greater reliance on human intelligence. One co-opted person in the right place can literally change the course of world events.
This isn’t a call for war. It’s more like a prediction that America will eventually have to confront the emerging Cold World Order or succumb to its barbarism.
Not my circus. Not my monkeys.
Meanwhile, Russia continues to assist Syria in its heartless war against dissidents...
Have to disagree to some extent with that line. They are fighting the MB “moderates” that obama armed to take Syria when some 70 percent of Syrians were satisfied with assad.
As for Syria itself, besides Russian, Syrian, American, British, French and Turkish jets in the air, and troops from all sides embedded to at least some extent, this is a powder keg of epic proportions.
How New Cold World Order Threatens Humanity Hupersonity...
You’re addressing members of the Arab Spring, the same folks that overturned Libya, Egypt and Mubarak. These are the fellow travelers of those who killed Ambassador Stevens.
I think Assad was bad too, but these aren’t just simply freedom fighters. They are al Qaeda and ISIS.
As another FReeper pointed out to me. Assad actually left Christians alone. The people who are against the government now, are not. They kill Christians.
So many times we watch, as what we thought was the worst government possible, is replaced with something worse.
Remember Iran? Egypt is no better off now. I’m not sure Libya is either.
...”This isn’t a call for war. It’s more like a prediction that America will eventually have to confront the emerging Cold World Order or succumb to its barbarism.”...
That is the choice. If the left wingers, especially the media, continue to promote the barbarism, thinking, I suppose that they have a plan to escape the barbarity, they are wrong. They will suffer right along with the rest of us.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but I almost miss the old days when Saddam Muammar Gaddafi Assad and other strong men Were in power. they certainly funded terrorism but they didn’t send armies of thousands over to head across the border.
I don’t think that’s a strange realization to come to terms with.
Khadaffi wasn’t giving us any more trouble.
As you said, Assad wasn’t.
Hussein was. He would not abide by the no fly zone, and he was beginning to move forces up to his borders with other nations again.
Despite what some folks think, Iraq is a lot better today. It is not a threat to it’s neighbors. The leadership there isn’t making outlandish anti-Western statements, and statements in favor of the terrorists either.
thanks for the information on Iraq that I did not know. But why didn’t we send half a million men in so we could secure the borders and secure the cities. 250000 man wasn’t enough. Also when you go in under the pretext of rescuing people it’s hard to turn around and kill them so easily when you occupy. we should have what soldiers and police keep their jobs. Oh well. Even if Obama had left ten thousand troops none of this mess would have happened in the past 5 years. But there’s no use looking back.
We didn’t send in half a million men, because we didn’t have half a million men. We had already allowed our military to be decimated, and it has been more-so since.
By the time Obama became president, the situation was well in hand. He abandoned it, and allow Iraq to be over-run by our enemies.
If the war had been run perfectly, we would have lost far fewer men, and had far fewer injuries. Hindsight is always 20/20. It’s too bad Bush didn’t adjust his plan earlier, but he did and things turned out quite good actually. And then Obama...
One of Bush’s biggest mistakes was not drawing a line in the sand on Iran. He allow it to train, arm, and send in terrorists to Iraq and did very little about it.
I agree with everything you say.
AND that last sentence is YUGE!!!
if a country is sending in men to kill your men that’s war.
We’ve fought ONE war to win since WWII and that was the gulf war.
Our soldiers deserve(d) better
Thanks. I agree with your last comment too.
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