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Back to the Cold War
Aug. 15th, 2008 09:19 amThe McCain campaign suddenly came alive this week. After weeks of half-hearted speeches about domestic policy and trying to make his case for continuing to stay in Iraq, suddenly the conflict between Russia and Georgia came up and McCain and his staff knew they had an opening.
McCain already has relations with the President of Georgia and one of his staffers is a paid lobbyist for Georgia. Suddenly McCain is Georgia's best buddy and wants to take a strong stance against Russia for invading a sovereign nation. McCain actually said in a pointed speech "In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations." He said this without apparent irony.
While President Bush waffled a bit, thrown off that something big was happening while he was trying to stay on message about the Chinese and still enjoy the Beijing games, McCain decided that he was going to play John Wayne, throwing out strong rebukes and even sending in a team of advisors to the region. It's interesting to think if Obama pulled the same thing, the cries of "presumptuous" would be growing louder and louder.
I think we can all understand that Russia is making a power play. As many of the breakaway Soviet republics make moves to embrace the West and look to strengthen ties to Nato, it was just a matter of time before Russia got it's act together and started to control the actions of it's neighbors again. Russia hasn't been happy with President Bush's overtures to the Ukraine and Georgia, promising NATO protection.
Of course Russia was more than happy to play the bluff and show that the US really didn't have power or resources to back Georgia up. Of course never worry that McCain would be faced with having to deal with reality. I guess that's the good thing about not being president yet. You don't actually have to back up your threats...yet.
The fact is, the neocons in the Republican party have been struggling to find an new enemy since the fall of the Soviet Union now about twenty years ago. If you recall, before September 2001 the newly minted President Bush sent a spy plane to China to build a conflict there, but luckily, or unluckily were were allowed to go declare war on Afganistan and then make the case for Iraq making our new mortal enemy "extremist Muslims". The face of evil has been painted as Al Queda , and Iran and Saddam Hussein, with a little North Korea just for a little Asian flare.
Still, none of the conflicts seem to be black and white.
It seems that there are people who would welcome a second cold war. McCain seems to be one of them. After the ambiguity of Vietnam and the problems with current conflicts, being able to go back to a clear white hat/black hat situation in the world appeals to many. Given that the cold war goes along with a threat of nuclear conflict, it doesn't really appeal to me. After going through all my childhood with the fear that we would actually have to stop, drop and roll because of a missile exchange with the Soviets, it's not something I'd like to reprise.
All the posturing, from both our current administration and from the McCain camp seems to come with some strange compartmentalization. Somewhere there's a disconnect between the problems with our troops being stretched thin in current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the desire to start a new conflict and to face an old enemy. I know they don't want to admit that America's power has diminished, certainly diplomatically, but it's true. Figting a third conflict with a much bigger foe would be pretty disasterous at this time, and it's not a conflict that our NATO allies seem to be ready to back us up on as much of Europe receives natural gas from Russia.
Can we handle a man like McCain? How would we handle yet another president who wants to send in troops first, then ask questions later? How could he purse the conflict he's proposing to protect Georgia without having to call for a draft? President Bush and Vice President Cheney knew that the key to not have the civilian protests like we saw in the 60's and 70's was to not have the American public have to sacrifice for the war. The longer they could still use the volunteer armed forces the better, but it's clear that our men and women have been sent on far too many tours of duty and we would have to change policy if we were to open up another battle.
Are we as a country ready to take on a new cold war? Are we needing another president that shoots from the hip? I think we need to be very careful with Russia, just as we are with China. We've lost serious clout in the last 7 years and it will take time to rebuild it. While we may still be a superpower, our actions show we have difficulties with that yoke, and our status as the world's policeman is drawing serious anger from other nations. Pursuing a go it alone strategy, and refusing to take diplomatic steps to resolve conflicts has created a lot of ill will in the world.
While John McCain wants to be Teddy Roosevelt, in this realm he seems to have sold himself out to be another carrier of the Bush Doctrine, not realizing that both models are seriously outdated. McCain wants to be a president for the 20th century while we need one that lives in the 21st.
McCain already has relations with the President of Georgia and one of his staffers is a paid lobbyist for Georgia. Suddenly McCain is Georgia's best buddy and wants to take a strong stance against Russia for invading a sovereign nation. McCain actually said in a pointed speech "In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations." He said this without apparent irony.
While President Bush waffled a bit, thrown off that something big was happening while he was trying to stay on message about the Chinese and still enjoy the Beijing games, McCain decided that he was going to play John Wayne, throwing out strong rebukes and even sending in a team of advisors to the region. It's interesting to think if Obama pulled the same thing, the cries of "presumptuous" would be growing louder and louder.
I think we can all understand that Russia is making a power play. As many of the breakaway Soviet republics make moves to embrace the West and look to strengthen ties to Nato, it was just a matter of time before Russia got it's act together and started to control the actions of it's neighbors again. Russia hasn't been happy with President Bush's overtures to the Ukraine and Georgia, promising NATO protection.
Of course Russia was more than happy to play the bluff and show that the US really didn't have power or resources to back Georgia up. Of course never worry that McCain would be faced with having to deal with reality. I guess that's the good thing about not being president yet. You don't actually have to back up your threats...yet.
The fact is, the neocons in the Republican party have been struggling to find an new enemy since the fall of the Soviet Union now about twenty years ago. If you recall, before September 2001 the newly minted President Bush sent a spy plane to China to build a conflict there, but luckily, or unluckily were were allowed to go declare war on Afganistan and then make the case for Iraq making our new mortal enemy "extremist Muslims". The face of evil has been painted as Al Queda , and Iran and Saddam Hussein, with a little North Korea just for a little Asian flare.
Still, none of the conflicts seem to be black and white.
It seems that there are people who would welcome a second cold war. McCain seems to be one of them. After the ambiguity of Vietnam and the problems with current conflicts, being able to go back to a clear white hat/black hat situation in the world appeals to many. Given that the cold war goes along with a threat of nuclear conflict, it doesn't really appeal to me. After going through all my childhood with the fear that we would actually have to stop, drop and roll because of a missile exchange with the Soviets, it's not something I'd like to reprise.
All the posturing, from both our current administration and from the McCain camp seems to come with some strange compartmentalization. Somewhere there's a disconnect between the problems with our troops being stretched thin in current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the desire to start a new conflict and to face an old enemy. I know they don't want to admit that America's power has diminished, certainly diplomatically, but it's true. Figting a third conflict with a much bigger foe would be pretty disasterous at this time, and it's not a conflict that our NATO allies seem to be ready to back us up on as much of Europe receives natural gas from Russia.
Can we handle a man like McCain? How would we handle yet another president who wants to send in troops first, then ask questions later? How could he purse the conflict he's proposing to protect Georgia without having to call for a draft? President Bush and Vice President Cheney knew that the key to not have the civilian protests like we saw in the 60's and 70's was to not have the American public have to sacrifice for the war. The longer they could still use the volunteer armed forces the better, but it's clear that our men and women have been sent on far too many tours of duty and we would have to change policy if we were to open up another battle.
Are we as a country ready to take on a new cold war? Are we needing another president that shoots from the hip? I think we need to be very careful with Russia, just as we are with China. We've lost serious clout in the last 7 years and it will take time to rebuild it. While we may still be a superpower, our actions show we have difficulties with that yoke, and our status as the world's policeman is drawing serious anger from other nations. Pursuing a go it alone strategy, and refusing to take diplomatic steps to resolve conflicts has created a lot of ill will in the world.
While John McCain wants to be Teddy Roosevelt, in this realm he seems to have sold himself out to be another carrier of the Bush Doctrine, not realizing that both models are seriously outdated. McCain wants to be a president for the 20th century while we need one that lives in the 21st.
