I’m not all that thrilled with the television commentators
and their spin on events like the Charlottesville riot (call it what it was),
the North Korea situation, and the Iran nuke deal. Why? Because these events
have been decades in the making and the fact that they’re now blowing up in
everyone’s faces is suddenly an issue that needs to be dealt with. Oh really?
Let’s start with the white supremacists who decided to hold
a protest march over the fact that a local municipality decided to take down a
statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Lest we forget, Lee before he joined
the Confederacy as its military head, was a U.S. Army officer and a graduate of
West Point. Unlike the Nazis or Imperial Japanese military, Lee was not
involved in violations of the Laws of War. Over the past two decades, we’ve
seen the left decry various actions as racist, sexist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic,
Islamophobic, etc. Most of these claims have been baseless, they have been nothing
more than a grievance industry shifting into high gear and going full tilt.
Back in the early nineties, I remember a squadron mate
decrying the fact that our society was becoming politically correct, but I gave
it very little thought at the time. As I became a little more politically
conscious, I eventually latched onto what he was saying. We have succumbed to
the idea that we aren’t allowed to discuss “touchy” subjects because someone
somewhere might get upset or offended at what’s being talked about. This is
nothing more than free speech and the exchange of different ideas being
squelched by those with an agenda. That agenda does not include the sort of
discourse that this country’s founders wanted us to remain engaged in (the USAA
incident is a good example). The kind of discourse that no how matter how
uncomfortable or messy it became, enabled us to become a better, stronger nation.
Make no mistake, what we witnessed in Virginia was the epitome of pure evil. It
was the very antithesis of the melting pot philosophy that has made us, in the words
of the late Barbara Jordan, the most successful multi-ethnic country in the
history of the world.
The president was right IMHO to go off script on his initial
statements condemning what happened in Charlottesville. He and his predecessor
have been the recipients of an awful lot of vitriol from the political
opposition. That hatred and the sort of hostility that we witnessed last week
has been building over time and was eventually going to find a release somewhere.
Political correctness lit the fuse, time did the rest.
North Korea and Iran are Pariah states, plain, pure, and
simple. The Mullahs and Kim dynasty have held vise like grips on their
respective countries and populations for decades. The fact that these regimes
have been seeking to obtain nuclear weapons should come as no surprise. They
need some way to maintain their legitimacy on the world stage. What better way
to do so than become a nuclear power? Once that milestone has been achieved, it
becomes much more difficult to unseat them and turn back the clock.
When the 1979 revolution in Iran turned it into a theocracy,
it also set the regime on a path to becoming a regional hegemon. They have been
the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. The U.S. invasion of Iraq,
their near peer competitor/regional foe was intended to send the mullahs a
message, it had just the opposite effect and emboldened them to become even more
aggressive in the region. The North Koreans were the original bad boys when it
came to international condemnation and scorn being heaped on any nation for its
behavior. We have watched three successive generations of despotic leaders
starve their populace, engage in assassinations abroad, military acts of
provocation, and the illegal detention of foreigners for the purpose of being
used as nothing more than bargaining chips (Iran has been guilty of this as
well).
Previous administrations have tried the philosophy of
constructive engagement in the hopes of bringing these regimes to the table to
establish meaningful dialogue. That dialogue was nothing more than a smokescreen
that enabled them to focus their efforts on clandestine programs while the rest
of the world thought that progress was being made at reaching a peaceful
solution (think Saddam Hussein and the UN Oil for Food program). Yet, for some
reason we see these commentators and politicos wringing their hands and
bemoaning the president’s comments towards the North Koreans. So, can anyone
explain how all those flowery and optimistic words have helped us get
to a place where we can claim a modicum of success in dealing with either country?
Simply put, they can’t.
The time for though talk is now at hand. Just look at the
Japanese. What continues to go underreported throughout all of this is the fact
that after the last series of North Korean ballistic missile tests several
months ago, the Japanese government vowed to shoot down any North Korean
missile that overflew its territory (Japan has had the capability for a while
now). This most recent threat by Mr. Kim’s generals to launch several missiles
into the sea around Guam didn’t go unnoticed in Tokyo. Those missiles have to
fly over Japan on their way to their intended targets. Again, the Japanese
ministry of Defense reminded all concerned that Japan would not stand for any act
that violated its territorial sovereignty, but who’s been reporting it? Almost
no one.
It appears that rather than focus on the things that should
be bringing us together, we’re still being subject to partisan bickering over
whether presidential condemnation over a brutal act was strong enough or if
rhetoric directed towards a rogue nation went too far. C’mon man, grow up! It’s
time to put aside the parochialism and start acting as Americans. ‘Nuff said.
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