Join the new world

They’re saying it in so many countries, and in so many papers that at least part of it has to be true. We stand on the brink of World War Three. It seems like such a massive, important thing. It brings to mind images of tanks and battleships, flame throwers and mushroom clouds, Patton and Rommel. With a name like World War Three, and a species wide infatuation with the end of days, how could such words not conjure forth images of extinction and massive changes wrought by the iron and steel we have crafted into our technologies?

But I can’t help but feel that the changes wrought on the battle field will be minor. Some lines will be redrawn on the map (as some already have), but, for the most part, I wouldn’t expect any major shifts in alliances, or any elevations of the bitter rivalries that current drive our politics in the new world.

I call your attention to the time that will come later, after this war has, or hasn’t, been waged. That strange period of time we call peace, when everyone begins to scramble for the next bought of violence. I call your attention to the future, and I ask you, America, just what the hell do we want out of all this?

Do you want to be isolationists? Relying on strong relations with our neighbors, and the oceans that separate us from Europe and Asia to keep us secure? To you want to turn inwards, and leave everyone else to their own devices? I feel this idea is just as foolish now as it was back in 1939. Isolationism in the real world leads to terrible things that painted the last century in blood and gore. In the new world, such things aren’t (thankfully) really an option. But, isolationism could certainly lead to a collapse in many our industries, and without allies, we’d be ripe plunder for other nations whose concern for the wishes and desires of others is a cruel joke.

Do you want a world were political take overs are the norm? I find them to be disgusting and a loathsome tactic, but one cannot argue with their effectiveness. If they didn’t work so damn well, they wouldn’t make up such a large portion of history in the new world.

Is a take over with the intend to insure peace between two rival nations less evil than one solely motivated by greed and the desire to plunder?

I don’t have answers for those questions. I dislike take overs. I think they are among the dirties tricks you can do. I think they’re a means towards Imperialism, and I feel Imperialism is a terrible method to enforce peace, and one that is ultimately destined to failure each time its enacted.

Do we want a world were nations that have long out grown their borders and have swallowed up smaller countries are allowed to dictate the ebb and flow of life for everyone? Should we be beholden unto Romania, for without them, Indonesia would reign supreme? Should nations like Australia and South Africa be forced to scrape and bow while Indonesia holds the majority of their regions?

At what point do we say enough? When do you begin to demand of other nations, even our own allies, begin to free territories they have held in bondage for months, or even years? How long to we leave the less populated nations to fend for themselves? How long we will insist that they ‘negotiate’ and hold ‘peace talks’ with the countries that hold their territories? How long will we allow these people to suffer under the fear and the terror inspired by armies that can smash at each for over a million points of damage on multiple battlefields each day?

How long do we allow these people to be beaten beneath the wheels and treads of states who do so little to hide and mask what is most certainly the new world’s most prevalent form of terrorism?

“You will do as I say, or I will make your suffer again. Still. Forever.”

Or do we keep our mouths shut, and hope that, after this next series of wars come to a halt, that we find ourselves in the position to exact these sort of terrible and inhumane practices on other nations?

Do we not hunt these monsters, and attempt to destroy them in hopes that tomorrow we will be able to act with the same impunity that they have today?