An intermission from my on-going book reviews. Watching and listening to the news lately, as well as reading my books for the upcoming SMH review essay, has stirred my thinking about what's going on in Syria, the Middle East in general and where the U.S. should turn its attention after expending 10 years, billions of dollars and thousands of lives in the region.
Otto von Bismarck is not someone well known to Americans. Why do I mention him you ask? Well Bismarck was probably the greatest European statesmen of the 19th century and arguably the founder of modern Germany. The brilliant military victories of Prussia over the Danes, Austrians and French in the 1860s and 1870s were not only remarkable for their military prowess, but their political and diplomatic genius as well. I would say that Bismarck conducted Clausewitizian warfare at its finest, brilliantly tying military victory to political ends to not only create Germany but ensure a military alliance with his former foe, the Austrian Empire, while holding at bay Germany's traditional enemy-France. Most importantly Bismarck had a keen understanding of the importance of peace and prosperity to Germany and knew when not to make war. He is often quoted as saying that Germany had no interests at stake in the Balkans, a major flashpoint in Europe in the late 19th century, which Bismarck said "were not even worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian musketeer."'
SO, what does this have to do with Syria? Well, everyday there is more clamoring to stop the horrible massacres of civilians by the brutal Assad regime and the ongoing battle between government and insurgent forces appears to be growing in intensity. Strategically, I think we need to think about Bismarck and his realpolitik and determine what our real strategic interests are before we let our emotions get the better of us.
In that light, I think we should let the Arabs, Iranians, terrorists and thugs keep on fighting. Harsh? Well, maybe, but if we had LEADERSHIP in Washington and someone in the Oval Office that was thinking about AMERICA and not his re-election and political socialist agenda, then possible someone would grasp the unique and probably once in a generation opportunity we have to completely reshape the dynamics of the Middle East.
WOW, what de heck is he talking about? Well, here it is...with the new drilling and extraction technologies being developed, and new discoveries of oil and gas both in America and off Israel, the U.S. could, with Manhattan Project like investment, become nearly energy independent in 5-10 years...perhaps even less if the ridiculous environmental regulations were lifted and the war on oil and coal were ended by this Administration. By reducing our dependence on oil from the Middle East, the U.S. can actually achieve what the Code Pink whackos, MoveOn.org freaks and others have been proclaiming (at least from 2001-2009)--Bring the Troops home. Yup, all of them...the Fifth Fleet, all our troops, everything...and let the Middle East rot. Yup, I said it...let the Syrians, Saudis, Iranians, Hizballah, and Iraqi knuckleheads keep killing each other...and let the Chinese worry about keeping up a steady supply of oil...at least until their country collapses.
Now don't get me wrong...I supported the Afghanistan and even Iraq Wars initially, but I have determined that the entire Arab Middle East is hopelessly broken and stuck in the 9th century. SO, I say, fine...have your little tribal wars, shoot your neighbors because they're Sunni or Shia or whatever the hell. The more of each other you kill, the sooner that your "civilization" either decides to catch up to the rest of the world or slides back into being a curiosity that Americans read about in National Geographic.
There, I said it...stay the hell out of Syria...let the Assad knuckleheads know to leave Israel and Turkey alone or we will bomb the crap out of you..but otherwise...let's make Syria into Iran's "Iraq", so to speak...let the Quds Force spend their lives and treasure propping up their puppet. Let's see what those ungrateful bastards in Iraq do without the U.S. to help them out, let the Afghans get back to doing whatever the hell it is they do to sheep...and lets enjoy our own oil, coal, and natural gas...or just to really piss our former "allies" off, let's start importing energy from Israel and making them as rich as the Saudis.
Otto von Bismarck is not someone well known to Americans. Why do I mention him you ask? Well Bismarck was probably the greatest European statesmen of the 19th century and arguably the founder of modern Germany. The brilliant military victories of Prussia over the Danes, Austrians and French in the 1860s and 1870s were not only remarkable for their military prowess, but their political and diplomatic genius as well. I would say that Bismarck conducted Clausewitizian warfare at its finest, brilliantly tying military victory to political ends to not only create Germany but ensure a military alliance with his former foe, the Austrian Empire, while holding at bay Germany's traditional enemy-France. Most importantly Bismarck had a keen understanding of the importance of peace and prosperity to Germany and knew when not to make war. He is often quoted as saying that Germany had no interests at stake in the Balkans, a major flashpoint in Europe in the late 19th century, which Bismarck said "were not even worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian musketeer."'
SO, what does this have to do with Syria? Well, everyday there is more clamoring to stop the horrible massacres of civilians by the brutal Assad regime and the ongoing battle between government and insurgent forces appears to be growing in intensity. Strategically, I think we need to think about Bismarck and his realpolitik and determine what our real strategic interests are before we let our emotions get the better of us.
In that light, I think we should let the Arabs, Iranians, terrorists and thugs keep on fighting. Harsh? Well, maybe, but if we had LEADERSHIP in Washington and someone in the Oval Office that was thinking about AMERICA and not his re-election and political socialist agenda, then possible someone would grasp the unique and probably once in a generation opportunity we have to completely reshape the dynamics of the Middle East.
WOW, what de heck is he talking about? Well, here it is...with the new drilling and extraction technologies being developed, and new discoveries of oil and gas both in America and off Israel, the U.S. could, with Manhattan Project like investment, become nearly energy independent in 5-10 years...perhaps even less if the ridiculous environmental regulations were lifted and the war on oil and coal were ended by this Administration. By reducing our dependence on oil from the Middle East, the U.S. can actually achieve what the Code Pink whackos, MoveOn.org freaks and others have been proclaiming (at least from 2001-2009)--Bring the Troops home. Yup, all of them...the Fifth Fleet, all our troops, everything...and let the Middle East rot. Yup, I said it...let the Syrians, Saudis, Iranians, Hizballah, and Iraqi knuckleheads keep killing each other...and let the Chinese worry about keeping up a steady supply of oil...at least until their country collapses.
Now don't get me wrong...I supported the Afghanistan and even Iraq Wars initially, but I have determined that the entire Arab Middle East is hopelessly broken and stuck in the 9th century. SO, I say, fine...have your little tribal wars, shoot your neighbors because they're Sunni or Shia or whatever the hell. The more of each other you kill, the sooner that your "civilization" either decides to catch up to the rest of the world or slides back into being a curiosity that Americans read about in National Geographic.
There, I said it...stay the hell out of Syria...let the Assad knuckleheads know to leave Israel and Turkey alone or we will bomb the crap out of you..but otherwise...let's make Syria into Iran's "Iraq", so to speak...let the Quds Force spend their lives and treasure propping up their puppet. Let's see what those ungrateful bastards in Iraq do without the U.S. to help them out, let the Afghans get back to doing whatever the hell it is they do to sheep...and lets enjoy our own oil, coal, and natural gas...or just to really piss our former "allies" off, let's start importing energy from Israel and making them as rich as the Saudis.
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