by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.
We do not live in a world without consequences. Syria’s consequences for using chemical weapons needs to be quick, decisive and comprehensive. Had the world responded when Hitler invaded Poland, WWII may never have happened. If we do not learn from history, we will be doomed to repeat it. Everything has consequences. It is one of the universal laws that governs the Cosmos.
Not Just America’s Responsibility
[KJV] Proverbs 16:18
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
The world has come to expect and rely on the United States taking a leadership role in solving International crises. In point of fact, we have encouraged, cultivated and taken pride in our status as the world’s lone “Super Power.” The reality is, the American Empire has no clothes and the designation of “Super Power” is merely a certificate taxpayers can hang on their mental walls to help distract us from the reality that we’re paying through the nose to sustain nation States who would throw a party upon our demise.
High Speed Rail?
Unless you have ambitions of conquest, you only need a military capable of defending your own borders from any reasonable threat. You do not need to be able to project power around the world. Because the United States has been so willing to do this – at a cost to its taxpayers – other nations have not seen the need to invest a lot of their money developing their own military/industrial complexes. Instead, many of these developed nations have spent their money on providing better healthcare to their citizens, improving their infrastructure with high speed rail and improving their educational systems.
Meanwhile, here in the land of the lone remaining “Super Power,” on a quiet night, you can hear us turning into a third world nation. Our infrastructure is collapsing. Our educational system is failing and our cities are quickly turning into sets for the casting of the next post apocalyptic movie. Put simply, we cannot afford to carry the rest of the world on the backs of the American taxpayer.
Syria’s Consequences
Thus far I have laid out what I believe to be a compelling case for us to stay out of Syria. Unfortunately, loath as I am to say it, this may be the exact wrong thing to do. World Wars occur when multiple nations are drawn into a conflict that began between two nations. In addition to bloodshed and destruction, war creates refugees. Displaced civilians fleeing the conflict. Where do these people go? They flood across the nearest borders into the surrounding nations creating a humanitarian crisis that in many cases, particularly now given the global economic state, these receiving nations are simply not financially equipped to deal with.
Syrian Refugees fleeing into Turkey
Refugees create economic and political crises for the nations surrounding the initial conflict. Suddenly, these nations now have a vested interest in the initial conflict and this creates a powder keg that often explodes. In addition to murdering hundreds of innocent men, women and children through the use of chemical weapons, the other result is, this act has exponentially increased the number of Syrian refugees flooding across the borders of the surrounding nations.
The Whole World Is A Stage
Guy walks into a bar spots a beautiful lady and propositions her. “Would you sleep with me for a million dollars he asks?” Without hesitation, “sure!” she says. “How about for twenty five dollars?” Indignantly, “what kind of a woman do you think I am?!?” “Well, we’ve already established that. Now we’re just haggling over price.”
“Dear Leader” of North Korea Kim Jong Un
Just like nuclear weapons, chemical weapons are weapons of mass destruction. Suppose the Assad Regime had detonated a small tactical nuke? Would it make a difference to you? Fundamentally it’s the same thing. Make no mistake about it, Iran is watching to see what happens and more importantly, North Korea is watching. Doing nothing may be the exact worst thing we can do. Why the worst thing? The world is a jungle that operates on the principle of “Survival Of The Fittest.” You are either predator or prey. If weakness is sensed, a predator can quickly become the prey.
When the United States and the rest of the world indicate that they have no stomach to enforce UN resolutions against the use of Chemical weapons, the hands of State sponsored terrorist are loosed.
Syria’s Consequences – Facing The Harsh Realities
The question is simple, but the answer is not. What do we do? The story is told that at the beginning of WWII, the German army had orders to fall back if they met even the least resistance invading Poland. Theoretically, a single 12 year old armed with a single shot .22 rifle could have stopped the entire German army by simply firing a shot in their direction.
Poland put up no initial resistance and 2.5% of the total global population or over 60 million deaths later, WWII came to an end. Dare we repeat this mistake again? If we refuse to learn the lessons of history, we certainly might.
WWII Cemetery
The world has changed. We are all connected in our global community. What happens in Vegas, doesn’t stay in Vegas. It can be known on the other side of the globe within seconds. Fear mongers have for some time been floating the notion of the United States going to war with China. Here’s why that won’t happen. First, China is holding a sizeable portion of the US debt. The last thing you want to do is harm the person who owes you money or from our perspective, we don’t want to blow up our bank. Second, the main export of the United States is food followed by technology. Taking out the United States would tip the world into global famine.
Of course, there are nations working on the problem of increasing their own domestic food supplies, but right now? The global community needs the United States in tact. The United States is the 3rd top oil producing nation in the world, behind Russia who is first and Saudi Arabia who is second. The bottom line is that WWIII even if no one launched a single nuclear device, would take most of the world back to the stone age. Nations not even participating in such a war would suffer from famine and economic collapse.
Hurricane Katrina Refugees
The problem again is, if we do nothing our inaction may lead to the conflict spreading which would draw other nations into what might well turn into WWIII. Right now the United Nations puts the cost of the Syrian refugee crisis at about 3 billion dollars. If you live in the United States, it is easy to forget how hundreds of thousands of refugees would affect much smaller nation States. When hurricane Katrina devastated the gulf and Louisiana in particular, we had a lot of refugees. We looked like a 3rd World Nation. It took us a lot of time to sort things out. People were spending weeks in various sports stadiums and it wasn’t pretty. We were big enough and wealthy enough to absorb our displaced citizens – some were sent as far away as Alaska – but we still have not fully recovered to this date. Now imagine what it would be like for countries some of which are no larger land mass wise than some of our States.
Conclusions
I don’t know what we should do specifically and in particular, but I know we must do something. The longer this conflict continues, the more destabilized and dangerous the region becomes. The more dangerous the region becomes, the higher the probability it will lead to global calamity.
