{"id":4055,"date":"2014-03-09T03:13:22","date_gmt":"2014-03-09T08:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/?p=4055"},"modified":"2014-03-11T19:46:02","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T00:46:02","slug":"time-for-a-cold-war-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/?p=4055","title":{"rendered":"Time for a Cold War 2?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, the poor Ukraine. Three of my grandparents hailed from Poland, growing up not far from the Ukraine border. The fourth was from Belarus, just to the north. They all came to America about 100 years ago. It’s nice to see that Poland has escaped domination and gotten itself on its feet as a modernizing Western nation. Belarus is still a mess, but it’s a mostly stable mess, having accepted second-rate status as a Russian satellite nation. But the Ukraine – – it just can’t seem to make up its mind whether it wants to be another Poland or another Belarus. And the Russians have made it eminently clear that they will make it as difficult as possible for the Ukrainians to escape their dominance and work more closely with the European community. Several years ago I wrote a post noting the Orange Revolution<\/a> in Kiev. The same issues were in play back then, and 5 years later, they are still way up in the air. This one is not going to get resolved anytime soon.<\/p>\n

The big question for the USA is just how to approach this situation. Should we channel our inner Winston Churchill (as the British themselves are no longer able to; Great Britain is now just another Euro nation, not the declining but still world-dominating force that it was in the late 1930’s . . . the USA of today has inherited this role, including the downward trend) and get tough with Putin? Well, unlike the days of Churchill and the rise of Hitler, the Russians still have enough nuclear weapons remaining to basically put an end to our civilization. So we need to approach this with much caution. <\/p>\n

Another part of this big question is, just how dangerous is Putin and modern Russia? Is Putin another Hitler<\/a>? Does he have plans for the world, plans that we and a lot of others may not like? And even if he does, can he do as much damage as the Nazis did? Hopefully, we can put aside Russia’s nuclear force, which probably is not going to be used given that we could likewise end the history of the Russian nation. Unlike Hitler, Russia is NOT able to roll tanks into Poland, France and Belgium.<\/p>\n

What’s mostly at stake here is a Russian \u201czone of domination\u201d, a \u201cgreater Russia\u201d to the west and south, including the Ukraine. Given the regressive trends in Russia since the brief return of hope after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it is regrettable to see Russian power reasserted along its borders. Even more so when people in an affected nation take to the streets to protest, as has happened in the Ukraine (at least in western Ukraine; the return-to-Russia scenario is reportedly better accepted the closer east one gets to the Russian border).<\/p>\n

Unlike the days of the Cold War, there is no great ideological clash behind the situation. I don’t think . . . Actually, NY Times columnist David Brooks feels<\/a> that there is something of a \u201cPutinism\u201d in play here, a mix of old-fashioned Russian nationalism together with the ancient Tsarist and Orthodox ideal<\/a> of guarding the majesty and greatness of ancient Rome (given the corrections and reconciliation with Christianity that Rome eventually achieved later in its glory days, via Constantine). In a nutshell, Rome fell to the barbarians, followed centuries later by Constantinople, but Moscow still harbors the great heritage of centralized power, religious values and civil grandeur that the later emperors and early Christian bishops had known. Hmm, does Vladamir Putin see himself as the savior of Christendom, the man who would restore a bulwark of orderly civilization in an age of increasing anarchy and violent apostasy? Seems laughable to us, but some in Moscow (and the Crimea) might actually take that idea seriously. (Interestingly, in 2008 the Russian federation TV aired a movie made by an Orthodox priest<\/a>, Father Tikhon Shevkunov, that espoused the Third Rome idea. More interestingly, Fr. Shevkunov is the spiritual adviser of Putin’s wife.)<\/p>\n

Here is a quote from the Brooks article: \u201c’The Russian messianic conception,’ Berdyaev [a Russian political philosopher<\/a> from the early 20th Century] wrote, ‘always exalted Russia as a country that would help to solve the problems of humanity.’\u201d Oh dear. Whenever a nation exalts itself as being able to help solve the problems of humanity, you know you’re in for trouble. Especially when that nation actually has some power. The Romans used this rationale to justify their conquests. So did Nazi Germany. Ditto for Queen Victoria and her tribe. And the good old USA has gotten into trouble whenever such an idea became popular, e.g. the recent Bush Administration and Iraq. I’m sure that Al Qadea and other violent Islamist groups feel they are working to ‘solve the problems of humanity’. Why can’t we all just be like Mexico or Denmark or Thailand, and just get on with our business without trying to solve the problems of humanity?<\/p>\n

Thus, some of the pundits and politicians are talking about a return<\/a> to the Cold War. Hmm . . . Cold War 2? Akin to how we had to have a second World War in the 20th Century, after German expansionism was temporarily stopped but not fully uprooted two decades before? There would be a lot of bad consequences for the USA and the entire world if we were to go back to that (including opportunities for Chinese expansionism). We would need to re-militarize our economy and significantly raise taxes, lowering average living standards. We might also become involved in more hot wars around the edges, akin to Korea and Vietnam; it can’t be forgotten that a lot of people died to keep the Cold War from getting even hotter.<\/p>\n

But then again, I can’t help but wonder if there would be some unanticipated positive results of a CW II. I grew up in the latter half of CW I, and despite all the fears of nuclear incineration, the nation certainly was more united. You didn’t have a Tea Party clamoring to tear down the government. Democrats and Republicans still seemed able to talk to each other and work together behind the scenes (once they got the nut cases like Senator Joseph McCarthy<\/a> out of the room). National politics didn’t seem like blood sport. You didn’t have a terrible gap between rich and poor. Businesses didn’t seem quite as greedy and cut-throat. Business people and financiers didn’t take home obscene salaries. The notion of \u201ccorporate responsibility\u201d was not widely debated back then, but most corporations seemed to \u201cplay fair\u201d and made their accommodations with the stronger labor unions of the day. The military-support industries were largely kept \u201con-shore\u201d (not a good idea relying on potential enemies to provide your critical supplies, or vulnerable ocean routes to transport them), creating many job opportunities for the middle and lower classes. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, the fear that the Soviets would eclipse us technologically forced us to put a lot of public money into education, especially scientific education. One of the side-effects was our space program, which put men on the moon and machines on other planets. Another was the vigorous computer and high-tech industries that blossomed in the late 1980s and is still going strong today (albeit more and more dependent upon foreign scientists and technicians to keep it going). For all of the drag on the economy created by a huge military, there were many countervailing positive effects caused by its technology spin-offs. Recall President Kennedy’s talk of \u201cthe long twilight struggle<\/a>\u201d against Communism and how it brought out the best in Western society.<\/p>\n

So, when I hear talk of a return to the Cold War, I can’t help but feel a bit of nostalgia mixed in with the trepidations. I really don’t want to see my taxes go up 25% so that the USA can re-militarize. I’m not looking forward to renewed threats of nuclear annihilation or Joseph McCarthy-like political repression. But by the same token, if it would slow everyone else down (especially the super-rich) and create more opportunities for the poor (e.g. more domestic jobs) and the young (cheap college, especially if you can do math and science) . . . and if it would put the rest of the world (including China and the radical Islamists) on notice that the USA cab still get its act together and make sacrifices for what it ultimately believes in (i.e. your basic Enlightenment values such as human liberty, responsible government, responsible citizenship, etc.) . . . well then, who knows. Maybe something good could come out of this new dark chapter in world history, which appears to be evolving once more from the gloomy north countries on the planet.<\/p>\n

I don’t really expect the Ukrainian crisis to be another Sudetenland<\/a>, and I’m not sure that Vladimir Putin actually has any theories and visions beyond his own self-aggrandizement (albeit with a drop or two of Mother Russia sentimentalism). What I just speculated about most likely won’t happen, especially the good things. But still . . . who would have thought that the weakened and down-hearted USA of 1938 would somehow rebound and defeat two powerful conquering nations over the next decade, and then settle in for the next four to outlast an even more powerful burgeoning empire. All while raising its living standards to unprecedented levels, and at the same time addressing historic wrongs such as racial prejudice, gender inequality and sexual orientation hatred. Sometimes it takes the worst to bring out the good in the good guys. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ah, the poor Ukraine. Three of my grandparents hailed from Poland, growing up not far from the Ukraine border. The fourth was from Belarus, just to the north. They all came to America about 100 years ago. It’s nice to see that Poland has escaped domination and gotten itself on its feet as a modernizing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,24,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4055"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4061,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055\/revisions\/4061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}