| |
My view is that much of the disagreement revolves around the conception of “imminent threat” held by each side in this debate, as well as the practicality of minding one’s own business amid the 21st century reality of intercontinental ballistic and nuclear technology, (as well as the precise value of Rand’s opinions on geo-strategic issues.)
As Steve points out, there is justification for going after Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. My view is that the Administration chose to go into Iraq because that’s a good place to stand and keep a boot on Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Why haven’t we advanced yet? Because the administration is not as war-hungry as it could and should be.
I think the WWII revisionists fail to distinguish between what was going to happen anyway and what happened because we acted. Consider if the Japanese had never attacked us and showed no sign of attack being imminent. Then, as Steve and Mark would have it, we would not have touched them.
Likewise, they would have had us stay out of Europe, as well. Rand imagined that Hitler and Stalin would have decimated each other and the free world would have been free of both of them in the end. But what if Hitler had gone east instead of invading France? As Steve and Mark would have it, France would have to stay out, as would Britain, and of course, the U.S. A strong argument can be made that Hitler would have consumed the USSR in that instance. (So why didn’t he do it that way? Because he had the good sense to know that Britain and the U.S. was not run by men who think the way Steve and Mark do! He felt he had to neutralize any possible immediate opposition from his west before he could turn east.) Had he absorbed Russia, he could well have accomplished the unification of Europe that Napoleon had dreamed of.
But Britain could still stop him, you say? No, no, no. Britain hasn’t been attacked yet, you see. And as Mark pointed out, Hitler was very horny for a peace treaty with Britain. So we assume she signed one—and, well, there is no imminent threat to her, as Hitler is still her peace partner at this point. Hitler completes his control of the middle-east oil fields without really even trying as there is no force to stop him and his Jew-exterminating credentials impress the Arabs so much. (In historical fact, the British were there trying to stop him, but remember this is a thought experiment run by Steve and Mark, so Britain had no business “foreign-adventuring” there, so they are not there.)
Meanwhile, Japan has been leaving the U.S alone, indeed their operations are thousands of miles from our shores. She has coastal China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, the Philippines, etc. No force capable of checking her advance existed. Add Australia and Zealand to the Empire.
Now imagine how the last fifty years would have played out.
|
|
Wrestling mit Schweinen
