So are we in World War Three or not? Obama says unequivocally “no”. Multiple GOP candidates say absolutely “yes”. (read here) What are they talking about and why?
It has been 75 years since Japan’s Pearl Harbor raid in Hawaii that pushed America into the deluge of World War Two. The war had already been underway around the world for years, but its real origins have faded into historical minutiae. It has been almost long enough ago as to be forgotten. At least there are fewer and fewer living that can recount it firsthand. Consider that World War Two did not start on Dec. 7, 1941, but in Poland in 1939. Some would argue that it goes back even farther than that. What about the annexations of Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938? Or Hitler’s election in 1934? Truth be told, the seeds of World War Two were sown in the aftermath of World War One in 1918. The argument today that we are in World War Three must remember the reasons behind Pearl Harbor and the slow start that led up to it.
The anatomy of a world war is a necessary discussion. It is a worthy argument to have. If the symptoms can be diagnosed, can a plan be put in place to prevent another such cataclysmic war? It seems we could stop the headlong charge into world war, but the new generation of leaders were not alive during the last war nor are they listening to the purveyors of the Cold War. President Obama says we are no longer in the Cold War, but how does he view its purpose for being waged in the first place? Was it not waged as an alternative to a nuclear world war? Obamas foreign policy and view of the world smack of Neo-Marxism anyway, causing his perspective of the Cold War to be an oppressive set of fascist battles against humanity. This is more in line with Mr. Putin’s ideals, not the insights of an American president. If the Cold War is over, is this what peace looks like, or, do we suppose there is no more fear of a hot war?
Such forgetfulness or stubbornness in power today is a great danger.
Let us renew the discussion. What is the anatomy of a world war? Let us consider it.
- World wars seem to involve belligerent personalities.
Hitler and Tojo were certainly sociopaths that waged idealistic campaigns before actual war designs. They were without empathy and did not seem to have self-limits on who they were supposed to become. Their ambitions were god like. Who are the like characters of today? - There is always a militarism touted as the national salvation.
While we must have a military and patriotically support it, to identify with it as our only national icon may be going in the wrong direction. Many past Presidents warned us of a military industrial complex gaining political power. (watch here) They also followed up such warning by reminding us of our true moral groundings. Mr. Obama has turned that notion inside out. He has played political Jenga with the Pentagon and our NATO allies. He has plucked out opposition in the officer corps, appointed ideologues, and defunded important security needs, while at the same time, allowed threats to grow, funded terror through nascent forms of the war on terror, and built a federal armed force. His personal one-man jihad has done so much damage. So much for the Nobel Peace Prize. His twisted form of militarism will be our undoing and is setting the stage for something worse. No wonder his rhetoric is so Orwellian. - Obedience to the state is forced and morphs into a national religion.
The “divine wind” infected Japanese culture, turning it from beautiful to vicious. The allegiance to Fuhrer and Fatherland is easily replicated where its previous origins and end results are forgotten. - Security becomes a license for tyranny.
The Kempeitai and S.S. become feared by their own people. American likenesses are seen in IRS auditing of conservative groups, militarization of local police, Homeland Security consolidation of law enforcement powers, and a national gun registry. - Weapons evolve. Total war escalates.
Civilian populations become fair game.The cold war was long, costly, and ugly, but both sides realized the dangers of modern open warfare. When the cold war is misunderstood or misrepresented the we are on the heels of World War Three. - Small skirmishes escalate into existential battles for cultural survival.
Alliances that made sense in peace often drag other players down into the bloodletting of total war. - International peace coalitions strengthen into global governing agencies.
The League of Nations was reborn as the United Nations. What comes next? Out of the chaos might arise a new world order.
*There are doubtless other factors that could be listed and should be added to this discussion.
The incremental steps and stealth strategies truly get forgotten and washed over for the false memory of the more bellicose acts of violence like Pearl Harbor and Nanking. To be sure, these should be remembered, not as the cause for war, but as the results of actions and escalations prior to them. That is where the rhetoric should focus right now. May it help us avert greater war?
Many recognize the constructs of world war gathering around us and are concerned that we do what is necessary to stop walking down the path or at least prepare to win the inevitable. The rhetoric going on today is not looking back far enough nor consulting those old enough to know about world war. The revisionist history of anti-American universities is not serving our next generation of leaders well. Our current conservative culture of militaristic bombast does not satisfy the argument either. This is an important discussion. What do you have to say? This debate should escalate not be stifled.
“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.” -Deuteronomy 32:7.
