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One small voice in the proud tradition of FreeBlogging*Monday, August 16, 2004posted by gbarto at 2:06 PM:Pulling back from Europe, AsiaWe're pulling a pretty good share of our troops out of Europe and Asia, and it's about damn time. People probably have forgotten the old Civilization game by Sid Meier, but there was something instructive built into its workings: happiness levels dropped when troops were away from home for too long. With the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts drawing many troops from home and reminding us of just how many troops are overseas, we've had some problems with this. The bigger problem, though, is that the mission was problematic. Our aim in having troops in Germany and South Korea was to promote security in the regions. They have not been doing that. Both European and South Korean politicians have gone on a holiday from history (is that Kagan's phrase?). Kagan wrote a very instructive book on this, Of Paradise and Power. The end result has been that security in Europe and South Korea are worse off, as pols offer increasingly untenable visions of history that assume a) everlasting peace and invulnerability for Europe and b) an inoffensive North Korea. Both visions are patently false: Kim Jong-Il is making nukes and Europe threatens to be overrun from within by its Arab populations. However, by quietly keeping them secure, we're allowing the pols to create an environment in which we won't be able to provide protection if needed, because the same pols who rely on us for security have instructed their peoples not to trust us or our motives. I'm very fearful about where all this goes, and will not be surprised to see a North Korean incursion into South Korea (as Iraq did with Kuwait) or truly destabilizing unrest in Europe as greens, reactionary Islamofascists and disaffected leftists separately chink away at their leaders ability to govern (don't think it could happen? ask the gendarmerie in Paris or Marseilles how hard they work to maintain order in the Arab neighborhoods - parts of France are occupied already). Unfortunately, as with World War II, we're screwed: Europe, perpetually secure in its older wisdom, is going to do it again, doddering into something that only its ill-regarded child, America, can clean up. And we're probably stuck in Asia, too, though there's some hope that South Koreans will become more pro-American as it appears that anti-Americanism really means the only line of defense against the North is the power or prayer or the unpleasantness of arming themselves. The good news: America will take charge again in the end, for the simple reason that we have no choice. And like WWII, the Cold War, etc, it will be a bitch. But we will succeed, because a) that's what we do, and b) we have no choice. * * *
French Elections, 1st round
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