We haven’t been walking very softly in this world, and we’ve been using our stick a lot. And what have we gained? We are despised as racist imperialists in much of the world, and resented in most of the rest. What’s the point? When we finally exit Afghanistan and the Middle East, we will we have steady allies there, other than Israel?
And exit we will, after a little police action with ISIS. The more of them we kill, the better. We’re sending a message to the world. We’ve been overextended in the world, and are pulling back. But that doesn’t mean we won’t come after you and take you out if we need to. If we can find you, we’ll come and kill you.
Aside from Israel, the Middle East is not in our sphere of interest. It’s properly part of a European sphere of interest, and their interest lays in keeping the Russians out. But that’s up to them and the Russians. We, like Russia and the Middle East are an oil exporting country. So our interests, in that regard, no longer align with the importers of the world. That changes everything.
After WW II, when Britain was going broke, they handed off the “East of Suez” duty to us. At the time we needed the oil, but now we don’t. Now we’re giving that beat back to them and the other Europeans. It’s now their problem, and they’re no longer going broke, so they have the means to deal with it. Come home America. It didn’t make sense when McGovern said it, and the Cold War was on. It does now. People have had it with all these wars. Bannon needs to figure out how to say that without sounding like a pacifist, but it’s a message that will appeal to people.
We’re getting out of the Middle East, just as Eisenhower got us out of Korea, and Nixon got us out of Vietnam. Imperial overreach, in each case. Truman invaded North Korea, and over reached. Kennedy/Johnson got us into Vietnam, and over reached. And Bush 2 got us into the Middle East, and over reached. It’s like a pattern. The first two were excusable, in some sense, because they were part of the Cold War. But there’s no excuse for the level of stupidity it took to invade Iraq. He’s the most disastrous foreign policy President since Wilson, and for the same reason as Wilson — high minded idealism, paid for in American blood. A pox on him.
I heard a Billy Jeff (or B.J., as I call him) Clinton quote today that sent a chill down my spine. He was in Australia, or someplace, talking about “…the ultimate wisdom of a borderless world…” That’s the way this dumb hippie thinks, and the harridan he’s married to as well. These people are crazy. And they want to run this country? For the benefit of the world? When Trump says these trade deals are done by stupid people he’s wrong. They’re not stupid, they’re traitors. They’re selling their country out, deliberately, to make the world a better and more fair place.
I think a non-interventionist policy overseas is good policy, and good politics. There aren’t that many neocons in this country. These are the people who took us to war in the Middle East. They will soon be gone, but not forgotten. They will serve as examples of stupidity in the history books..
Off to Jackpot, Nevada tomorrow. We stay at the “93 Club”, named for the highway. I’m always amazed to see these people in these casinos. Looking for a little action in their lives, I guess. Then across Idaho to Bozeman, where the prospective groom and bride await. Babbie and I can’t wait for it to be ATW — after the wedding. My wife is a nervous wreck. Other than that, I can’t complain.
reaganproject.com 