Cold War 2.0?

The current discord between the United States and Russia seems to be getting worse.  It clearly is not the 1980s Cold War all over again but it might be a new one.  And it seems ridiculous.

The United States seems to be hysterically shouting about everything the Russians may or may not have done.  It seems to date back to the Syrian crisis back in 2013 when Vladimir Putin acted more like a peacemaker (!) than a Barrack Obama who seemed determined to hit Damascus with a missile strike that would have done more harm than good.

After the Syrian lunacy, there was a definite carping tone in the US media about Russian shortcoming in the Olympics.  Everyone should have been happy that the normally inefficient Russkies managed to pull the whole thing off.

Then, during the Winter Olympics, the Ukrainian crisis erupted and the Russians reacted by seizing Crimea.  At no time, has the Russian concern that the democratically elected government of Ukraine was overthrown by neo-Nazis with what appeared to be at least tacit Western approval.  That feeds into Russian paranoia but no one in NATO seems to want to address that.

Now there are never ending sanctions, which are beginning to look like acts of war and don't appear to be doing any good since Russia's economy has few US links.  The Europeans will be hurt worse and it seems that France and Britain have no problems continuing to see weapons to Russia. 

Russia has been tossed out of the G-8 and seems to be turning the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) into a counter G-5.

Then came the clumsy effort to pin the tragedy of a Malaysian airliner shot down over Ukraine on Russia, accusations of Russian artillery hitting Ukrainian soil (but the "pictures" show no wreckage of actual targets) and now a shrill scream about an alleged violation of the 1987 INF treaty.

Next they will be shouting about taking the 2018 World Cup from Russia.

Like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, no one is going to take the United States seriously.

All Washington is doing, while Israel and Gaza burn, Libya turns into Mad Max Country, and our own southern border descends into chaos, is making matters worse.  Better to have constructive dialogue than to push Russia and China together into a continental alliance that will span most of the world.

Please, somebody in Washington look at a map.

Germany wins the World Cup!

Mario Gotze will never have to buy a drink in Germany again!

It took 123 minutes but Mario Gotze punched in the winning goal and Germany had its fourth World Cup! 

Despite the low score, it was a tight, well played game and Argentina fought Germany all the way to the end.  It was a shame that someone had to lose but it was obvious that these were the two best teams in the tournament.  If anyone lost, it was the Brazilian national team. Losing 7-0 is bad. Losing like that on your homefield is even worse. Compounding the humiliation was the shut out that the Netherlands plopped on Brazil in the third place game.

Germany rules the soccer world for the next four years.

Ann Coulter will be relieved to learn that Americans will be shifting their attention back to a more familiar form of football.

I am too.

GO STEELERS!

Soccer--threat to America?

Sorry, I don't see Ann Coulter's point.

When you have an argument between extremes, you find the truth is in the middle.

I don't think soccer is a threat to America nor do I see the USA ever becoming a soccer nation.  Ann Coulter of the right sees interest in soccer as an erosion of America's cultural identity while some goofball on the left think America will be a socialist paradise.

Both sides are wrong.

Ann said something to the effect that "if your grandfather was born here, you hate soccer."

My parents were born overseas and I don't hate soccer.

It is also not my favorite sport but I don't hate it.  My sport is football (American and Canadian), followed by hockey. Lacrosse, invented by the Iriqoouis indians, is #3 and clearly the most American of sports.  Soccer comes in around fourth place.  Baseball might drop in at fifth.  Maybe if the Pirates were not so bad, I might take a greater interest.

It is a beautiful game but Americans like lots of scoring and you don't see that in soccer.  I don't like the clock counting upward but that sees to be a tradition that is not going anywhere soon.  Still, it is a fun game.

The attraction of the World Cup is that it is something the whole world watches. The US has had teams in competition for it since the very first World Cup back in 1930.  We actually came in third!

The United States has the Atlantic and Pacific on its shores and Canada and Mexico for neighbors.  We have never been seriously invaded.  The US is, by nature, rather isolationist in cultural matters.  That does not mean you ignore the world. I don't think you can.  But you don't have to hate it.

Embrace what you like and stay away from what you don't like.

Go Steelers!

Happy Canada Day!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

As the world turns...100 years later

A century ago this weekend, the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serb nationalist named Gavrilo Princip.  It kicked off the First World War, which would lead to the Second World War, then the Cold War, and here we are today.

Back in 1914, the Great Powers were jockeying for position in the Balkans, the powder keg of Europe, and essentially, the world.  Austria and Serbia got into it, Russia threatened Austria, Germany backed the Austrians, the French backed the Russians, and the British told France they had their back.  You can see how small nations got the ball rolling and how it pulled in larger ones.

Exactly a century later, the Middle East looks like the Balkans and this century's Great Powers are tied up in the Middle East and it looks like history has a good chance of repeating itself.  The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), declared itself The Caliphate (or just The Islamic State, if you prefer) and they see ready to pick up where the the Umayyad and Abbasid  Caliphates left off.

The US send 300 "advisors" to help the flagging Iraqi army and now another 200 are on the way.  Can you say "Vietnam", boys and girls?

Russia just sold Iraq some MiG fighters and they are sending "military experts" to help that same flagging Iraqi army.

I am not sure if China is mixed up in this yet, but they may use US preoccupation there to stir up mischief somewhere else.

I don't know why CNN keeps calling it the Iraqi-Syrian border.  That line in the desert that looked good to some guy in London back in the 1920s, is not there anymore.  Wishful thinking?  Hoping it all goes away? 

No, those ISIS guys are very real indeed.

Just as real as those Serbs shooting the Archduke in Sarajevo  a hundred years ago.

The Islamic State is not concerned about 1914.  They are looking further back, as you can see by their map.  It looks like it came straight out of 750 AD.  If you don't think they can do some serious damage, just consider what ISIS was a couple of months ago.

Austria did not think much of the Serbian Army either and not one, but two invasions failed before the third finally succeeded with a lot of German help.  By that time, it was 1915 and World War I was well under way.

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

And there is a lot of mass illiteracy in the Middle East...

Iraq 3.0?

US soldiers going back in Iraq?

President Obama announced that the United States was considering sending 300 US "advisers" to help the Iraqi government deal with an ISIS surging towards Baghdad.

Isn't this how Vietnam started?

Maybe it is time to consider that maybe Iraq is an artificial construction and is not fated to survive.  There is a massive Shia-Sunni split and let us not forget the Kurds to the north.  The whole thing might have looked good to diplomats after the First World War, it does not work very well in reality.

The simple truth of the matter is that it does not appear anything will work.

Back in 1991, the US had Saddam Hussein on the ropes and let him off the hook. The rationale was that an occupation and construction of a new government would entail a lengthy occupation and guerrilla warfare.

For some reason in 2003, that suddenly seemed OK as the US plunged in looking for weapons of mass destruction that weren't there and engaged in a long occupation, fighting guerrillas and constructing a new government.

That government is as dictatorial as Hussein ever was.

And this came after the US left in 2011 after eight years of fighting and 4,500 American lives.

Now, the whole thing is about to come crashing down, bearing an eerier resemblance to South Vietnam,circa 1975.  I wonder if the helicopters are ready to take off from the rooftops again.

The administration is trying to calm everyone by telling anyone who will listen that they are aware of the danger of mission creep (Somalia, 1993). As you can see from history, these things take a life of their own.  Plus, air strikes will hurt ISIS, but not stop it.

It is unlikely that ISIS will take Baghdad. It is a huge city and there are large Shia populations immediately south.  What seems to be happening is a de facto partition with a Sunni north (minus the Kurds) and a Shia south.  Combined with ISIS allies (other units?) in Syria, there might be a new country in the beginning stages.  Not a very nice one, but at least it is isolated.  Given Middle Eastern history, it will collapse on its own.

Like Iraq.

Rebels in Syria have US weapons.  Those weapons are making their way across the desert to ISIS in Iraq.  If US forces are in Iraq (again!), those weapons, supplied by the US government, will be used against US soldiers.

This situation is ridiculous and tragic.  If it were not caked over in human blood, it would be a comedy.

Forget Iraq.  We have done enough.

June 6, 1944

The liberation of Europe began on this day seventy years ago.

May we have the same strength and fortitude to face future challenges.