I’ve been pondering a bit of heresy, lately. At least, it’s heretical for a conservative of my flavor. Perhaps we didn’t win the Cold War. Russia’s not exactly a bastion of democracy at the moment. Even in countries that formerly belonged to the USSR, we aren’t seeing much to be lauded. All this is a lesson to be learned in our current war against Islamofascism.
I thoroughly disagree. Practical, workable democracy doesn’t appear overnight. It starts first with civil society, and there are excellent examples of a burgeoning of civil society and culture in countries like Czechoslovakia, Hungary, or Poland. The notion of civility suggests something open and unfettered, and that is largely what we’re now seeing in said countries. It even exists, to a significant extent, in Russia itself. (Though some of that IS in fact open and unfettered criminality ::chuckle::.)
We definitely won the Cold War. ;p
The central question is: how are we dealing with the aftermath or the consequences? Not so well, imho. E.g., we haven’t dealt adequately with the former Soviet Union’s stockpile of nukes, some of which might be ending up in rogue hands. Dealing adequately with this thorny problem means addressing the crumbling of the Soviet military apparatus. And we don’t have anywhere near the resources or initiative to begin doing that. Not when we have porous borders and a sagging economy.
Yeah, what are you smoking shawn? =)
Btw, I’ve been thinking about Iran more, and I’ve decided that the US shouldn’t pursue isolation. We’re too inextricably tied to Israel for that to happen, unless you’re talking isolation in the military sense. But even then, the last thing anyone wants is an Israeli-Iranian war.
Something the US definitely should NOT do is go to war; we don’t have the resources, nor is it in our real interest to do so. We want stability in the Middle East, not further conflict, and I can’t see how war in this case achieves this. Iran, unlike Iraq, possesses a religiously unified Shiite population. Iraq was difficult enough – can the US really fight a three pronged attack versus Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran?
Iran has a restless, young, and educated population yearning for greater freedom and true democracy. Iran’s already made a lot of progress in civil rights, but with hardliner President Ahmadinejad at the reigns, reform has stalled. With the US’s help and support, Iranian activists will be more able to enact social and political change from the inside. A free, democratic Iran is a more stable Middle East.
Have faith in democracy.