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Some people say history ended on November 9, 1989 with the Fall of the Berlin Wall; Others say history just re-started, the Cold War only providing a pause in history. I've just read two books that show history went beyond World War II and the Cold War.
The first book is: Paris 1919 by Margaret Macmillan about the end of World War I, Wilsonianism and the creation of the League of Nations.
The second book is: The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright about the creation Al-Queda and the planning towards 9/11.
In an earlier post, Jason, of Washington Interns Gone Bad, and I are discussing whether, in a uni-polar world, can America really turn a blind eye towards dictatorships? Here is why I say why not.
After WWI, during those months of diplomacy in Paris, many questions remained unasked:
A) Do ethnic cultures deserve self rule? (This question applied to the Slavs, Africa, Asia and the Middle east) Not until 1960 was that question answered.
B) Does it matter what happens in colonial societies? Because all the Major Powers were involved in a land grab, the indigenous societies of those nations did not have a voice.
Fast forward to 1950 and the beginning of The Looming Tower. In a dictatorship in Egypt, an organization was birthed: The Muslim Brotherhood. Nasser gave the Muslim Brotherhood legitimacy, and after 1979, Iran gave them funds, but OBL gave sponsorship and re-built the organization in his image; A Muslim Comintern. However, the end of OBL will not mean the end of Al-Queda.
Because of the racism of the early 20th Century, tribal questions of many nations were pushed away towards later generations (i.e. Yugoslavia). Because of the blindness of today's Generations, those chafing under dictatorships today can give birth to tomorrow's terrorists.
To quell Al-Queda in the Middle East, Wilsonianism must flourish. Don't like what is going on in Pakistan? Don't want to re-create another Yugoslav war somewhere else?
Support Democracy movements overseas. It shouldn't matter who is President to do that.
Surprisingly, it does.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
1 comment:
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In an earlier post, Jason, of Washington Interns Gone Bad, and I are discussing whether, in a uni-polar world, can America really turn a blind eye towards dictatorships? Here is why I say why not.
ReplyDeleteJSF, I absolutely don't think America should turn a blind eye to dictatorships. But I think there's a limit to what we can logistically do. It's time Europe got off their big, fat, overfed, hypercritical, pacifist butts and helped out a bit.
In the case of Pakistan, trying to install a democracy as we have in Iraq would require lots of American manpower and treasure and the economy is already plummeting. I think we need to work with the person best likely to be able to keep some sort of order in the country. But that's just my opinion. It's a very sick and twisted world we're living in. And pro-American allies, imperfect or not, are thin on the ground and immensely valuable where they're found. Of course, we'll have to make sure he doesn't violate certain principles. I don't think it's in our interests to be encouraging the rabble rousers. I could well be wrong.