As Americans watch the breathless news coverage of Mr. Obama’s impending attack on Syria, it occurs to me that regardless of pundits on television debating endlessly about what the possible goals Mr. Obama hopes to accomplish through military action, he cannot control the reaction to such an attack. It could well be that missiles will fly in the next day or two and nothing much will change. Mr. Obama can claim that he is a serious man that means what he says, regardless that the facts on the ground will remain largely unchanged. Perhaps his strike will degrade Bashar Al-Asad’s military capability. What is also possible, if not probable, is that Mr. Obama will provide the excuse Islamist extremists in the Middle East have been waiting for. Iran has stated for years that they wish to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. The Muslim Brotherhood, who Mr. Obama has supported at every turn, likewise has a similar goal.
This week Iran and Syria have both pledged to attack Tel-Aviv, Israel if the United States should attack Syria. Russia, and as of yesterday, China have both warned of serious consequences if Mr. Obama insists on backing up his foolish pronouncements of a so-called red-line with military force. Although progressives have a hard time accepting it, these nations do not care about American political calculations. They are only concerned with obtaining power and maintaining their strategic interests. Is it tragic that hundreds of thousands of people have been butchered by both sides in the Syrian Civil War? Yes. Would it be preferable if the United States could provide a stabilizing influence on the region? Yes. Unfortunately, there is little that the US can do to help any innocent victims living in Syria. America has squandered any credibility it may have once had on the altar of American domestic politics. Put simply, Middle Eastern leaders know well that American leaders cannot be trusted.
One might simply be tempted to believe that the President and his administration are just naïve. I don’t think so, however. Regardless of strongly disagreeing with his policies, I believe these people may be arrogant, but they are far from stupid. If that is so, why would educated and experienced people make such poor decisions? There is very little to be gained by the United States from military action in Syria, so why allow the US to be backed into this corner? It is inexplicable unless there is another goal all together.
What if there is an upside the President and his progressive supporters would like to achieve? What goal might progressives in the United States and around the world have that would benefit from such action? To answer this, consider our world from a very macro point of view. Progressives and Islamists too, for that matter, clearly would like the world to be re-ordered. While these groups may not agree with each other on what the world should look like, they do agree that “capitalism” is the root of all evil in the world. The problem from their point of view is how to destroy capitalism so that they can replace it with their system of choice. As the Fabian Socialist’s Window depicts, (Fabian Socialist Window is a stained glass depiction of a man beating the earth with a hammer. On the window is a caption: “remold it nearer to the heart’s desire”), the only way to achieve this goal is to create chaos in the world.
Fabian Window
As was the case a century ago, the Fabians almost achieved some of these goals after WWI. Like today, the status quo, simply didn’t sufficiently meet the needs too many people. Also, like today, progressives believed the way to overcome the overly class oriented system of the day was to destroy the system and replace it with a “New World Order”. Like President Obama, President Woodrow Wilson was a committed progressive, and like today, leaders foolishly stumbled into a tragic world conflict that resulted in the deaths of millions. While I don’t think that progressives want to see people’s lives destroyed, I do believe they are willing to break a few eggs to achieve their utopian vision. Ask yourself this question:
“Should a terrible war rage across the Middle East, accompanied by the inevitable economic disaster that would go with such a conflict, how willing would you be to accept any proposed solution that would end the destruction?”
In Phoenix Republic, Americans are faced with the fundamental question, what is individual freedom worth?
Additional Resources:
http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/iran-thousands-of-missiles-to-rain-on-israel/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/199691/Fabian-Society
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/08/the-debate-over-intervention-in-syria.html
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