Summary: Tom Hayden’s post The Syrian dominos sparked some fascinating threads in the comments. One discussed what might be a formative moment in world history, one of events which set 21st century history on a very different track than that dreamed by the victors of WWII. A path that means that their generation’s great sacrifice and hopes were in vain.
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The NAZI plan to conquer Eastern Europe for re-settlement by Aryans was the last large instance of a dynamic that dominated history. One of the great goals of the Allies — led by America — after the war was to make this illegitimate and impossible. And so it was for a generation.
The world experienced wars in first and second world, but of political expansion. Regimes which to forcibly reunite their people under a single political system — Korea, Vietnam. Countless internal wars, revolutions and civil wars. But no major attempts to displace peoples, then re-settle on their land. Until Israel began to expand into the East West Bank. IMO this was a key moment after WWII. {per a comment, I’ve tweaked this for clarity}
The outcome of the Cold War was, probably, inevitable. The communist experiments in the Soviet Union and China were doomed. People’s rational drive for self-preservation prevented atomic war (although USAF generals were gung ho for the a nuclear holocaust). The real challenge would be from within, our ability to discipline ourselves, and avoid the temptations of power. We did so after WWII. Instead of reparations, we gave aid. Instead of puppet governments, we created democracies — and got allies. We showed wisdom with few or no historical precedents.
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The next test came in 1967, with Israel’s conquests of Gaza and the West Bank. Israel slowly succumbed to this temptation — slowly developing a policy of displacing the Palestinians. Steal their land, assassinate any hostile leaders, suppress as needed. I asked a brilliant and wise Israeli of that generation why they did this, instead of following the post-WWII model (in which Israel could have built itself into the political and economic center of the region, a project which the US would gladly have financed). He replied “We were stupid.” This might be Israel’s epitaph (see The Fate of Israel)
The Allies could have quickly and easily stopped this; there were repeated motions in the United Nations to end this gross violation of the rules for the new world we hoped to create. But we failed the test, quashing these appeals to the laws we created. This
foreshadowed greater failures to follow. Clinton’s foolish, almost random interventions (“What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?”). Followed by Bush Jr’s wars to crush rivals and expand the US footprint in the Middle East, driven by his programs of almost arbitrary indefinite imprisonment and assassination. Followed by Obama’s institutionalization and expansion of these policies.
American exceptionalism was born amidst the ashes of WWII. it died in the ashes of the World Trade Center. Now it exists only in our delusions, and as empty evoked by US politicians.
To the rest of the world we’re increasingly becoming The Furies (see Wikipedia), infernal engines of irrational vengeance and destruction. Exceptional in every way.
For More Information
Posts about the post-9/11 world:
- Was 9/11 the most effective single military operation in the history of the world?, 11 June 2008
- Bin Laden wins by using the “Tactics of Mistake” against America, 6 February 2011
Posts about Israel:
- The Fate of Israel, 28 July 2006
- The War Nerd shows how simple 4GW theory can be, 22 January 2009
- Are Israel’s leaders insane? Jeffrey Goldberg thinks so., 15 August 2010
- We can only watch as the nation of Israel slowly commits suicide, 30 November 2011
- Israel leads America on a march to war. A march to folly., 16 February 2012
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