Darwinian Stupidity

by Richard Schwartzman, November 28, 2011

blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu

"A strong nation does not come from a strong military. Rather, it comes from a healthy and dynamic economy where free people create and produce. Only a warmongering nation that makes enemies needs military bases all over the globe"

One has to question the mindset of the current administration in Washington. The country is $15 trillion in debt due to the ever-increasing welfare-warfare state.

The warfare side of the equation is imperialistic to the point of crippling stupidity. Not only do we already have as many as 900 military bases, and military personnel in an estimated 130 different countries, and not only did we just establish a drone base in Ethiopia and commit troops to Uganda, but President Obama has just announced a new base for 2,500 U.S. Marines in Darwin, Australia.

The Chinese are angry about it, and that’s a bad thing; the Chinese government owns more than $1 trillion of our overblown debt.

According to a story in the New York Times, this is the first long-term expansion of the American military in the Pacific since the end of the Vietnam War.

“It comes despite budget cuts facing the Pentagon and an increasingly worried reaction from Chinese leaders, who have argued that the United States is seeking to encircle China militarily and economically,” the Times story said.

According to one Chinese official quoted in the story, “It may not be quite appropriate to intensify and expand military alliances and may not be in the interest of countries within this region.”

But Mr. Obama told the Australian Parliament, “ [The United States] made a deliberate and strategic decision — as a Pacific nation, the United States will play a larger and long-term role in shaping this region and its future.”

How much larger a role does the president want the country to play, and at what cost? We still have bases in Japan 66 years after the end of WWII, and bases in Korea almost 60 years after the end of hostilities there. We still have bases in Thailand and the Philippines as well as in Europe.

The president said he’s not trying to isolate China, but the story suggests he has become wary of that nation’s intentions.

A more objective view of the situation would indicate that foreign nations should be wary of U.S. intentions. While China has the ability to field a larger military force than the United States, the United States still has the most potent and the most technologically advanced (as far as we know) military in the world, and we have shown the willingness to use it.

That is not a flag-waving rah-rah statement. It’s an indictment of our foreign policy.
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