The West has lost faith in itself and it's ideals

Submitted by Ken Besig (Israel), Sep 25, 2008 at 13:35

The West in general and the United States in particular has lost faith in itself and it's ideals. Indeed, there is a fellow running for President of the United States who openly proclaims that he will never use American military force for any reason, one assumes, even including legitimate self defence or the protection of American citizens. Indeed, this same individual who aspires to be the leader of the Free World grants equal standing and more uprightness to individuals like Kim Jong Il, the maniacal leader of North Korea who is deliberately starving his people to death by the hundreds of thousands, or the deranged Ahmedi Nejad, the leader of Iran who publicly proclaims his desire to develop nuclear weapons to exterminate the Jewish People. Barack Obama has long since abandoned the moral high ground for a level playing field and sees America as not really very different or more decent than North Korea or Iran. or even Commissar Putin's imperial Russia.

I can at least understand, if not approve, of Neville Chamberlain's deep and considered desire to avoid another horrifiying and murderous European War by trying to appease Hitler. LIke many of his generation, or should I say more correctly, what was left of his generation after the colossal bloodbath that has come to be called The Great War, Chamberlain sincerely desired peace at any cost, and only one who saw and experienced what those WWI veterans did can really criticize his position. And to put an even harsher gloss on appeasement in WWII, after the first six months of that war, there were many voices raised in the British Parliament calling on negotiating a settlement with Hiter which would allow Germany to keep what she had conquered if only the war could come to an end. Indeed, this British call for appeasing Hitler and Hitler's reaction to it is what most historians believe led Rudolf Hess to make his ill considered flight to England in search for peace.

In our day and age, with the kinds of weapons and economic attacks now available to every adversary, diplomacy and economic sanctions should of course be the first and foremost course of action, even if this means actually paying danegeld to monsters like the North Korean regime or the mad mullahs in Iran to stop their nuclear programs. However, if diplomacy fails and economic sanctions are ineffective in preventing these regimes from obtaining nuclear weapons, then there really is no choice, as in September 1939 Europe, but to turn to military force and hope that the levels of death and destruction aren't too high.

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