The Sheriff of the World

Submitted by Michael S, Apr 9, 2017 at 05:33

Prashant, I admire you for admiring Trump's principled stand. Putin and his sick allies have used a legalistic excuse to attack Trump and the US (though they would and did break international law in a trice, when it suited their own wishes -- viz. Crimea and the Spratleys).

Concerning "international law", it looks good on paper: The UNSC must authorize any attack on a sovereign member of the UN. This gives animals such as Assad the "right" to continue atrocities such as killing babies with nerve gas, as long as they have an ally among the five permanent Security Council members. When the shoe was on the other foot, the US did something equally horrendous -- dropping napalm on children, because they happened to live in a "free-fire zone".

Because the UN cannot properly address issues like these; and because it mis-uses its powers to persecute Israel for the "war crime" of adding bedrooms to Jewish houses in Judea, an alternative mechanism is needed. That mechanism is that the most powerful country in the world, its only "superpower", should act as the world's "sheriff". If that sheriff is reasonably humane, as the US is at the moment, the world benefits. If that sheriff is a tyrant, like the rulers of Russia, China and Iran, or an imbecile like Obama or Merkel, the world suffers. It's not a perfect system, but it's all we have; and it is superior to the non-rule of a phoney, ineffective "international law".

I shudder, to think of someone like Jared Kushner becoming the leader of the world; but I realize that he, or someone worse, will eventually come to power. The "Never Trump" people in this country ought to consider this, before attacking our President. For all his faults, he is a man who can be moved by compassion for suffering babies. That's not too bad.

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