Will Putin Save America?

We are a country always in search of an enemy. After the fall of the Soviet Union it has been a difficult road to maintain the industrial side of the Military/Industrial complex. Money needs to be made. We tried the terrorists after 9/11. Too puny. We tried North Korea. Too primitive. We tried Afghanistan. What comes after ‘too primitive?’

Now we’re in luck. Russia’s back, baby! Finally! A worthy adversary.

Not only that but the Chinese seem to think they have a right to throw their weight around in the South China Sea. Imagine that. Such hubris. It’s not like we’ve ever thrown our weight around in any Americas in this hemisphere.

Putin might not realize it but he may be the impetus to turn us outward from our internal political squabbling and rally this divided nation back on track. It’s crazy fucked-up that it will take World War III for Americans to realize their fellow Americans are not the enemy. Alas, here we are.

When the Soviet Union was in business we had a common enemy and our representatives in Washington respected it. Political differences were fierce, but the Washington bureaucrats with any principle would cross the aisle and vote in bipartisan unity to further the interests of the nation to defeat the dreaded communists.

After the wall fell we were the sole superpower. Beyond invincible. We would rule the world! Something else happened, though.

Without the USSR the congress divided. It entrenched. One side wouldn’t help the other score political achievements for fear the other side would score brownie points with voters. Holding on to power became more important than governing for the common good.

Partisanship branched out. It entered the mainstream through the media and evolved to the point that despising the other side of the political aisle is in vogue. I told you we are always in search of an enemy.

Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” An old cartoon should be listened to at all costs. Political entrenchment have this nation on the brink of revolution. Our division makes us weak and our adversaries smell blood in the water.

The Russians are back. The Chinese along with them. Putin and Xi met at the Olympics and decided what? We don’t know. Maybe they’re allies. Maybe not. The press hasn’t reported what was discussed because it has no idea. I’d bet Putin informed Xi of his plans for Ukraine and Xi probably said, “have at it.”

In the next few years/months/days America is likely to face challenges to its superpower status on multiple fronts. As I post this Russia has already begun its “peacekeeping” invasion of “rebellious” provinces in Eastern Ukraine. Is it testing the waters for a full-on invasion? If America allows this, what will be next?

Is this Biden’s Neville Chamberlain moment? Who can guess the extent of Putin’s ambitions? He’s one of the richest, most powerful men in the world and we all know how boring that can be. Historically, a few of the bored elite have attempted to conquer the world, yet none have succeeded. Someone has to be first. Maybe he’s struck on an idea to liven things up a bit for himself.

Should the Chinese push back in the South China Sea at the same time the Russians push into Ukraine our super power reputation will be tested. We have said we will protect Taiwan, but is the South China Sea a place we should be waging war? Is Ukraine? Most people can’t answer those questions with any certainty and many more couldn’t find either country on a map. They will soon.

This is not the time for bickering, blaming, and blabbering. It is time for elected representatives to cease grandstanding, conspiracy pumping, and kowtowing to special interests. We’re facing the greatest threat to the world in four generations. Our representatives must shut up and put up in that oder. Rallying the nation to the seriousness of this situation should be their only concern.

One president didn’t bring down the Soviet Union alone. It was the work of several generations of presidents, senators and congresspeople crossing the aisle to perform the work the American public sent them to Washington to accomplish. America needs a commitment from its elected representatives to again cross the bipartisan line and work for the common good of the nation. And the American public needs to get its shit together to force it to happen.

Putin is supplying America with what it needs to return unity to a divided nation. An enemy. A worthy adversary. Russia alone should be terrifying. The idea of Russia and China uniting to kill us all is unimaginable. Will it be enough to get us off of our political entrenchment?

I wouldn’t take it to Vegas.

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