The world does not stop while the United States is distracted by Iraq

Or, while the cat is away, the mice will play.

In the history of the world, no country or regime has been omnipresent forever. Even Rome (600 years) and Byzantium (1,000 years) are now history book subjects. The same may happen to the United States. I hope our new world status and culture may help us in surviving. Who knows.

It is times like today that make me more concerned that some leader of some country, tribe, or cause will feel emboldened to act because our country is presently distracted by events in Iraq. This idea presumes if the USA was not distracted by Iraq, such leaders might be more intimidated and restrained.

The world is always in turmoil. The offensive conflicts are normally some combination of military, economic, religious, and megalomaniacal pursuit of objectives, perceived or real. The defensive conflicts often revolve around maintenance of the status quo, protection of nation-state, tribe, and families, and preserving earlier gains, which can be recent or even very old.

Do we deserve to be more concerned during this period? Does a healthy united USA that is also not distracted have an intimidation effect on our enemies, foreign and domestic? And in reverse, are our political leaders going to respond the same whether we are distracted or not? The answer to all is that I do not know.

I do know it is in our national interest to preserve our new world country and its way of life. That we will fight for. Don’t tread on me.

I also think that we all recognize we cannot conquer the world, nor do we want to do such. That is not us.

Where are the potential world locations or people that make me concerned during this period?
A. Iran and its slightly lunatic president, its theocratic dictators, and their proxies in Iraq and Lebanon
B. North Korea and its dangerous criminal leader who inherited his job
C. Venezuela and its ego driven leader
D. Russia and its energy policies as a state diplomatic tool
E. Civil war in China
F. Control of our USA borders
G. Islamic terrorism as a tool of these fascists
H. Syrian left-over Baathist leaders who ignore their present “president”
I. Oil barons and their energy funded policies
J. Left over 60’s types in the USA who seek to tear us down internally.
K. Japan going nuclear. It already has, I think, but now it will say so. And going nuclear is easier than you think. A USA test in 1962 using power plant uranium is a good example. This is all open source, by the way.
L. State Department types who have always ignored the vote of the people and the directions of their current political leaders
M. Civil war in Pakistan
N. Things I have not imagined, but wish I had.

There are many other problems, foreign and domestic, but I don’t think of them as being more exploitable during this Iraq distraction. The Hamas-Fatah friction in Palestine will go on in all cases, for example. The pursuit of affordable universal health care is another.

Being concerned is one thing. Even recognizing the potential problems is another. But so what if one cannot act on these concerns. Yet we can. There are three courses of action to consider.
A. Make an example of one concern. That will send a message to the others.
B. Warn each foreign concern through any means. The obvious means are diplomatic, economic, and military that there will be consequences. This tells our enemies we have not let down our guard during the Iraq distraction.
C. Warn each domestic concern that while civility reigns, action counts. All actions will be exposed to the light of day, and we citizens who vote. In other words, there can be honest differences of opinion, and these opinions and underhanded actions will both get equal exposure. Include the President's veto power as part of this. Give the main stream media and the blogosphere the same information.
a. Clean house in the State Department. The recovery should take 5 or more years. The benefit will be for over a 100 years.

We, the USA, have a long history of threatening consequences, then doing little. This goes back a long way to include our cultural disposition to isolationism, use of diplomacy always and first in foreign frictions, and compromise always in domestic frictions. Given all this, the threat of consequences by the executive must be real, as in a follow-up if required. This will be a change. I believe the option of making an example will occur just for that reason.

Last I am concerned about the potential consequences of the last 2006 congressional elections. It appears, to me, that many people were elected to make things happen from the country’s point of view. Yet many elected congressional leaders still seem to act from their party and their agenda’s point of view. They seem like the old time politicians from the 60’s and 70’s who wish to tear down our country, or more often, exploit it. My cause for concern in this period of “not-knowing” is what the newly elected people will do. I am apprehensively hopeful. The aforementioned is a good example of why times like this are cause for concern.

What can we do, collectively, as American citizens. My view is that we listen, observe, read, communicate with our local politicians, and then vote in 2008. This course of action is not too shabby, however it turns out. And it is much preferable to civil war, or revolution.