As the most recent Sunday television talk shows almost spun out of control, I was certainly struck by the fact that although there are major differences regarding Egypt, Syria, and Ukraine, there’s also a major similarity. Namely, it’s the involvement of the U.S.
It would appear the continual bipartisan mouthpieces for the world’s police force are United States Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Nevertheless, I must not have flipped through enough TV channels because the only person that I observed on Sunday’s “talk-a-thons” was the senator from South Carolina. Thus, good old John must have been traveling. “Stop talking and do something,” Graham urged Obama, as smiling Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) sat quietly by. Lindsey subsequently got a small shot in on the president as he referred to him as an all-talk-and-no-action chief executive. “Throw Russia out of the G8,” Graham suggested. “Boycott the Olympics, at least the Specials (Olympics), go to code red, and get all the school children under their desks,” Lindsey added.
Indeed, the interviews are always the same whether it’s about Egypt, Syria, Ukraine or a dozen other countries around the world. We merely identify our energy interest (which just happens to be the entire globe) and we then proceed to fund democratic-loving, peace-abiding demonstrators/rebels/Al-Qaeda to the point of a possible win. Next, however, when there’s a pushback and the insurgents are losing, we take to the television airwaves in order to threaten “lines in the sand.”
Centuries of Hatfield-McCoy rivalries are at hand around the world but mean absolutely nothing when Lindsey and the boys decide that“it’s our time” and “it’s our way or the highway.” Yet, history suggests that playing the world’s police force and pretending that one country’s approach should be the way for the entire world can possibly end very badly for the country who thinks they know best. I just wonder how many lives it will cost and how many heroes will be buried before these Sunday morning soldiers learn the consequences of their words and actions.
Treating the world and its citizenry as though it were playing a video game — a diversion that ultimately ends and starts over with no real repercussions — seems to be the way for not only this administration but also for its cohorts such as Senator Graham. The actions of our so-called leaders directly impact every man, woman, and child of the world. Indeed, the latest major uprisings in Egypt and Syria have already occurred, while the upheaval in Ukraine is happening right now.
What will be next?
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