I have no problem imagining that commonwealth troops played a major
role in the liberation of the Netherlands, or were a majority of the
soldiers involved. I'm not trying to take credit for it, of course the
Western Front was a joint effort by all the free countries.
But the point is not the liberation itself, but the post-war
reconstruction. The United States had a policy of setting up
independent democratic governments that could help resist the Soviets.
The Soviets had a policy of setting up totalitarian puppet states that
could help resist the Americans. Yes, I see the parallels. I also see
the differences.
Here's the thing. Given the fact that the Soviets and the West were in
conflict, I understand the need to protect oneself. But the critical
question is WHY the Soviets and the West neccesarily had to be in
conflict. And the answer is that the Soviets placed themselves there.
Russia is no longer threatened by NATO. Why is that? Because Russia
is now a "normal country". Sure, they are starving, their economy has
collapsed and they are sliding into dictatorship. But they no longer
have an expansionist social philosophy.
During the 70s and 80s, there was a lot of work done analyzing the Cold
War using game theory, and attempting to explain how any two dominant
powers must inevitably be in conflict. Most of it was trying to figure
out ways countries could deal with each other without war breaking out.
But most of that work was irrelevant. We KNOW how countries can deal
with each other without war. All we need is for both countries to be
constitutional democracies. If one is a militaristic totalitarian
state it will inevitably be in conflict with its neighbors. Nuclear
weapons had nothing to do with it. The US and Britain and France
aren't constantly worried about surprise nuclear strikes from each
other. The removal of the Soviet Union removed the problem.
I personally hold Henry Kissenger responsible for a lot of this
confusion. His policy of detante was essentially a repudiation of
containment. He felt that the Soviets were here to stay, containment
didn't work, and we had to find some way of dealing with them forever.
And of course, from his Machiavellian view of the world the US and the
Soviets really were just equivalent power players, like the competing
european states of the 1800s. The more I learn about Kissenger, the
more I see how bad he was for America and the world. I'm not ready to
join Christopher Hitchens and have him indicted as a war criminal. His
influence on policy thinking was probably even more pernicious than his
specific actions ordering this bombing or that assasination.
=====
Darryl
Think Galactically -- Act Terrestrially
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