Editor, Ceres Courier,
Some of you may have heard that there was an incident Wednesday in the South China Sea. A U.S. surveillance plane flying over Chinese-controlled islands was warned eight times to turn back by Chinese military personnel. While it may not appear to be that momentous a news item to someone not quite attuned to the Pacific's international rumblings, there are some bigger themes in this news item.
The previously mentioned Chinese islands are actually man-made islands, part of a massive effort to expand China's sphere of military influence and make previously international waters into territorial waters. The Chinese have done little to hide their efforts to become the regional policeman of Asia and have even laid claim to southern islands in the East China Sea that have been held by Japan for centuries.
This brings me to today's topic. Seventy years ago, World War II came to a close and with it, a new era of U.S. diplomatic and military dominance was born. New rules were set for the countries that had lost their efforts at military conquest. Japan, Germany, and Italy were essentially required to write into their constitutions that they would not be allowed to keep their own offensive militaries and only defensive and coalition forces could be kept if they wanted to be able to participate in the Marshall Plan, which would provide funds to rebuild in those countries.
This obligated the U.S. to provide military backing so that those countries could still make deals in good faith, as long as the great and infallible U.S. operated in good faith.
The President's lack of a cohesive foreign policy has exposed our diplomatic weaknesses and is now dragging down our allies. His only clear goal is for the U.S. to step back from the world stage a few steps and minimize our obligations overseas. Despite that goal, he would rather focus on ISIS and its nonexistent threat to our homeland instead of paying attention the military adventurism of the world's second largest military, China.
I don't disagree with the idea of getting away from the world's policeman role that we've had for the last 25 or so years, but the nations that are under our purview need to be able to assert their roles in their regions to prevent the fall of civilized human freedom.
Look at what is happening to Japan at the hands of China; China is now the number one economy in Asia and is the second most powerful military in the world where Japan had economically dominated the continent for 50 years. China is bullying Japan into submission while the U.S. does nothing to protect its ally. Islands that have been Japanese territory for generations are being claimed by China while Japan cannot use military force as a threat to defend them. China's not-so-secret plan is to all but eliminate the international waters strip between South Korea and Japan so that they can box in any potential defensive threat from the Japanese Defense Force's small Navy. Yet the U.S. has no willingness to take on China, which holds the largest share of our monstrous debt. If we are not going to back up our ally, we must allow them to set up their own military so they can put a damper on Chinese militarism.
It's truly a case of "If you love her, let her go..."
Similarly, Germany is being put in a sticky situation thanks to our icy state of relations with Russia. Germany is the number one economy in the E.U. and is ipso facto its leader while the socialist members of the Union face bankruptcy and mass unemployment.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his thugs hold the vast majority of Eurasia's natural gas and resource deposits and it is currently fueling the European Union, but Putin's new Soviet-style military adventurism has already felled several territories, including Crimea, Ukraine, and Georgia.
Germany can't confront Putin on the issue without jeopardizing its natural gas supply and the U.S. is unwilling to defend the Eastern Block to which it was committed.
The world order has changed greatly over the last 70 years, and I think its safe to say that these nations can be trusted with their own militaries, especially since they are increasingly being threatened by crony communist empires built upon death and deception.
If we are going to step back from the world stage, we cannot bring our allies down and expose them to communist domination. A community of free nations is what we need, not a community of client states. How can we expect to have loyal allies when we are simultaneously not willing to back them up and not willing to let them assert themselves? The old world order of 60 years ago is no longer acceptable and we can't just selfishly hold onto the parts that are convenient to us if it means that we are putting our allies into the mouths of the bear or dragon.
Devon Minnema
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