Might be time to start worrying about ‘Imperial Overstretch’
We are really living in strange times here in the old US of A.
President Donald J. Trump is purposefully running naval traffic around China in the South China Sea, threatening retaliation ‘worse than anything the world has ever seen’ in defense of Guam, and now is also threatening Venezuela with military intervention.
Has the Commander in Chief totally forgotten that we also have troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria (many of them in actual combat)?
I understand that the man probably doesn’t fully understand concepts like operational readiness or what our official defense posture is, but this is getting pretty out of control even for 45 (who ran, in a sense, as an isolationist).
** Part of me is starting to get this irrational feeling that a certain unpopular leader might be itching for a fight in hopes that it might change his Presidential fortunes (I sure hope that is just my rarely used conspiracy theory lumbago acting up and not a real thing) **
Anyway, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (by all accounts a truly terrible human being) is at risk of being attacked for his anti-democratic awfulness by our famously anti-democratic President.
I guess I am confused.
No, I get why we are bracing Maduro, massive human rights violations, taking out political opponents gangland style, and using food and medicine as weapons in his bid to consolidate power seem like great reasons for the United States to get involved.
But, I am confused as to why we are cracking down on Maduro when just a few months ago President Trump was making political flippy-floppy with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (given Mr. Duterte is Mr. Maduro’s identical twin in brutality)?
I am not going to soft-pedal this, President Trump literally congratulated Duterte for his Human Rights abuses and told him what a great job he was doing in the war on drugs (where he has been extra-judiciously executing alleged drug dealers and users) and then turns around and threatens Maduro for he exact same behaviors? It doesn’t make much sense.
FYI, Trump also really likes other brutal dictators like Egypt’s al-Sisi and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (which really isn’t surprising, my confusion is over why he doesn’t like Maduro too).
Why in the world is Trump anti-Maduro but pro-Duterte (Even his National Security Advisor had trouble trying to explain the distinction when asked during a press conference last month)?
The most likely answer is that Venezuala provides the United States with a large amount of oil and the President might be gambling that if the United States puts only sanctions on Maduro’s regime he could simply take his oil business to China or to Russia. In other words, he might be thinking that US military involvement would prevent more international complications than it would create.
Or, he is just really inconsistent and unpredictable. Is it odd that I am not sure which one terrifies me most (competent or incompetent)?
But, if even I am confused, one can only imagine what the world is thinking? How could anyone make coherent sense of what America is trying to do in the world? What kind of light are we sending out of from our city on that hill?
It is not just our military that is getting overstretched, but also any coherent idea of what it is that we stand for. In many ways, our soft power is the oil that makes the engine of our global presence continue to be welcome around the world. If things don’t start making sense our engine might throw a rod.
I just hope one of President Trump’s many military advisors (Donald J. Trump is to Generals what Mark Cuban is to Assistant Coaches) can convince him of the truth of the theory of Imperial Overstretch before it is too late.
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Josh is a 100% reader-funded blogger and freelance writer. Please consider following him on Twitter, throwing some money into his hat on Patreon, or adding his blog OnPirateSatellite to your feeds.
