Member-only story
Hey NATO Let’s Build A Wall
And make Russia pay for it
There’s a quote attributed to Winston Churchill, one he most likely never uttered. However, it seems like the sort of pithy epithet he’d roll out after a long day of staying in bed, drinking whisky and giving an uplifting speech to the beleaguered British in 1942.
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they have tried everything else.”
This is a barbed reference to the US showing up late for both World Wars, their two wartime Presidents hamstrung by a disinterested public keen to not get involved in other people’s conflicts.
Then, because the 1930s were all about Empire and trade, and Japan is an island with fuck all in the way of natural resources, war in the Pacific became inevitable. Apart from being a terrible, terrible film, Pearl Harbour was also a pivotal moment in 20th-century history.
Roosevelt realised he’d have to fight the Germans eventually — so why not do it now, and in Europe as an away match? As the war ended and Stalin became increasingly belligerent (and Mao showed up), Truman and Eisenhower realised they’d have to fight the Communists eventually, so why not pay to do it later?
So America began a process of paying to keep armies out of European sleevies and putting bases all over…
