End of cold war was welcomed by world as a new hope for global peace. It was believed that the end of super-power rivalry will rescue the rest of world from their political games. People thought that there will be an end to arms race and super power’s strategic interests will diminish which often result into the interference in small countries’ internal affairs. Expectation was that everyone will now be happy at home within their own boundaries. World also hoped that the dangers of nuclear war and third world war will disappear, and there will be a gradual curtailment in global nuclear warheads.
None of these dreams seem to be materializing, so far. On the contrary, situation seems to have gotten worse, and continue to get worse. Unfortunately, United States as world’s only super power, did not act and behave very responsibly. With Soviet threat, supposedly, gone, U.S. went on a rampage of war after war. U.S. political and military interventions, and occupations became a routine. People in many small countries started to believe that although Socialism is not good, Soviet check over American power and authority was a good thing. Many started to pray for a Soviet comeback or quicker rise of China to check and balance American power.
Post-cold war era has, also, made other important effects on U.S. While Soviet Union was a totally authoritarian country with a centralized economy, United States was the land of freedom and liberty. This made U.S. favorite in many countries during cold war. But, especially after 9/11, U.S. aggressively curtailed freedom and liberties enjoyed by its citizens, at home, and waged war after war, internationally. The drop in global U.S. popularity has been enormous since 9/11. It has largely been replaced by hate, especially in Muslim countries, since almost all the countries U.S. has been involved in armed conflicts, are Muslim majority countries.
The most unfortunate part of this whole story is that lots of people, especially in Muslim countries, are viewing the rise of China and Putin as a positive sign. The general impression is that together they will be able to put a cap on ever growing U.S. aggression against Muslim countries. Another important development that has happened in the meantime is that continuous state of wars has literally bankrupt U.S. On the other hand, China and Russia are sitting on world’s largest cash reserves. They own very large amounts of U.S. backed securities and bonds. They own lots of assets and businesses in U.S., as well. So, financially speaking U.S., and even West as a whole, is not in a position to afford a war with any of these countries.
Putin knows this. He is also very much aware of huge dependency of major European economies on Russian Oil, minerals and metals. This makes any powerful and real sanctions on Russia, from European countries, nearly impossible. Without a serious involvement and participation of Major European and other major economies, the sanctions against Russia are basically a joke and completely worthless. These are only going to hurt U.S. economy which is already not in very good shape.
U.S. literally has way too much in its plate. War in Afghanistan is still going on. Conflicts in Iraq and Syria are far from over. It already has strong sanctions against Iran and North Korea, in place, and U.S. citizens are paying for those in the form of higher oil prices. China is already, in fact, not on board on sanctions against North Korea. In the midst of all this, a brand new, and relatively far bigger conflict with Russia can literally overwhelm United States’ diminishing resources. The fact is this. We, and no one, can ever police the whole world. The world has never had one color, and it will never have one color.
As much as we love our country, our way of living, our economy and our political system, we need to understand that other people love theirs, too, in very much the similar way. If we keep on telling them that their countries, their political systems and their way of living is not good enough, it will just keep increasing the hate against us which is good for Putin, China, North Korea, Iran, Hamas and Assad. If we are viewed as bad, our enemies are naturally viewed as good. Other question people in many parts of the world are starting to ask is why everyone is fighting U.S.
Beside all this the fact is that over 90% of Crimean population is Russian, and they in fact voted to go with Russia. So, we are also denying their right to self-determination. We want to turn Crimea into another Ireland, Kashmir, Mindanao and Palestine. Russia has a claim on it, and they do not seem to be giving it up, at all. On the other hand, we should not be getting involved in another perpetual, expensive and dangerous conflict. Historical facts also go very much in the favor of Russia. Historically speaking, Crimea is a part of Russia.
So, it looks like that we are getting involved into another never ending conflict. Policing the world idea has seriously failed, for the most part. Sanctions against Cuba, Iran and North Korea have not worked, so far, while those keep hurting our own already ailing economy. Attacks and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan have been big failures, too. External intervention and manipulation may have worked to some extent in some places. But, it is not working in Syria. This is also mainly due to a strong Russian support to Syria.
The only reasonable and practical solution to this problem seems to be, is to stay out of, yet another enormous mess. If you believe that sanctions against Russia can force it to give up Crimea than I am sorry to say that you are living into yet another delusion. All it is going to do is to hurt our own economy and jobs situation, even more. Growing conflicts with Russia, Iran, North Korea and Syria do not smell good. They can seriously endanger the oil supply to us, and European countries. Trust me, we do not want to go there, especially when the recovery from 2007-2008 recession has been really dismal.
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