Please Don't Be A Hawk

In the April 14, 2014 Time Magazine, Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, is quoted as stating "When America steps back . . . trouble will fill that vacuum."  She meant, according to Time, that the United States, being weary of international confrontations, has caused crises, especially the annexation of Crimea to Russia.  Spoken like a true hawk.  Spoken like a woman with no children to send to war.  And a President listened to her advice!  No wonder we got ourselves into two wars lasting more than a decade -- one a righteous war, the other a none of our business one.


Well, I'm not sure these crises she purports were caused by us backing away from conflict would not have happened anyway.  That's the problem with Monday morning quarterbacking.  You have a situation.  You have two or more moves you can make.  You choose one.  It does not work.  A child could tell you that -- if he had listened to the news.  Would one of the other choices have worked?  Who knows?  Nobody if it were not tried.


How is it our business whether Crimea gets annexed to Russia or not?  It simply is not our concern.  So you say that they asked for our help, or at least our sympathy.  Who asked?  They held a vote, people.  Yes, there was some worry that the vote might not have been genuine, but how do we know that?  The election concluded that the majority of the voters wanted to be joined with Russia.  So, now they are annexed.  That is the Democratic way, which is what we purport to like.


Let's try once more to explain to our fellow citizens what it means to live in a Democracy.  A Democracy, as you know, is a government by the people, directly or through representation.  In our Democracy, every citizen gets an opportunity to vote.  The votes are counted and the majority wins.


Citizens of our wonderful country sometimes have a problem with the concept.  They like majority rule only when the vote goes their way.  This attitude on a football field would be called poor sportsmanship.  This attitude is why we are still embroiled over women's rights, the Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, etc., etc., etc..  Republicans, especially conservatives, are just poor sports.


But concerning the Ukraine, please don't be a hawk.  The bottom line is, this situation in Crimea is not our business.  We can't even use our country's security or our need for foreign oil as an excuse to interfere this time.  Besides, the world hates our meddling in their concerns.


I'm not implying that the world governing bodies should step aside and remove the sanctions.  As Vladimir Putin lives out his own midlife crisis on the international stage, who knows what he has planned next?  It was starting to look like he had aspirations for being the next Genghis Kahn.  The world has been there and done that, Mr. Putin.


We can't help but feel sorrow for the Crimean people who are not happy about the annexation.  But even in their grief and frustration, they have options.  These include moving elsewhere if it goes too badly.