With Teresita’s absence, I don’t mind playing devil’s advocate. The USN shouldn’t be guaranteeing the protection of the entire unarmed civilized world. If we were in the midst of a Pax Americana, I don’t believe I would have problems with the U.S. playing global policeman. But we’re not experiencing any sort of a Pax: China is rising, Russia is expansionist and ruthless, the Middle East is a cauldron of violence, and we’re in the early stages of a failure of modernization in many developing and undeveloped nations.

Failed states and authoritarians, and the concomitant return to a Hobbesian world, are the new “End of History.” The U.S. simply cannot continue to fight the world’s battles alone, whether it be Islamic fundamentalism, Russian aggression, or the resurgence of piracy.

Quoth the wise host: “For example the translation of the phrase “the world should come together to end the scourge of piracy”, means the USN, with the possible help of one or two major western navies, should fix the problem.” It’s all well and good we currently have the capability, and the compassion, to clean up the world’s unpleasant little messes. But U.S. military superiority is a finite resource; eventually the “free rider” problem is going to catch up to us. When that happens, the rest of the civilized world will be in for a rude awakening.