A Peace of the United Nations
March 28th, 2003 - 12:15 am
The United Nations was forged in the waning months of World War II, largely due to the will of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was made up of the
The United Nations was forged in the waning months of World War II, largely due to the will of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was made up of the
Stephen:
I think the Left will disagree w/ a fundamental assumption: How bad was Soviet/Stalinist Russia likely to be?
You think I”m kidding? Remember, this is the same coterie that believes that our A-bomb was dropped, not to compel Japanese surrender, but to cow Moscow. And that our non-acquiescence in a Soviet “sphere of influence” in Eastern Europe was somehow the precipitating factor for the Cold War (b/c it made Stalin paranoid).
So, in their view, UN occupation would lead to the following:
1. Soviet Union not overly paranoid.
2. Stalin dies, Soviet Union immediately enters Gorbachev era.
3. Cold War avoided, so massive defense spending doesn’t occur, all allocated to “betterment of mankind.”
4. Pixies and angels sing by 1970s.
On a related note, it is interesting that the Soviets attempted to do precisely what you described in Japan; namely, interfere with the occupation/reconstruction. MacArthur not so politely made it clear: We paid for this country, and we damn well intend to run it as necessary.
This, perhaps, offers a precedent for Iraq? We paid for it, we’re damn well going to run it as it needs to be run.
One wonders what the French equivalent would be to flooding the Western zones w/ counterfeit marks would be?
Dean, I know you’re right about how some on the Left would perceive this scenario, but I asked for realistic repurcussions. (g)
Imagine a Soviet Union with ALL of Germany’s wealth to exploit, rather than just the Eastern Zone.
Shudder.
“Ah, but we’ll never know, will we?”—Standard refrain from those people.
Actually, one of my grad school profs raised the following nightmare: Imagine if (this was in the late 1980s) the Soviets and the Japanese had reached an accommodation of some sort. Say, Soviet oil and energy in exchange for Japanese technology. T-72s and T-80s with modern vetronics, including ballistic computers and laser range-finders. Soviet missiles with miniaturized sensors (so their warheads could be that much bigger). Soviet aircraft w/ modern avionics.
Fortunately, of course, that never came to pass, either.
What was funny was that he always believed that there would be a rapprochement between Tokyo and Moscow—did you know that those two states have YET to sign a peace treaty formally ending WWII between them???
As I recall, there were plans for a Moscow/Tokyo peace summit a couple years after the 1990 “4+2″ negotiations which (finally!) ended WWII in Europe.
But the talks never got off the ground, because of four small, barren islands off Hokkaido that the Soviets took fair and square (along with “Karafuto”) in August ’45.
Neither side would budge. So almost 60 years later, Russia and Japan have yet to sign a formal peace treaty.
Stephen,
I’d like to humbly suggest that you print this article and snail-mail it to Blair. He may yearn to be post-national, but I think he’s just too darn smart to ignore the truth if someone put it to him that way.
Thanks!
Much as I respect and and admire Blair for sticking to his guns at great risk to his politcal career, that 18th resolution attempt should be the last counterproductive thing we do for Blair. The UN (and France in particular) need to pay for holding up our attempts to straighten out Iraq. Personally, I thing the question of whether or not we freeze the UN out of the rebuild, but whether or not we completely pull out of UN and kick them out of New York. (which Den Beste opined in an earlier column would probably put an end to it.)