Etalkinghead

As virtually every poll attests, people across the globe are discouraged about the state of the world. From the ravages of famine, to HIV/AIDS, to the numerous conflicts and war, not to mention the threats manifest in the belligerents of North Korea and Iran, there appears to be every reason to believe that ours is a world fraught with unprecedented problems.

Although that is an intuitively accurate appraisal it is, at the most fundamental level, incorrect. Therein lies the heart of our problem, which is the astounding lack of consensus regarding the most basic truths concerning successful civilizations. Indeed, an objective observer would be shocked that modern humans appear to have forgotten or have profoundly misinterpreted the lessons of over 2000 years of recorded history.

The most salient lesson is that human conflict is a timeless phenomenon that can be mitigated only by making the most serious demands of any nation or regime unwilling to comply with the rule of law. The only language that aggressors understand is that of another group willing to wreak carnage at the first sign of aggression. There are sufficiently large numbers of nations capable of taking such a collective stand, but the will to do so is conspicuous by its absence.

Underlying that reticence is our inbred habit of blurring–or inverting–good and evil. The result is that we are suffering from a powerful political anemia that hobbles the our ability to confront even the most glaring examples of evil, such as that in Darfur. If we find ourselves standing idly by as innocents are being slaughtered–a horrific repeat performance of Rwanda in the 90s–how, pray tell, are we to confront the likes of a fledgling nuclear menace such as North Korea, much less the would-be nuclearized Iran?

The answer is that we can’t unless and until we recognize in our deep and long history the same pattern of human conflict and suffering that so much in evidence today. Indeed, evil never fully recedes but is merely reanimated in more lethal forms as time progresses. That leaves us few palatable options, but they become far more acceptable if we can demonstrate the likely result of inaction.

The politics that so deeply infuses this process both here in America and nearly worldwide, is causally implicated in the inexcusable inertia we are suffering. Desperate for political hegemony and willing to sacrifice every historically hallowed virtue, both parties, but in particular those on the left appear perfectly willing expose our nation to the threat of Islamic terrorism.

Coupled with the noxious cultural plague called political correctness, we gladly acquiesce to the charges of racism and xenophobia from the very agents who would decimate our nation. Political claudication is an unsightly thing to witness, but that is precisely what we are suffering, and there is no apparent end in sight.

All of that being stated, there is yet every reason to believe that 2007 will be a great year because political momentum is not only driven by internal events it is also compelled by events out of our control. Forthwith, the following observations are made:

1. Iraq will move towards greater stability because its own citizens will become more intimately involved in its security, not because our prospective talks with Iran and Syria bear any fruit.

2. Although Iran will move closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon, Israel’s voice will be heard and it will clarify its intention to prevent Ahmadinejad from doing so; internal Iranian strife will also play a role in destabilizing his regime.

3. China will play a more direct–which is to say, resolute–role in dealing with North Korea, which will effectively keep Kim Jong Il in his box; Japan will also clarify its intent to become a nuclear power should the North make further threats.

4. Nominal progress will be made to stop the carnage in Darfur, and with respect to HIV/AIDS, with President Bush taking a stronger role in forcing the United Nations to act.

5. Finally, the likelihood of an attack on American soil is increased the further we are from 9/11 and therefore, we should brace ourselves for a serious assault in one or more of our major cities.

If that happens it will provide a belated wake-up call for those who breathe the rarefied air of liberalism, at which time from the ashes will arise, Phoenix-like, a United States finally acting in unison to confront the heinous forces of Islamic extremism.

Far from ideal, but as history demonstrates, it is real world circumstances that drive events and how we respond to them is the ultimate arbiter of whether we will prevail against the forces that are so dedicated to our destruction.