Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: "Rockets Red Glare" (5)
Frodo enjoys an injection of humor into serious issues and events. Rare it is that the Hobbit retreats to the totally theoretical in order to postulate, especially when there is little of scientific fact to support his assertions. It is far too easy to portray oneself as analtically omnipotent or insightful, and since, in this instance particularly, Frodo is pulling his thoughts out of his own instinctive butt, it deserves a prologue such as this.
"It is not about Russia."
Taken entirely out of context from the repetitive recitations of President Obama on wall-to-wall projections from the black-and-white world of television journalism this day, these words say a great deal about the extremely effective state of strategic foreign policy thought in America today. Frodo believes that the decision by the Obama Administration to re-structure the missile defense system proposed by previous purveyors of American Foreign Policy is a creative step toward a more peaceful world. No longer will civilized nation-states draw "lines in the sand" in each others' faces, rather they create a joint capacity to deter the uncivilized non-nation-states of the world from future acts of barbarism.
In effect, argues Frodo, the Russians, the Americans, and all of the NATO allies are now capable of defending Israel against the potential nuclear threat of Iran. Note that the Russians labeled Ahmadinejad's latest denial of the Holocaust as words which deny fact. At the same time, the flexibility of mobile defense systems means that civilized peoples can act in tandem to prevent acts of terror against any one of them. No longer does the United States stand as the "world's policeman." It is as if we have melded defensive capabilities in order to make it clear to the Vandals, the Visigoths, and the Huns that we will act WITH the Russians, and they will act with us, in order to prosper civilization on our, jointly-owned, small blue planet.
There is no need for a line of missiles in Poland or the Czech Republic, pointed toward Russia, to stand and gather dust for the next millenium. There is however, a very great need for religious zealots to take note of their potentially imminent transit to Valhalla, the Land of 97 Virgins, or whatever they call the next world, which can be dispatched from any of the allied civilized societies.
Frodo believes that this is the product of good and wise men and women, who have seen War, and are doing their best to prevent the next one. On a day when the questions were about other aspects of public and foreign policy, it is, in Frodo's mind, important to take note of the fact that the joint threat has produced joint responsibility and cooperation.
Perhaps it is Frodo's wishful thinking, but this night, in this place, he truly believes that great steps have been taken to bring the white dove home, and to let her sleep, peacefully, in the sand.
How is that for "hope" and "change"?
