Quote:
Originally Posted by nmap
Nice article - I went to the WSJ link and read it in its entirety.
The point about European nations being unable to ask their people for great sacrifices is interesting. I think we are entering an era when our various societies will face substantial threats and challenges; and I wonder if Europe will be up to the challenge. If not, the world may be a rather lonely place for the U.S.
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Exactly - This point jumped out at me as well.
This is a huge issue...Bigger than global warming, an upcoming recession or immigration reform.
The U.S. may have to underwrite most if not all of the defense of the West in coming years and decades - Europe, NATO, the G7 as well as most if not all of Western interests in the Middle East.
My question is - How can we possibly do it?
I'm not sure it is possible. And, on top of it all, we are despised by many
IN THE WEST for this very leadership. History teaches us that when nations and civilizations lose their tough robust nature - their hardness - when they go soft on their willingness to sacrifice for their own defense - they perish. The West seems to be undergoing an unrelenting feminization - a softening. There are virtues to softness, but those virtues can never be realized without hardened toughness to balance it - Overt softness eventually leads to impotence....which leads to extinction.
It concerns me. Freaking scary.
Three Soldier Dad...Chuck