The Mouse that Squeaked

 

 

 

"If you don't stop doing that, I am going to get really, really, really mad!"

Back in the 1950's, there was a novel (actually a short story) called The Mouse that Roared. It was about a mythical country in Europe called Duchy of Grand Fenwick. In this satirical story, this very puny country decided a cure to its financial ills would be to declare war on America. The plan was to fight to a quick defeat, and then have America take care of the Duchy as a vanquished enemy. It was great fun and a good read.

Today's news out of the Ukraine is not good, not good at all. It seems that Vladimir has used up all of his good behavior during the Olympics and resorted to a wee bit of KGB type diplomacy. In other words, Russia has seen an opening in the Ukraine to reinsert itself. A throwback to the good old Soviet Republic. It is a move reminiscent of the Cold War.

Right on the heels of having his fairly new SECDEF tell the world we are going to unilaterally disarm, our POTUS broke free from a Democratic happy hour yesterday to "warn" the Russians that "there will be consequences" if this intrusion continues. Instead of a roar, our warning came off as more of a squeak. Maybe we could draw another "red line" like we did in Syria. Okay, maybe a pink line then, if we think red is too harsh. The bottom line is this - "we ain't going to do spit" (as they say in the Old West).

We are broke and have faltering credit. We have a military which every year gets smaller and less trained. What exactly are we going to do to this big bully from Moscow? By the way, he has a warship now docked in Cuba. Shades of 1960? The North Koreans are launching missiles into the sea, the Iranians have two warships off our international boundary waters, the Chinese are flexing their "Blue Water Navy" muscle against Japan, and now the Russian Bear is once again waking up. And we are disarming, Woodrow Wilson style.

The President of the United States has said or inferred many times that we should not be a super power. We should be an ordinary power. That is the fair thing to do. The United Nations continues to be a feckless organization against anything aggressive, so without a strong USA and UN, the wolves will once again control the forests.

As a retired vet, it breaks my heart to write what I just did. I lived through the gutting of our military under Jimmy Carter. The way we are going now, this President will make Carter look like a war hawk.