Walk Around The World

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Every year, the President of the United States delivers a message to Congress, called the State of the Union Address. This is done for a variety of reasons, but is unfortunately all too necessary in this ADD culture we see. All too often, people only believe what the MSM has told them is the news, and only if it was news in the past week or so. It occurs to me that a brief examination of world stability and conditions is worth a look. For this article, I am only concerned with the risk of a nation becoming a threat to the United States, and therefore it must overlook some significant observations in that focus.

Let’s begin with Europe, which has always considered itself the center of the universe. The experiment of a federal union has not worked well for the Euros; France is still fighting riots, Germany and the Netherlands have seen their own Immigration cowardice come home to roost, and Spain has begnu to find out what sort of government they chose, and they are not happy. The people have been worried about the Avian Flu, but it seems to me they should be a lot more worried about the Stupidity Flu; even the Brits have gone barmy of late, at least where their military commitments and welfare are concerned. It’s got a real ‘1936’ feel to the place, the way these guys go out of their way to avoid offending Abominable Mr. Ahmahdinejad, the Mad Mahdi-pretender.

Still in Europe, but rolling to the East, there’s a strange mix of courage and the police state. The nations of Poland, Ukraine, and the Slavic countries are showing a real taste for democracy, and a flair to match. The Balkans, sad to say, are still playing vendetta on an international scale, and the Russians seem to be tuning up to replay Stalin’s Greatest Hits, with Putin all too happy to blame every ill on Chechnya.

Since we’re headed that way, roll on East some more to Asia. The major players there are pretty much all on the coast. China, of course, is sensible enough to know that wars are expensive and risky, and so they are playing the ‘Joe Isuzu’ card and trying their darndest to draw in some Euros and Dollars. The two Koreas are pretty much continuing to head in different directions, with South Korea impressing the heck out of everyone, and North Korea threatening everyone on a regular basis. Japan continues to be overly impressed with itself, a nation with tremendous potential and achievements, but whose refusal to honestly address their own past keeps tripping them up. The Philippines are frankly a disappointment, having held some great potential and received many opportunities, but they have become timid and are reacting to most conditions in the same short-sighted way that we see in Thailand and Myanmar.

On to the Middle East then, where Israel is our most arrogant important ally, and Iran is the most arrogant of our important enemies. Iraq is a much greater success than most people think, Saudi Arabia is a much bigger worry than most people realize, and the U.A.E. is a much better ally than almost anyone is willing to admit. The oil, as I mentioned before, is running out, at least in the ME, but other than that, the only strange thing in the Middle Eastern context, is that Queen Noor seems to have the hots for Al Gore. No accounting for taste ...

As for Africa, thanks to the U.N. almost no progress where it is needed most. Those stable countries which exist are trying to avoid “help” from the United Nations, which almost always leads to starvation, corruption, and war.

Australia remains as it ever was; the only nation on Earth to have mangled the English language worse than the Americans have done, and to have less of an idea how to cook food than the English do. Beyond that, Australia feels the need to prove its independence every so often, by deliberately thumbing its nose at, well, just about the whole rest of the world. Some see a glass as half-full, others as half-empty, but the Aussies usually see it as a reason to start a barfight.

On then to South America, which hasn’t really changed much in stability terms. Brazil and Argentina have a loud say in things, and the Socialists/Communists/WhateverTheyCallThemNow’s are still trying to start a continental revolution. With Castro’s Paradise in plain view, I’d call that a hard sell, escept that there’s always a market for ‘Standing Up To America’, whetever that means in actual fact.

Central America is a truck wreck, or it is if the trucks involved were carying toxic waste and the drivers and passengers at the scene were zombies. “Government” is a real loose term in between the state palaces and the city slums, with corruption and extortion on a scale with which only Kofi Annan would be at home.

And finally, back to the good ole’ North America. Mexico is still dreaming its ‘Revolucion’ fantasy, but Canada seems to be waking up. And Congress? Well, I’ve said enough about corruption and arrogance in other places. What goes on in D.C. is not nearly as bad as some of the places I’ve mentioned, but even a quick glance at how Congress has reacted to Rep. Jefferson’s situation is sadly telling. A conviction by accident, almost. That, and the fact that so many people still want to blame the President for doing things he never did, saying things he never said, and for not doing things which were never in his power anyway, makes me wonder whether I should not revisit this whole ‘stability’ question closer to home.

Happy Hot Dog Day folks, and if you happen to know someone who’s worn or wearing the uniform, you might say ‘thanks’.