Think About It. Fair and Square. Through the ages people have decided the future of lives and territory by conquest, the survival of the fittest. Consider how the British Commonwealth, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and The Roman Empire acquired all their far-flung geography. There are those in the world who would question how even the United States and our territories were acquired. Certainly that would include indigenous Americans, Mexican nationals, Alaskans, Hawaiians and the Panamanians. The Panamanians? Oh, The Panama Canal Zone. We gave that back despite the advice of a well-known semanticist and then president of San Francisco State University. He said we should keep the Panama Canal. “After all, we stole it fair and square”.
S.I Hayakawa certainly had a way with words. There are those who feel that President Putin should not have moved back into Georgia, reclaimed Crimea, hinted at reattaching Moldova, etc. After all, the world gave up that philosophy in the Twentieth Century. Oh, really?
Welcome to the 21st Century. Has anyone noticed that the Israelis have been moving into East Jerusalem and beyond, settlement by settlement, house by house, brick by brick? It’s all over the news now, though we haven’t wanted to talk about that. After all, against the strong objection of Jerusalem and the Arab States, the United Nations paved the way for the Israeli Declaration of Independence which was made on May 14th 1948. How long after you take territory by fraud or force do you have the international right to keep it? That changes with the winds of time. This I know for sure. I don’t have a clue what to do with the Russian ambitions.
In the early 1900s it seemed like a good idea for us to join the massive task of stopping the Germans from moving into every country in sight. But now, weary with our worldwide incursions and in our weakened financial state, should we, can we prevent Putin and Company from proceeding with their aggressive actions? Maybe, with the sincere and complete support of the Europeans, not just the U.S. acting in the form of NATO we could seriously attempt to proceed with desired conquest. Otherwise any country that ever dominated another nation or territory could say we’re going to keep it (or take it back). After all, we stole it Fair and Square. Think About It.