MSNBC has taken to calling all the unrest in the Middle East “Arab Spring.” Things seem to be moving so quickly in that corner of the world that staying current is a full time job. The job also involves frequent checks of the world atlas just to make sure that the relative geography is also understood.
Given that environment, I was delighted to see that Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently made a presentation at Johns Hopkins University addressing the global environment for security. Although I confess that I was shocked to learn that Admiral Mullen believes that military force is the “best first tool” for governments to use. He’s a military man, so his perspective probably comes with the territory. Still, thinking that the first thing a president (or dictator) should reach for in any conflict is the telephone to order someone to blow up something should chill all of us who learned to use our words instead of our fists to resolve schoolyard conflicts.
Mullen went on to identify the greatest threats to our society. Number one, he said is the national debt. It seems that if the national debt is high, there is pressure for the military to get rid of costly programs that don’t actually work. (Can anyone say “Star Wars?”) Personally, I’d say that the national debt is just the manifestation of administrations ignoring military expenses during the budgeting process, and giving tax breaks to the wealthy, while blowing up things all over the world. See, somebody has to pay for all those pyrotechnics, and if it isn’t in the budget it needs to be borrowed.
It seems the second thing that worries Mullen is the high cost of fuel. The single largest consumer of oil and gas products is the U.S. Military. So, when the price of fuel goes up, the military gets a big hole blown into its budget.
Without placing the blame for increasing average temperatures across the globe, Mullen recognizes the melting of polar ice as being a global threat. He even recognizes that food security is threatened in some nations because of the changes taking place in the environment. “Scarcity of water, food and space could create not only a humanitarian crisis, but conditions that could lead to failed states, instability and potentially radicalization,” according to Mullen.
What is Mullen’s prescription for curing all these ills? Not surprising, it is the “Obama Doctrine” that all the pundits are trying to understand. Obama claims there is no doctrine, but the consensus among pundits seems to be that building partnerships with other nations to react to global unrest is the new doctrine. I hope that means that when things get blown up someone other than the American taxpayer pays for the excitement.
Homework
Global Security Environment
Pundit Discussing Obama Doctrine
NPR Story About Obama Doctrine
Given that environment, I was delighted to see that Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently made a presentation at Johns Hopkins University addressing the global environment for security. Although I confess that I was shocked to learn that Admiral Mullen believes that military force is the “best first tool” for governments to use. He’s a military man, so his perspective probably comes with the territory. Still, thinking that the first thing a president (or dictator) should reach for in any conflict is the telephone to order someone to blow up something should chill all of us who learned to use our words instead of our fists to resolve schoolyard conflicts.
Mullen went on to identify the greatest threats to our society. Number one, he said is the national debt. It seems that if the national debt is high, there is pressure for the military to get rid of costly programs that don’t actually work. (Can anyone say “Star Wars?”) Personally, I’d say that the national debt is just the manifestation of administrations ignoring military expenses during the budgeting process, and giving tax breaks to the wealthy, while blowing up things all over the world. See, somebody has to pay for all those pyrotechnics, and if it isn’t in the budget it needs to be borrowed.
It seems the second thing that worries Mullen is the high cost of fuel. The single largest consumer of oil and gas products is the U.S. Military. So, when the price of fuel goes up, the military gets a big hole blown into its budget.
Without placing the blame for increasing average temperatures across the globe, Mullen recognizes the melting of polar ice as being a global threat. He even recognizes that food security is threatened in some nations because of the changes taking place in the environment. “Scarcity of water, food and space could create not only a humanitarian crisis, but conditions that could lead to failed states, instability and potentially radicalization,” according to Mullen.
What is Mullen’s prescription for curing all these ills? Not surprising, it is the “Obama Doctrine” that all the pundits are trying to understand. Obama claims there is no doctrine, but the consensus among pundits seems to be that building partnerships with other nations to react to global unrest is the new doctrine. I hope that means that when things get blown up someone other than the American taxpayer pays for the excitement.
Homework
Global Security Environment
Pundit Discussing Obama Doctrine
NPR Story About Obama Doctrine
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