The New Cold War

The dominoes of World War III are as close to falling as they have ever been. At the very least, the world is in the opening stages of a new Cold War with dynamics and technology that make the former Cold War seem like childs play. New actors have entered the stage--North Korea, Iran, Israel, and Pakistan--while old players are losing their grip on control--US and Russia.

Making the former Cold War more manageable was the worldwide chess game. Russia and the US (the new leader of the Western World after WWII) reached for new territories to bring into their camps essentially raising two teams under their leadership; the camps became known as NATO and The Warsaw Pact. Both nations used economic aid to sweeten the deal and keep the territories in line. There were very few defections with Russia using force to keep The Warsaw Pact together. NATO enjoyed economic success thanks in most part to the successful Marshall Plan under President Truman.

During the former Cold War, the Middle East was merely a battleground for the worldwide chess match. The Eisenhower Doctrine was an explicit vow to combat Communism in the Middle East which he put into practice in Lebanon. In Iran, the US and Britain undertook a mission to overthrow the Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh, because of his refusal to allow Britain to overwhelmingly own Iranian oil production. The coup was a successful joint effort by the CIA and and British Intelligence Agency MI6 and paved the way to hostile relations between the US and Iran.

Economically, the Middle East today is more aligned with Asian nations like China and Japan due to the emerging booming markets and more open trade policies.This leads to Asia, specifically China, having more influence over the region which means we need the cooperation of China to make any headway. Onto Pakistan, the US is beginning to realize that we need the help of Pakistan if we ever want to "win" the War on Terror. The only problem with that is what has already been stated: Pakistan is closer to China and will follow their direction before ours.The snag in this plan is that we're still mistrustful of China because of it is still a Communist nation. While we have considerably improved relations with China than we did in 1950, there is still hostility. China is looking more like the leader of the former Soviet today with more evidence shown in the recent Nobel Peace Prize situation. The winner of the Prize, Liu Xiaobo, is in prison for encouraging a submersion of the Chinese Government, says China, which they believe to be a Western conspiracy to turn opinion against them. They boycotted the ceremony and used their leverage to get other countries to boycott as well including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq....interesting huh?

Iran opens up an even more dangerous door in this new Cold War. The hostility between Iran and Israel adds religion to an already hostile situation. It has been confirmed that Iran is increasing it's nuclear ambitions which Israel takes as a direct threat to their national security. The US supports Israel, which has nuclear weapons, driving Iran even closer to the other team. Iran has become more fanatical religiously since the coup in the 50's under President Eisenhower which has direct consequences on today's situation. The rhetoric of Iran's Ahmadinejad against the Western World has become more intense recently since the beginnings of the highly contested elections. Iran could very well be the straw that heats up the Cold War.

North Korea has remained dormant for quite some time despite being quite possibly the most dangerous nation out there. Looking more like a Stalin's Russia in the 40's than anything modern, North Korea is a loose cannon waiting to explode. The recent South Korean situation has led to the only country who can talk to them, China, becoming more proactive in calming tensions.


The stars are aligning and it's not a good sign.

Independence: Nothing More Than a Message

There is nothing wrong with partisan politics. Our ideologies are what drive us to make competent decisions in order to move the country in the direction that we believe it should go. Our system, however, is not appropriate partisan politics. We have two parties that are monopolies on the left and right stifling out any competition from smaller third parties because it would threaten their well being. Make no mistake about it, both the Republican and Democratic parties are businesses who feed off of money; it is about winning first and governing second. The losers in the situation are the people who actually care about what is happening in this country.

We've become so comfortable in voting red vs blue that we don't even recognize that there are other candidates out there that may be more ideologically aligned with our views. Those candidates don't get any attention, aren't invited to the debates (thank the media for this one), and barely crack 2% of the total votes submitted because of it. Why is it? The two party system has become so pervasive that we believe a vote for anyone other than the Donkey or the Elephant is a wasted vote. Sadly, this isn't a completely false assertion. The vast majority of the electorate will vote red or blue come election day and not even know which third party candidates are on the ballot despite the fact that they may be more ideologically aligned with them.

The most infuriating result of our two party system is the huge coalitions that come with the territory. Two villains of the last two years have been conservative Democrats Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln who hail from usually conservative-leaning states. If we expect people to represent the people of the state, we cannot fault them for being more conservative. The real problem lies in the structure of the system that looks for anyone with a D or R after their name to vote a specific way regardless of where they were elected. Sweetheart political deals for specific states, such as the famed "Corn husker Kickback," are the direct effect of said perception. Breaking up the coalitions and allowing more specific parties will only increase the proper representation of US citizens and more meaningful legislation.

The message of it all? Independence is nothing more than a message...but a message that needs to be sent.