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| Pax Romana |
What does a Chinese man in the street think of Trump’s outrageous bid to take over Greenland? I asked one of my Chinese students.
He thinks Trump should get it.
Isn’t he concerned about American hegemony?
“The world needs a boss. Then fewer countries would start wars.”
And he’s right. He is being logical. This is the same reason we have governments.
It is moreover the lesson of history: Pax Romana, Pax Britannica. When Rome ruled the Mediterranean, there was general peace, prosperity, and development. When the United Kingdom dominated the globe in the nineteenth century, we had a long period of relative peace. As Yeats described it in "Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen":
All teeth were drawn, all ancient tricks unlearned,
And a great army but a showy thing…
One dominant power preserves the peace. Government is always better than anarchy.
This being so, America’s continued and growing dominance is in the best interests of everyone. Especially since America is a democracy, and guarantees democracy to territories it controls. This means suppression and exploitation is not on the menu. Its dominance is not just in the best interests of America’s usual allies in Canada, Europe, Australia, Israel, the Pacific Rim. It is also in the best interests of the people of Iran, or Russia, or China.
hy then do the governments of Iran, China, or Russia stand opposed to the USA? Why are hackles raised in Europe or in Canada? Why are leaders like Mark Carney actually turning to China for closer ties?
It must be just the ugly sin of envy. If they cannot themselves be the leader, they want to burn it all down. It is weasels fighting in a hole. It is crabs preventing one another from escaping the boiling pot.
In fact, the ideal would be if America conquered and annexed everyone. Then everyone would have a vote on US policy, creating a democratic world government.
The craziest thing is that Greenland, and Canada, have been offered advance membership, and somehow seem put out by it.
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