Allow me to interrupt my usual focus on Asia (specifically China and the Philippines), and return the focus to my home country for a moment. There is a lot of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth right now from the American Left (and some of the Right, if truth be known) about the Helsinki Summit. A lot of Americans are shocked right now that Trump would go to a NATO conference in attack mode and then have such a friendly exchange with Putin.
Apparently, a lot of people wanted Trump to do that in reverse, pandering to a lot of toxic "allies" who have done precious little for us in the past three decades) while lashing out at the only nation on the planet with a nuclear arsenal that rivals (and actually exceeds) our own (Macias, The Independent).
Apparently, a lot of people wanted Trump to go there, look Vladimir Putin in the eye, and talk to him like a disobedient child.
Apparently, a lot of people wanted a nuclear war.
And they're pissed that Trump (whom they once lamented was allegedly going to lead us into a nuclear war) didn't give them one.
To be fair, it's easy to see why Americans would expect their president to coddle Europe and take a hard-line on Russia. We did just get out of a half-century of "Cold War," marked by constant nuclear brinkmanship, right? And for all of that, America was the stalwart "Arsenal of Democracy," protecting the "good guys" of Europe from the Big Bad USSR, right? And now that that Cold War has ended, isn't the oh-so-free-and-Democratic European Union our friend (Bershidsky, Bloomberg)?
Well, since the accusation is that Trump is "breaking a long-standing alliance and embracing an enemy, notwithstanding that the Press Conference makes that appear quite unlikely, since Russia would have been stupid to let a Russian agent stumble around and throw so many bones to the rabble accusing him of being a Russian agent (Friedman, Geopolitical Futures), maybe we should look a little farther back into history than just the last half of the last century.
So, permit me, an English teacher, music teacher and karate instructor, to try my hand as a history teacher for the day.
History Quiz Time
Question 1
In all the years since 1776, how many times has the US Congress declared a state of war (mind you, I'm not talking about interventions or US participation in some damned-fool UN-action, but a full-on declaration of war)?
The answer is eleven (Chamberlain, Army Times).
Question2
How many of those wars were against Germany?
The answer is two.
Question 3
In how many of those wars did Germans fight alongside Americans?
The answer is none.
Question 4
How many of those wars were against Russia?
The answer is none.
Question 5
In how many of those wars did Russians fight the same enemy as Americans?
The answer is two.
And Now For the Bonus Round
In the two wars where Russians and Americans fought together, who was the enemy both times?
...
...
...Well, whaddaya know? It was Germany.
Seriously, ladies and gentlemen, if you are one of the crowd who thought it was a scandal that the US President didn't bow to the British Queen (an issue which I thought was settled in 1776), insisted Trump was doing Russia a favor by calling out NATO (for hiding behind us and not pulling their own weight against Russia), pulled out your hair because Trump embarrassed Merkel (for being under Russia's thumb) after embarrassing May (for being under Merkel's thumb), and then topped it all of by swearing he's a traitor because "Duh, yuk yuk! Russians iz bad, and Jer-minny is our old and dear friend, yep-yep," then it really is time for you to just acknowledge that you're too stupid to vote.
Works Cited
Books
From the Web
Bershidsky, Leonid. "The EU Doesn't Want to Be More Democratic." Bloomberg. 9 Feb, 2018.
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-09/the-eu-doesn-t-want-to-be-more-democratic
Chamberlain, Ken. "How Many Times Has the US Declared War?" Outside the Wire. Army Times. 17 Jun, 2014.
http://outsidethewire.armytimes.com/2014/06/17/how-many-times-has-the-u-s-declared-war-see-all-11-declarations/
Friedman, George. "Thinking About the Trump Putin Meeting." Geopolitical Futures. 18 July 2018.
https://geopoliticalfutures.com/thinking-trump-putin-meeting/?utm_source=GPF+-+from+George+Friedman&utm_campaign=8cc0b49ae5-GPF_Weekly_GPF_FREE&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ad288f5e57-8cc0b49ae5-262846021&mc_cid=8cc0b49ae5&mc_eid=8b8788e818
Macias, Amanda. "Nine Nations have Nuclear Weapons." The Independent. 22 Jan, 2016.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/nine-nations-have-nuclear-weapons-here-is-how-many-each-country-has-a6827916.html