Cartoon 762: Asymmetrical

We are witnessing the death of the nation state. National politics, even in America, are fragmenting into factions and ideologies with irreconcilable differences. This phenomenon is occurring throughout the world. It creates repression. It is making it increasingly difficult to negotiate with geographical entities. It makes it even more difficult to prosecute war. Groups span across national borders. Warfare has degenerated into a “whack-a-mold” affair.

America has spent a decade caught up in this type of warfare. It has drained resources, strained relationships with allies, and changed the nation into a “police State”. The Middle East uprisings have thrown America’s traditional foreign policy into disarray. Why might Osama bin Laden suddenly been targeted? Perhaps the monarchies of the Middle East such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Syria gave him up in exchange for lack of American intervention in their domestic strife.

How should we view things now? A relatively disorganized and rage-tag bunch of fighters was a tail that wagged the American dog. The belief in the invincibleness of the American military, society and economic might has vanished. It has expired as the famous lines of the title from the book by Margaret Mitchell. “…gone with the wind”.