As a foreign policy geek, I'm watching the world deteriorate with increasing dismay. Putin has gone almost unchallenged by the West into Ukraine. Syria and now Iraq are now in civil war with ISIS on the offense, even though the US government position is trying to play it as otherwise. Right after the day our involvement with Yemen in fighting against al Qaeda was touted as a success, Yemen collapsed. Iranian people who hate their government aren't supported by the West and so the mullahs in charge of Iran are free to sponsor Hezbollah's war in Syria and against Israel. I wouldn't be so worried (and I doubt Israel would be so worried) about Iran's progress towards a nuclear bomb if the Iranian people were in full control of their government. As it is, if Iran gets the bomb, Israel would have to become even more worried about Hezbollah.
So I see a collapsing Middle East with more barbaric groups winning (which I have argued before will create more terror attacks) and a West ignoring theses crises. Why is this important?
Because I see a West that doesn't care anymore. In the United States, 36.4% of the populace voted within the United States in the 2014 election. That means that only 36.4% of the United States' populace care about what's going on in the world. We're facing an increasing threat from our enemies who see that we don't care anymore. Because of that, they can increase their pressures on weak states or peoples. It's so transparent it's almost laughable.
In the United States, most people know more about the New England Patriots' scandal than they do about the Fast and Furious scandal, the IRS scandal, and the Veteran Health Affairs Scandal, to name a few political problems. More people know about Tom Brady than they know that Yemen collapsed. More people know about Tom Brady than they know about the fact that the West has lifted sanctions on Iran and that David Cameron personally lobbied that lift of sanctions to Obama. More people know about Tom Brady than the fact groups like ISIS routinely genitally mutilate women. More people know about Tom Brady than that the reason there are no homosexuals in Iran, as Ahmadinejad once told Columbia, is that the mullahs in charge of Iran hang em all.
We're ignoring it because we don't want to think about it. So, instead, we simply don't care and focus on Western culture, trying to pretend everything's fine and dandy and will remain the same throughout our lives. If we do think about it, we blame ourselves only and therefore can allow ourselves to pretend like getting out of there is the best method to deal with groups like ISIS even though they have specifically issued threats against the West.
It's unbelievable. I do have a criticism for those who do care and pay attention, however: you always wish that a Churchill will appear to lead the West once more in this fight against these threats. Unfortunately, he ain't coming. We've got to deal with these issues ourselves.
