Time after time you read Clifford D. May’s articles proclaiming that America, along with the rest of the Western World, are not doing enough to protect themselves from the potential ravages which the proverbial train at the end of the tunnel is seen to bring with it full force.
And time
after time, you get the sense that Clifford May is well aware of the reality he
is fighting a losing battle. He knows it because he is adept at quoting the
statistics which say that more Americans — those that read his column and those
that don’t — are discarding his arguments in favor of adopting the contrarian
points of view. No more help for Ukraine, they say; we gave too much already.
You get
all that when you read the article which came under the title: “Republican
isolationism” and the subtitle: “Abandoning Ukraine is no way to make America
great again.” It was published on August 22, 2023 in The Washington Times.
So, the
question to ask is this: Why would someone go through the trouble of endlessly
eroding his own editorial credibility while knowing that in so doing he will
not help the causes he says he champions, even bore his audiences to such an
extent he may push them to switch sides?
Well
then, the first thing that comes to mind in response to that question, is that
it must be this: Clifford May is not fighting for someone else. He is fighting
for himself under the guise of fighting for Ukraine which is said to fight for
the preservation of the Western World if not the entire human race.
If not
that, what personal interest does Clifford May have in fighting the Russians as
well as their Chinese and Iranian allies? To begin the business of tinkering
with a hypothesis that may yield answers to that question, we look back to a
time when the Soviet Union was fighting in Afghanistan, and America was helping
the Taliban beat up on what was called the Evil Empire.
Discovering
that they entered a Vietnam style quagmire, the Soviets looked at America in
the eye, and tried to play the race card. They told high ranking Americans that
both of them being White Caucasians, they should stop beating up on each other,
and work together to defeat the “colored” Afghans as well as their “presumably
yellow belly” Chinese supporters.
But fixated
on winning the war against his Rival Soviet superpower at a time when the
Taliban of Afghanistan and their Chinese supporters were thought to be as
backward as any society in the Third World, President Ronald Reagan turned down
the Soviet offer and continued sending aid to the Taliban. The result has been
the defeat of the Soviet Union. Shortly after that, America met the same fate
in Afghanistan while China, to the surprise of everyone, rose to the status of
superpower in no time at all, now rivaling America in every field of human
endeavor.
These
unexpected changes transformed the world in such a way that America could not
escape the ensuing whirlwind. Confused, the people on the Left and those on the
Right looked to new directions for where to rest their vision. Those with a
naturally pacifist attitude and those with a usually aggressive one, began to
question their long held stances. A trickle of each began to cross the isle, so
to speak, but then the trickle began to take on the allure of a flood. And they
all took to the social media where they continue to empty their chests of the
fear and anger plaguing them no end.
This is
where Clifford May stands today. But he remains steadfast in the belief that
says Russia remains the Evil Empire that the Soviet Union was in the eyes of
Ronald Reagan. And the ramifications remain today what they were in the old
days. More specifically, what was thought to threaten the existence of Israel—which
is Clifford May’s pet project—half a century ago continues to threaten Israel
today. It is none other than the Soviet Union-cum-Russia. In short, Israel is
whom Clifford May fights to preserve, not Ukraine or the West or the world.
Unable
to formulate a convincing argument as to why America should continue fighting
the Russians and their new allies rather than get with them and hammer a
durable solution everyone can live with, Clifford May has resorted to the approach
of endlessly repeating the arguments that boil down to this: We are good, they
are bad, let’s kill them all and be free of those who wish to enslave us.
Condensed
here into 233 words, is how Clifford May put down his thoughts of 950 words:
“Days before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, he
and Xi Jinping forged a partnership ‘without limits.’ Putin admires Stalin, a
fellow traveler. He’s also a sworn enemy of the US. His other friend is Ali
Khamenei of Iran. The two are cooperating to expand the Kremlin’s supply of
drones and other weapons. Meanwhile, Tehran is seeking to purchase Su-35
fighter jets, helicopters and other military equipment from Russia. The Russian,
Iranian and Chinese [leaders] believe their power is rising while that of the
US and its allies is declining. Mr. Putin has been waiting for Americans
to do what Republicans appear eager to do: Get tired. Give up. Move on. Should
Mr. Putin prevail in Ukraine, expect him to utilize Ukrainian
resources to continue to expand his neo-Soviet empire. Belarus, Georgia,
Armenia and Kazakhstan are on the menu. Mr. Putin restored Russian clout
to the Middle East. The big prize for him would be to crack NATO. How long
before GOP voters say they did enough’ to support NATO? That would be a
good time for Mr. Xi to take Taiwan. Expect Japan, South Korea, and other
Indo-Pacific nations to then acquiesce to Beijing’s hegemony. Russian and
Chinese influence has been growing in Latin America and Africa. ‘Peace through
strength’ is the policy to which you should want the US to return. That implies
building and maintaining sufficient military might to deter our enemies”.
Interminably the Same Old. Same Old.