Sometimes you can learn from history, but not often.
JAPAN '44: PACIFIC OCEAN : : USA '04: THE PLANET.
By WWII, Japan had about 80 million people. Their seven hundred or so islands could probably feed about fifteen million people. But they discovered that they could think of the entire Pacific Ocean as theirs to play with by filling boats with well armed soldiers. In the best of times they traded for rice and whatever else they needed. But no one could say no if times weren't good.
One day we discover that we have a Pacific Coast. We will be fighting a war in Europe. It will be a good war, a just war. We tell the Japanese that we are going to need Indonesian oil and that we do not think it is right for Japan to be stealing this oil. We told the Japanese we intended to blockade Indonesia and keep them out. Now Japan has only 0.03% of the world's known oil reserves. They watched our ships gather in Hawaii and thought, "We only have one months'supply of oil, we better do something."
What they did was stage a pre-emptive strike against our threatening armada gathering in Hawaii.
The USA has gotten itself into a similar bind today. We are like Japan found itself in the nineteen-forties: too many people and not enough oil. WE made a pre-emptive strike to protect our interests. . . and it is starting to look like the whole planet is thinking that we are now what Japan was then.
Of course, Japan was also just looking out for her own people. Sometimes, things can seem to be right from both sides. Of course, the "Rape of Nanking" did not help the Japanese win any friends or influence any people. It seems that the lesson to be drawn from that fact has totally eluded our clueless President and his handlers. Therefore, I have called this entry...