Racing Arms

And here we thought the end of the Cold War had solved so many of our seemingly intractable problems. We thought the U.S. and Russia no longer would face off across the impossible distance of suspicion and lack of co-operation. The fall of the Berlin Wall, glasnost in Russia and the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. was beyond our wildest hopes for the future. And then the future arrived.

And here it is. We're back almost to where we started. They're at it again, those big, bad boys. And since boys will be boys they just will not contemplate growing up, become a little more mature, take responsibility seriously. No, they like to jab at one another, compare arsenals, issue taunts, have their little road-racing, weapons-raging disputes. It's wearying, but more than that, it's dispiriting.

Right about now, we've got the United States the only super-super power, and throwing her weight around. There's the good of it and the bad of it. Great powers should be seen to exist so that all who look upon her potential know what she represents and forbear to challenge her pre-eminence. Great power don't really have a need to swagger and challenge. Let it be.

But since the great power does interfere and challenge and co-opt and set the pace, and lead the race, there is hell to pay. Its once-partner in world dominance and attitude has had enough of being looked down upon, being shunted aside, being belittled and mistrusted. Offer those insults and opportunities to anyone, and they take up the challenge, earning the mistrust.

Recidivism is an unfortunate trait, practised by individuals as well as by governments. The tyranny of familiarity can become a comfortable refuge for those accustomed to it, when it was accompanied by a practise of state subsidy and a culture of paternalism. People can become accustomed to a truncation of their rights, their freedoms, they can become convinced that accepting less than they deserve will still serve them well.

So the question is who has helped to create this new monster? George Dubya's safety measures in installing military hardware on soil once a part of the great U.S.S.R. is anything but diplomatic, but it does reflect the one-upsmanship so beloved of schoolyard bullies. And Vladimir Putin's ruffled outrage is also reflective of the kid who believes in himself, yet subliminally suffers pangs of doubt because the popular clique disallows his affiliation.

The U.S. adds to its missile defence deployments; Russia upgrades its offensive missile arsenal. Same old, same old. The U.S. withdrew from the ABM Treaty. Russians appear prepared to withdraw from the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Scary stuff.

Should we feel reassured that the House of Representatives moved to block George W. Bush from developing a new generation of atomic warheads? Both sides of the House appear to feel, somewhat intelligently, rationally, deliberately, that the current administration has not developed a responsible post-Cold War nuclear strategy.

Were we not, after all, talking not so long ago, about eliminating all those nuclear warheads? Instead, the disease has spread with roguishly-fearsome states such as North Korea and Iran determined to join the nuclear club.

Can't we all just be friends?