Sometimes it amazes me just how far off from reality some of the mainstream media pundits actually are. I was struck by this again just now as I read an article in the Washington Post by TV pundit Fareed Zakaria. The headline says it all:
FDR started the Long Peace. Under Trump, it may be coming to an end.
This is so far from reality, that I think that Zakaria should change the name of his show from "Fareed Zakaria GPS" to "Fantasy Island".
The thesis of Zakaria's article is that we have seen world peace since the end of World War II due to Franklin Roosevelt's brilliant plan for the world. Think about that.
Within five years of the end of WW II, came the Korean War. There were about one and a quarter million deaths in that conflict and many more wounded. In Vietnam which started less than ten years after Korea ended, there were about 1.4 million dead with many more wounded. About three years after the end of the Vietnam fighting, the Soviet war in Afghanistan began. That conflict too resulted in more than one million dead. Not long after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, came the Gulf War in which at lease 60,000 died in a few short weeks of fighting. Then there's the global war on terror which began with 9-11. There are estimates that more than a million people have died in that fighting. These are just major military involvements which included the two main world powers since World War II. They cover a total of roughly five million war dead. This is what Zakaria calls the "long peace".
One has to wonder why the WaPo would publish a column that is so devoid of reality. It's not just fake news; it's obviously ridiculous fake news.
It's important to note that there were many other wars during this "long peace" that did not include direct involvement by America or the Soviet Union/Russia. For example, we have the fighting in Syria (which only had a short period of Russian involvement), the battles in the Sudan, the fighting between India and Pakistan or India and China, and the wars between Israel and the Arabs. Then there's the genocide in Rwanda, the massacres in Indonesia, and many other horrors.
There is no way that anyone aware of the history of the past seventy years could call it the "long peace." The majority of the time, America was engaged in what was commonly called the Cold War (not the Cold Long Peace.)
FDR started the Long Peace. Under Trump, it may be coming to an end.
This is so far from reality, that I think that Zakaria should change the name of his show from "Fareed Zakaria GPS" to "Fantasy Island".
The thesis of Zakaria's article is that we have seen world peace since the end of World War II due to Franklin Roosevelt's brilliant plan for the world. Think about that.
Within five years of the end of WW II, came the Korean War. There were about one and a quarter million deaths in that conflict and many more wounded. In Vietnam which started less than ten years after Korea ended, there were about 1.4 million dead with many more wounded. About three years after the end of the Vietnam fighting, the Soviet war in Afghanistan began. That conflict too resulted in more than one million dead. Not long after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, came the Gulf War in which at lease 60,000 died in a few short weeks of fighting. Then there's the global war on terror which began with 9-11. There are estimates that more than a million people have died in that fighting. These are just major military involvements which included the two main world powers since World War II. They cover a total of roughly five million war dead. This is what Zakaria calls the "long peace".
One has to wonder why the WaPo would publish a column that is so devoid of reality. It's not just fake news; it's obviously ridiculous fake news.
It's important to note that there were many other wars during this "long peace" that did not include direct involvement by America or the Soviet Union/Russia. For example, we have the fighting in Syria (which only had a short period of Russian involvement), the battles in the Sudan, the fighting between India and Pakistan or India and China, and the wars between Israel and the Arabs. Then there's the genocide in Rwanda, the massacres in Indonesia, and many other horrors.
There is no way that anyone aware of the history of the past seventy years could call it the "long peace." The majority of the time, America was engaged in what was commonly called the Cold War (not the Cold Long Peace.)
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