A Brief Overview of the Past Seventy Years of U.S. History

George Friedman posted an article on the foreign policy stances and options for both Trump and Hillary.  But it is his brief overview of recent U.S. history that I found most curious.

He says:

A Series of Aftermaths: War Ends, Soviets Fold, Towers Fall

The US emerged from World War II having learned two lessons. The first was Pearl Harbor. It taught that an enemy can strike at any time without warning.

The second was the price of delay. Had the US entered the war earlier and opposed Hitler before the Munich Agreement, much suffering could have been avoided.

Global involvement would be the first line of defense. Cheyenne Mountain, home of the North American Defense Command, would be the ever watchful second line. It made sense yet was exhausting.

During the Cold War, this approach seemed right because the Soviet Union had to be blocked on the ground. It had to be deterred from nuclear war as well. The Soviet Union fell, but the military and economic structures the US had created remained.

The United States intervened in Somalia, Haiti, Kuwait, and Bosnia in the 1990s. The Soviets were gone, but the US still saw itself as the global guarantor of security.

Then 9/11 happened, and the classic American fear was made real. It was an attack out of nowhere. As the US awaited more attacks, it went on the offensive in the Islamic world. It built a coalition that has fought wars for 15 years.

 This is the most compact and informed view of recent U.S. history that I have seen.  This helps us to understand where we have been, where we are, where we are going, and why the U.S. behaves like it does many times.