Peace Through Strength?
Editor - Zak Mudie
The situation in Ukraine has brought to the forefront of modern politics a debate thought left to the Cold War, one we should never have forgotten in the first place. That debate is how best we should defend peace, through unilateral de-armament and globalist organisations, or maintaining peace through maintaining one’s strength.
The eternal answer to this question must be peace through strength. It is my view that the Western Bubble of Values, whereby it is inconceivable for most within the West to understand that people outside the West don’t think like we do, has prevented us from taking a realist perspective of global politics. Global Trade and international organisations are a nice idea in concept, but what really have they done to maintain peace? War has existed in some form on every populated continent since the inception of the United Nations and its security council. It is laughable that these organisations still claim to champion this international world view, a globalist one of trust. However, can we really trust these organisations to hold nations to account when Ukrainian hospitals are being shelled by Russian artillery? Can we trust a World Health Organisation which could well be influenced by the People’s Republic of China? International Courts which have no jurisdiction unless an accused nation allows the case to go ahead. All of these point to something which has been right in front of us since their inception but never so problematic until the end of a global period of peace through strength, the Cold War.
In the Cold War, both sides took defence seriously, no one more so than US President Ronald Reagan whose understanding of the failings of communism allowed him to force the Soviet Union into serious military overspending to match his reinvigoration of the US Armed Forces. This many know was one of the significant factors in the collapse of communism. Reagan understood that peace was protected when militaries were strong, especially when the stakes are so high. One nation cannot become the warmonger when their enemies are strong in their own right or aligned with each other. A view of the perpetual arms race, as a negative concept, fails to understand the emphasis on perpetual. Would you rather have a world system of fake peace propped up by hollow ideals, and an ignorance to their problems where the strong have no opposition and war is common, or would you prefer one where we are always seeking to improve our defensive capabilities, as are our enemies resulting in a lasting stalemate? The latter is the pragmatic approach, the latter is a realist approach, and when it comes to seeking and maintaining peace pragmatic realism is far better than radical idealism.
If we hope for peace while our enemies seek to subvert it, we are clowns walking straight into the next global conflict in which we will not be prepared to fight for ourselves. Instead, we should realise that what we enjoy about the current globalist system can only be maintained if we are willing to spend what we need on a properly funded military. That goes for our allies, and our enemies. Pundits all over surrounding the Ukrainian conflict have noted one key factor since the beginning of the conflict, Putin is afraid of NATO. Who wouldn’t be? A combination of British, Canadian, American and European forces is a force to be reckoned with. Our Western technological supremacy, and our (mainly British) long historical traditions have transferred into some of the most elite soldiers on planet earth. Our wealthy capitalist economies can provide the funding and the efficiency to maintain an effective and sizeable armed forces. Yet we are also aware of the strength of Russia and China, which kept the world out of global war when both the USSR and USA were at each others throats. Peace Through Strength!
To ignore such an advantage is to put a time limit on “Peace in our time”. Whilst discussing global politics and defence. pop culture is not often a helpful teacher; however one line from the first Thor movie comes to mind, “A wise King never seeks out war, but he must always be ready for it”. The wise Odin, played by Anthony Hopkins, delivers an incredible piece of wisdom. The goal of a realist, one who wishes for peace through strength, does not want war; however we know that the best way to avoid it is to always be ready for one, and always be willing to fight for the peace we all deserve.