World War I and the Middle East Today, and other Observations

It is ironic that in August 1914 World War I began and in August 2014 we are reaping the fruit of post-World War I decision making by the Allies at Versailles. Britain and France wanted parts of the Ottoman Empire so they created artificial nations over whom they planned to exert influence. So much for influence; short-term gain often results in long-term pain.

The American founding fathers avoided dealing with slavery; they took the expedient way out. Their gift was not only untold suffering by African-Americans, it was also the gift of the Civil War. Short-term gain, in this case avoidance, often results in long-term pain (pain which we are still suffering).

One difference between Vladimir Putin and the West is that Putin believes in something, whether we call it a Greater Russia, or self-deification; the West doesn’t believe in anything worth dying for – or perhaps anything worth jeopardizing its economy for. The Russians have a high threshold for pain, the mantra of the West is to avoid pain – we are a culture of self-medication (no wonder we have a therapeutic church!)

One society may be in authoritarian shackles; another society may be in the shackles of pleasure and hedonism – I think it might be easier to find God through pain than pleasure.