This changing world !

Russia has finally had the courage to invade Ukraine but not by committing it's massive army which would quickly brush aside the Ukrainian military.  It plans to gobble up it's neigbour a mouthfull at a time.  Firstly it seized and annexed Crimea.  Now it has committed just enough troops and their advanced weapons in the restive east to stave off the defeat of the separatists.  The likely plan is to create a Russian enclave which will continually threaten the government in Kiev - and install permanent instability in that country.

In Syria and Iraq a new form of warfare is threatening world  peace.   A "citizen army " of religious zealots has seized vast stretches of both countries and is waging Jihad.  It shows no mercy to those who come under it's control.  Either they convert to it's religion - or they die.  It is utter barbarity.  Cutting off heads and selling the women of the captured into sexual slavery terrifies their enemies and they totally ignore the rules of war that apply in civilized nations.   Surrendering troops are simply murdered in cold blood - and these Jihadists delight in recording the slaughter and showing it on world media.

What a difference from just a few decades ago.  In the days of the Cold War America had a standing army in Europe to prevent Russian tanks rolling through the Fulda gap and invading Europe.  America led a consortium of nations to go to war to liberate Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion, and later it became necessary to topple a dictator by way of the Iraq war.   At the same time, military force removed al Qaeda from it's hold in Afghanistan.

America has now withdrawn from it's role of the " world's policeman ".  That was apparent to most people when Barak Obama threatened a " red line " on the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war - and then simply walked away when they were used.   He has made it clear that there will be no use of military force to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine and - despite the slaughter being inflicted daily by the Jihadists in the Middle East - America has " no policy " on interfering militarily.

The American people are weary of the blood and treasure that has been sacrificed to try and keep order in an unappreciative world.   Much of it may have been ham fisted, but the burden has rested heavily on American shoulders and many of the world's nations have opted for a " free ride " under the American nuclear umbrella.   That cover has  now come to an end.

There are consequences - and there will be many more.   Japan is reviving it's military and seems ready to be more forceful.   China will be encouraged to press harden in it's disputes with neighbors over islands and islets in the South China sea - and then there is the inevitable destabilising issue of Taiwan.   In all corners of the globe, greed and jealousy will flourish now that the risk of an American response has become unlikely.

It is said that nature abhors a vacuum.     This American withdrawal creates a vacuum and it seems inevitable that a new order will emerge - but what that new order will look like is hard to imagine.  It seems to be a case of tighten your seat belts - and get ready for a few miles of rocky road ahead.

We are heading into unknown territory !