Tag Archives: Iran

719. Winning a War

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I have over a dozen novels waiting to be published, and once in a while I fire one up and read it again on my computer. It isn’t entirely self-indulgence, although if you don’t enjoy reading your own writing its time to take up a different art form.  In my case it is half enjoyment and half polishing. Every read-through finds dozens to hundreds of tiny changes that make the novel read more smoothly.

I have recently been re-reading my novel The Cost of Empire, an alternate reality story in which the Brits won the German War, their equivalent of our WWI. In their world that war came a half a century early and was won mostly by the actions of a secret group of spies, saboteurs, and assassins.

Now this Britain all but rules the world. Our hero has found out about the league of spies, has gotten himself on their hit list, and has gone underground.

Today — March 23, 2026 — I reached ms. page 203 where he is musing about how he got to where he is. He says of his country:

Winning a war is one thing: surviving the peace that follows is another, particularly when all the world hates you.

God, does that sound familiar. And timely.

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Here are two propositions for you to consider:

The United States is a beacon to the world, showing what democracy can mean for its people.

The United States is a hungry beast, treating the little countries of the world as its prey.

Neither proposition is true all the time, but each of them is true sometimes.

We could start looking at how the nation was formed, although that gets awfully complicated for a short post.

Yes, the land was already occupied by “savages”. That wasn’t a word restricted to North America. In early days it basically meant non-Christian, and was applied to the whole non-European world. Before we sympathize with the natives too quickly however, we need to remember that most of the pioneers who took over Indian land were escaping from tyranny.

No, I am not talking about the tyranny of King George III. North America was well populated by Europeans before George III’s grandfather was  born. I am referring to the tyranny of European landlords — the rich of their day who controlled the land and reduced the people who worked that land to serfdom, whether or not that term technically applied.

Could the European populating of America have been stopped? No. Do I wish for a different outcome? No. Nevertheless, it is the ground base of our culture, the source of our pride, and the birth of our legends. We tell ourselves that we won because we were a superior people, endowed with the rights of free men.

Good enough. I make no arguments with American pride, as long as it is tempered with a clear vision of what else we have done over the years.

For instance, we might consider the Mexican War of 1846-8, in which the United States force-purchased New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah, along with parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma, all at the point of American guns.

We might also remember the with Spanish-American war of 1898. It began with America supporting Cuba’s revolt against its Spanish masters. The Senate disavowed any intention of taking control of Cuba, but when the treaties were signed after the war, America had nevertheless gained control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

But not Cuba. 128 years later, Trump wants to remedy that.

Old news? How about the war your grandfathers fought in Viet Nam, a fourth rate country that should have fallen in no time, but defeated the giant — us. Or the ten years spent in Afghanistan, before we pulled out.

Who could have guessed such things could happen?

The answer is, any guy. We all know the story. The school bully beats up every kid in the class, and finally picks on the littlest, least, and last — and gets his head handed to him. For the bully, it was just fun; for the little guy, it was life or death.

Multiply that by a million and you have the US taking on third or fourth rate nations, and losing. When you declare victory and vacate, no one is fooled.

I say it again:

Winning a war is one thing: surviving the peace that follows is another, particularly when all the world hates you.

That is, if you can even win the war.

718. History Repeats Itself

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NEWS FLASH

I write these posts far in advance, then polish them repeatedly, which makes it hard to keep up with fast moving news. Two posts were scheduled for today and next week so that they would come one year before the release of a book. That will have to change. I have two things I need to say, so the scheduled posts will both get bumped forward, along with a general reshuffling of the next dozen.

This all started two days ago when I ran into a situation that called for a response to the ongoing war against Iran. It led me to write the post that you will see next week.

Then, three hours later on the same day, the news reported that Trump said he was negotiating with Iran, and Iran said they weren’t negotiating with him.

Really?

History seems to be repeating itself, so now I have to write this post.

I’ve seen this movie before, but not many people have, so let me explain. I grew up in north-eastern Oklahoma, which was the land assigned to the Cherokees. I learned all the cliches then, and later acquainted myself with their actual history.

The Cherokees came from the eastern United States, largely Tennessee and Georgia. During the first half of the 1800’s they lived in cabins not very different from their white neighbors, raised crops in similar ways, held slaves, and intermarried with whites. John Ross, their principal chief, was seven-eighths Scottish.

Nevertheless, their white neighbors wanted their land, and President Jackson wanted them, and most of the other tribes, out of the United States. He offered the Cherokees land across the Mississippi in exchange for their homeland, in an area owned by the United States but not part of any state. It came to be called Indian Territory, and later Oklahoma.

The Cherokees didn’t want to go.

Cherokees were divided in many ways, as human groups usually are. Some were unable to speak English and lived as closely as possible to the old ways. Some were more integrated into the white world.

That exact same sentence could be used to describe their white neighbors, if you slip in the word “proper” just before the word “English”.

There were factions among the Cherokees, with differing responses to the idea of removal. Jackson found a faction he could buy off, signed a treaty with them, then sent the Army to move the entire Cherokee nation whether they agreed with the treaty or not.

That is a lot of history to cram into 220 words, but it is essentially factual, if short on detail.

So what does that have to do with Trump repeating history? He says he  is “negotiating” peace with someone, but won’t say who. We have to guess, while also considering that it might be an outright lie.

It isn’t the Iranian government (unless they are flat out lying), but possibly some disgruntled diplomat, someone who wants out of the war, or someone who can be bought off. Like Jackson with the Cherokees.

So here are the choices we face:

One, Trump is actually negotiating with someone in authority and a treaty will come out of the process. I give that a 1% or less chance of being true.

Two, Trump is actually negotiating with someone who has no authority, and any treaty coming out of the process will be bogus. That is history repeating itself.

Three, there are no real negotiations, just another smoke screen.

The chances of a positive outcome don’t look good.