D-Day today

On the Seventieth Anniversary of D-Day, the wars of our world are very different.  Instead of the leaders of the United States and Russia coming together to fight the world’s greatest threat to peace and stability, President Obama and President Putin are divided by the Ukrainian Crisis.  In the wake of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, the world came to the realization that the global reach of terrorism was the greatest threat to the International Community and the Peoples of the world. 

Following the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, America has over learned its lesson when it comes to the use of military force, which is why the US is so hesitate to get directly involved in conflicts like the Syrian Civil War.  On the hand other, Russia appears to have forgotten another lesson the US learned from 9/11 with its involvement in the Ukrainian Crisis, i.e. supporting insurgents today is a good way of creating tomorrow’s terrorists.

At the same time, the world is watching crises, such as the mass kidnapping of children and massacres of innocent villages by Boko Haram, overwhelm the ability of governments to protect the lives and freedoms of their Peoples.  While the Nigerian government has reluctantly accepted the help of the US and other international partners in their search for the young kidnapped girls, its failure demonstrates the challenges world power face when trying to partner with less capable and less willing nations.  That said, the willingness and ability of the International Community to support anti-terrorism campaigns is only shrinking.   

It seems the poorly run wars in Iraq and Afghanistan truly exhausted America’s zest to take on globalized terrorism and to lead the world in a global war on terrorism while the rest of the world seems too focused on its own immediate interests to take up the cause.  Where the world came together on D-Day to fight the greatest threat to the peace, freedom, and humanity ever seen, the world is now doing everything it can to avoid the most serious conflicts of our day.