By Brad Miner
War is a terrible thing. If we find glory in it, it is because we admire soldiers for their bravery, skill, and sacrifice. I have known soldiers who march in Memorial Day or Fourth of July parades and feel proud of their service, just like on St. Crispin’s Day at Agincourt, when Henry V (according to the Bard) promised his soldiers:
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors
and say, “Tomorrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
and say, “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
but he’ll remember, with advantages
what feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
familiar in his mouth as household words…
be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
But I have also known soldiers and Marines who, although they feel love and cherish the fondest memories of the “band of brothers” with whom they served, never march in parades, nor wear their decorations, not even a cap with their unit’s insignia. And they don’t “talk about the war.” My father (World War II) and my eldest son (Iraq) are like that, although both were officers who arrived late to the war and escaped the hell of D-Day or the second battle of Fallujah.
We must think of the words of Our Lord: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come” (Matthew 24:6). And he adds (7-8): “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains”.
The United States is not at war in Venezuela, nor against Denmark in Greenland, but there is an unsettling sense in the air of imminent conflicts and successive escalations. President Trump has said (for now) that he will not send expeditionary forces to Greenland, but if he did, would President Putin pour even greater forces into Ukraine? Would President Xi invade Taiwan? They would like to do so, and such incursions by the U.S. could embolden them, and morally weaken our objections.
It is doubtful that Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark, would deploy Danish armed forces in Greenland to confront a U.S. deployment. In fact, it might be imprudent to do so, even if other European nations joined. But those are our friends.
A frequently cited reason for U.S. involvement in Vietnam was the Domino Theory: if we didn’t stop communist expansion there, the Red Menace would spread across the region. Well, the United States failed and the dominoes fell, though, except in Cambodia, the consequences were not catastrophic. And, just as happened after World War II, when our enemies (Germany, Japan, and Italy) quickly became postwar allies, we have formed alliances (perhaps less solid ones) in Southeast Asia.
These current war scenarios involving the United States, the former USSR, and communist China seem difficult to reconcile with the criteria of just war, while the capture of the Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro, whose regime operated a narco-terrorist enterprise directly against the United States, might meet them—I think—though only if any “occupation” ends quickly.
If you look at a map, you might think that Greenland is closer to the United States than to Denmark (it’s not; don’t be fooled by the cartographic projection), and note that Denmark is in the Eastern Hemisphere and Greenland in the Western. Geography is a powerful strategic and geopolitical reality, but it is not a casus belli.
The population of the State of New York is declining, especially if you discount the number of illegal immigrants. It may decline even more if the socialist policies of the Mayor of New York generate emigrants seeking tax relief. And if Governor Kathy Hochul felt aggrieved by this, she could order the National Guard to enter New Jersey and Connecticut to bolster the Empire State’s position in terms of geography, population, and… tax revenues.
If the United States needs more and better northern and eastern defenses against attacks, why not aim for Canada? It’s a country even larger than the United States in square kilometers! Let’s talk about security! And the Canadians “mount guard”! And think of the effect on the U.S. deficit of taxing another 41.5 million people!
[Note to readers: I’m joking.]
The point here, if I manage to get to it, is that we should be doing things to avoid conflict, not to fan the flames. Paul McCartney composed a song, Give Ireland Back to the Irish, in 1972 after the events of Bloody Sunday, basically a plea to Downing Street to pull the troops out of Northern Ireland and stop killing Catholics. (Twenty-six unarmed people were killed and many more injured: all Catholics).
Trump, Putin, and Maduro (I leave out Xi because he is formally atheist) need to remember Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”. Speaking last August about his efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine, Mr. Trump expressed some personal concern: “I want to try to get to heaven, if possible. I’m hearing that I’m not doing very well. I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this [the pursuit of peace] will be one of the reasons.” He even insisted in October: “I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven… I think maybe I’m not destined for heaven.”
It doesn’t have to be that way, Mr. President. But your plans regarding Greenland could be bringing you closer to the abyss. Let the Greenlanders be Greenlanders—or Danes or whatever they are. They are a sovereign people who must be agents of their own destiny, just like you and me.
Your version of the Monroe Doctrine, even as a negotiation tactic, seems more like Earl’s than James’s. Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, the former New York Knicks star, used to say: “The thing is, I don’t know what I’m going to do with the ball, and if I don’t know, I’m pretty sure the guy guarding me doesn’t know either.”
[Note to readers: now I’m not joking.]
About the author:
Brad Miner, husband and father, is Senior Editor of The Catholic Thing and Senior Fellow of the Faith & Reason Institute. He was Literary Editor of National Review and had a long career in the publishing industry. His most recent book is Sons of St. Patrick, written with George J. Marlin. His bestseller The Compleat Gentleman is available in a third revised edition and also as an audiobook on Audible (read by Bob Souer). Mr. Miner has been a board member of Aid to the Church In Need USA and also of the local Selective Service board in Westchester County, New York.