by Charles G. Fleming, Sankore University, 2035
histserv.sankore.ed.umj/fleming/pubs/disunited/des.storm
In 1990, the United Nations missed their chance to establish a new world order and break the cycle of armed conflict that had dominated international relations at least since the Council of Vienna. Had they not blundered so, the modern world order would have arrived 20 years before the Nexus made its stand at Indonesia.
When Iraq invaded and occupied neighboring Kuwait in August of 1990 (details), cooler heads proposed a total economic boycott of Iraq, with U.N. peacekeeping troops to enforce it. In hindsight, we can see that this strategy—a clear precursor to Nexus Interdict—would almost certainly have resulted in the downfall of the Iraqi government, the liberation of Kuwait, and a signal to all nations that the world would no longer tolerate war. However, success would have taken many years, perhaps a decade. (models & analysis)
The U.S. President, George Bush, was facing imminent elections. In the hyper-aggressive culture of the time, Bush feared that anything less than armed conflict would be perceived as weakness or—worse—impotence (note). Bush, therefore, insisted on war. No other nation was powerful enough to counter U.S. belligerence, so war it was.
Desert Storm, as the war was called, resembled the attack of a schoolyard bully much more than a fair contest. U.S. firepower and high technology completely overwhelmed Iraq, and resulted in more than 50,000 Iraqi fatalities, many of them civilians. The U.S. suffered only 149 deaths, none inflicted by the enemy.
Americans congratulated themselves for beating up on a far weaker opponent. Tensions between Arab countries and the West increased vastly. In response to the next world crisis—genocide in Bosnia and Serbia (details)—the U.N. did nothing, apparently waiting for U.S. military action. Having publicly and rather noisily taken on the role of world police force, the U.S. now maintained that Bosnia/Serbia was someone else’s problem, and took no action until far too late. Millions died. With each succeeding crisis, the results were similar. The pattern had been set, and would not be broken until the birth of the Nexus.
And what of George Bush, who had thrown away the world’s chance for peace in a macho attempt to overcome his own personal shortcomings, who had bargained fifty thousand lives for 1,461 more days in the White House? Did he, at least, accomplish wondrous things in his second term?
George Bush lost the election and retired into obscurity. As far as history can tell, he never again said or did anything of the slightest consequence; his name lives on only in Presidential trivia books, because his son became President in 2001.
Find out more in Dance for the Ivory Madonna by Don Sakers
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