As the World Looks at Japan

The enormity of the calamity in Japan cannot be overstated, as the skeleton reactor crew has now been forced to evacuate. It is not only horrific for the people who live there but represents a seminal moment in the world’s history screaming for a reexamination of our going-forward energy policies. But as the world’s attention is drawn towards this island nation, Muammar Qadaffi is breathing a massive sigh of relief; the global focus has drawn away from his brutal response to open rebellion – the Colonel is no longer in the headlines. Likewise, the populist revolts have slipped out of the headlines – in some cases even off of page one (or the home page) – into relative obscurity, particularly given the social significance of the local anti-governmental resistance.

On March 15^th – the ominous Ides of March when Julius Caesar met his maker millennia ago – the tiny island nation of Bahrain (the above buildings are in Manama, Bahrain) declared a state of emergency, one day following the appearance of Saudi forces (one Saudi soldier has been killed already) brought in to support a sagging monarchy. “The [‘State of National Safety’] will last three months, the government said, and is aimed at ended weeks of Shiite-led protests that have unnerved kingdoms and emirates throughout the Persian Gulf region. In a statement issued by the information ministry, Bahrain’s government characterized the protests as ‘increased lawlessness jeopardizing the lives of citizens.’… ‘The Commander in Chief of the Bahrain Defense Force has been mandated to take the measures and procedures necessary to preserve the safety of the nation and its people,’ the statement said. ‘These measures will be implemented by the Bahrain Defense Force, public security forces, National Guard and any other forces if necessary.’” Washington Post, March 15^th. Take a guess at what such measures might be.

As Qadaffi’s loyalist troops use modern military hardware to crush insurrection (is Egypt’s Mubarak wishing he had waited a bit longer?), as the Arab League requests that the U.N. impose a “no fly zone” to prevent the horrific use of aircraft to bomb, strafe and potentially gas Libyan citizens fighting to end a brutal and corrupt regime and as France officially recognizes the rebel forces as the official Libyan government, all eyes are on… Japan. Japan reminds us of our own nuclear program; we feel the pain of a society that is decimated by the same kind of natural disaster “that can happen here.” Americans are tired of the winless war in Afghanistan, the constant reports of IEDs taking out American troops or suicide bombers in Iraq and Afghanistan killing locals and Americans alike. And we know that a “no fly zone” will rely heavily on American forces to police the Libyan skies… even if it is a U.N. or NATO effort.

A “pox upon their houses, but we don’t have the money or the will to fight those battles anymore” is the growing American theme. Shiite Iran is smiling; their repression has worked, America’s coffers are drained from the conflicts, our will to fight sapped and the U.S. military has destroyed Iran’s Sunni enemy in Iraq while handing the entire country over to pro-Iranian Shiites and destabilized a growing Sunni force in Afghanistan… and now the world is focused on another story… far, far away. Iran is pleased too, because nuclear energy will yield to fossil fuel-generation for that much longer… and Iran has oil. Our Secretary of State is busy, very busy… and Israel must be squirming nervously at the changes all around her.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the timing and enormity of the blend of human and natural disasters is reshaping our planet both physically and politically.