Toto, I've a feeling we're back to Kansas
Musings on recent geopolitical changes
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz1
Dorothy Gale, the protagonist of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is taken away from her home on the Kansas prairie to the magical land of Oz. There, she takes an adventurous, mysterious, and hopeful trip on the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, hoping to obtain assistance from the Wizard of Oz. At the end of the yellow brick road, she learns that the wizard is actually an ordinary old man who came to Oz from Omaha in a hot air balloon. The humbug is able to deceive everyone in the magical land of Oz. Luckily, in that children story, no one has been hurt by his deception. On the other hand, multiple characters are even helped by the humbug:
The Scarecrow is provided with a brain full of bran, pins, and needles, allowing him to think.
The Tin Woodman is provided with a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, allowing him to feel.
The Lion is provided with a potion of courage, allowing him to act bravely.
The title page of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, also known as The Wizard of Oz, a 1900 children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.
Pax Americana and American Hegemony
American General and President Dwight Eisenhower considered Kansas to be his home state.2 He was born in Texas but moved to Kansas when he was two years old. He eventually attended West Point and ended up in Europe as Supreme Allied Commander during World War II. He, arguably, was instrumental in the formation of the postwar international order. This period climaxed with the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991, leading to the rise of American hegemony. This series of events led Western intellectuals, policy makers, and even ordinary people to take a philosophical, intellectual, and imaginary trip on the yellow brick road to Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man.3 The journey on this yellow brick road seems to be near its end, especially with last night election of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States.
Ramification for the current International Order
The Wicked Witch of the West is a comic, awkward, and clumsy leader of the evil alliance against Dorothy Gale. This evil alliance consists of the witch, a pack of wolves, a flock of wild crows, a swarm of black bees, and so forth. Indeed, the witch eventually melts when Dorothy throws a bucket of water at her.
The Wicked Witch melts. First edition illustration by W. W. Denslow.
However, the alliance against the West is neither comic, awkward, nor clumsy. Time will tell how the present conflict will eventually end. However, we have already observed a few victims on this modern yellow brick road.
Ukraine was urged to fight against Russia Federation. It is undeniably the modern State of Han. Please refer to my Qi article for further discussion.
Western Europe was united in providing assistance to Ukraine in the past several years. Now with the potential withdrawal of American participation, be it full or partial, Western Europe will bear the full impact of Russian maneuvers, including political, economic, and social. The reaction of the people of Valencia to the ruling class in Spain in the past week provided glimpses of this future. Please refer to my goodbye yellow brick road article for further discussion. Readers should contrast the governing class efforts in bringing two beluga whales from Kharkiv, Ukraine to Valencia in June 2024 to what happened in the past week to better feel the situation.4
Thank you for reading. Please subscribe and share my post, if you find this article informative. I have decided to dedicate a portion of my time and energy to writing on this substack, hoping to spread the message of caution, prudence, and watchfulness in this chaotic period. We do the part that we can.
I will release Strategic Patience (part 2 of 2) on November 16, 2024.
Qi
The Warring States period in Chinese history (c. 475 – 221) was a momentous era during which important bureaucratic, military, and legal reform as well as political consolidation taking place. Political intrigues, punctuated by vicious military campaigns and brutal battles, characterized the epoch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower
Interested readers are recommended to read Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man. In this book, American political scientist Francis Fukuyama argues that with the ascendancy of Western liberal democracy—which occurred after the Cold War (1945–1991) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991)—humanity has reached "not just ... the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: That is, the end-point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/travel/kharkiv-beluga-whales-spain-scli-intl/index.html