21 August 2006

American Lake

Joe Rosenthal died yesterday, two days before the end of the world, which is scheduled by the Iranians for tomorrow. Joe was the guy who took the picture of the Marines raising Old Glory on top of Mount Suribachi on the volcanic Pacific island of Iwo Jima.

He was 94 years of age, and didn't like to talk about the picture that became an icon of the age very much. There was controversy about it, of course, and whether it was staged, like Matthew Brady's Civil War pictures, or the ones coming out of Lebanon.

He was content to let the image speak for itself.

That is not the case for the Iranians, who having announced the end of time, continue to rattle the scimitar and are staging a nation-wide exercise. It is fairly comprehensive, complete with suicide speed-boats and sea-skimming missiles to close off the Persian Gulf, which they claim as their own. The name says it all.

I remember when the powers-that-be told us to stop using that name, and call the shallow saline body of water the Arabian Gulf, since the Iranians have to share it with Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

I was thinking about the end of the world as I sat out on the deck of the house in Bayside last week. Preparation for war is often masked by large-scale military exercises. The activity in Iran matched some of what we saw Saddam do before his ill-fated invasion of Kuwait, and had an echo of the Egyptian maneuvering prior to their debacle in 1973.

I watched the sun go down over the Big Lake, the great orb of gold dropping sizzling into the blue. On the whole, I did not think it was time for the end of the world. Possible, I thought. But not likely. Maybe next year.

It is hard to think of the end of the world in the desert with all that fresh water right in front of me, big as a sea. Lake Michigan is an American Lake, completely surrounded by the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. All the other Great Lakes are shared with Canada, divided down the middle in most cases, except for Huron.

The lake system actually composes an inland sea. Twenty percent of the world's fresh water is in the lake system, and they were the highways of preference for the expanding population of the continent. With some creative carving, canals were dug that permitted navigation from New York all the way to New Orleans.

There is a German U-Boat in Chicago, and the Navy conducted flight training on flat-topped lake boats during WWII. There certainly was a tradition of massacre and conflict over the Lakes, but things have been civilized since the signing of the Rush-Bagot Treaty in 1817.

Some say that Lakes Michigan and Huron actually form a single entity, since they are joined at the Straits of Mackinaw. That would make them together larger in surface area than wild Lake Superior, though with less water. It would also eliminate the special cachet of Lake Michigan, the American Lake.

We should treasure that feeling, since that is likely to be a distinction that will come to be unique. The Britons who remember dominance of the world ocean are passing away now, and that could happen here, too.

Since 1945, the United States Navy has been unchallenged as master of the Pacific Ocean. The gray ships and black submarines went wherever they desired for over sixty years. That is not going to change tomorrow, but there are indications that others are not as happy about the situation as we are.

The Chinese recently boosted their military spending by fourteen percent, and a lot of what they intend to spend is devoted to maritime projects. Weapons and submarines to carry them are near the top of the list. I remember when the People's Liberation Army Navy made their first visit to San Diego in 1998. They brought one of their lead guided missile destroyers in the van, a sleek ex-Soviet design, and the whole thing was a little disquieting.

I mean, the Pacific is an American Lake, right?

A lot has changed since. The Chinese point to the half-trillion dollar US Defense Budget and say that their spending is modest in comparison. Officials here darkly mutter that in a command economy, military spending is everywhere. Elements of the PLA run their own commercial activities, as though the US Army owned WalMart.

Nationalism has replaced allegiance to the Communist Party in China. I applaud patriotism, in rational doses, but with all that emotion about the matter of Taiwan, or Formosa, it gets a little dicey. The island is tucked right there, close as Cuba to Key West.

With all that new hardware laying about, sooner or later someone is going to miscalculate. It is the nature of boys and their toys. We are supposed to do something about it, if it happens. We are supposed to be the guarantors of the peace on the American Lake. But maybe that state of affairs is slipping by, and some sober thinking is required.

I assume the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva was sober when he talked to the BBC last week. I was worried about the end of the world, thinking it might be elsewhere. Sha Zukang was blunt. He said the Chinese would take care of its own business, thank-you very kindly, and the Americans should "shut up and keep quiet" on the subject of the PLA budget.

I'd be happy to comply on that score, but there is a lot of intemperance going on around the world. Between the apocalyptic ravings of President Amahdenijad and the blunt talk from the Chinese, I wonder about the concept of the American Lake.

What is it we are supposed to do about it? I would think we would have to act fairly soon if we are to keep one.

I mean, besides Lake Michigan.

Copyright 2006 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com


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