WhatsappMilitary parades are a rarity these days. But once upon a time, they were very common in Israel and in many other countries. These days, it is usually, the more dictatorial countries that tend to have military parades in order to show off their military prowess. North Korea, Iran, Russia, and a few other countries, tend to be the main countries that one associates with military parades.
However, the military parades tradition existed in the United States too. President Trump has brought back the tradition. It is a controversial decision. Let’s analyze it a bit.
If the idea behind the military parades is to show off to the world how great America’s military is, then that is not a very lofty goal. If the idea is to show off to the American people that we have a strong military and plan to make sure that the world is safe via the strength of the American military, then that is quite another thing.
If Donald Trump’s idea of “Make America Great Again” includes a strong military, then he is exactly right on track. Ronald Reagan understood this, and specifically was able to leverage this to save tens of thousands of lives by bringing the Soviet Union to it’s knees without firing a single shot. The US investment in the MX Missiles and general boosting of military spending to a point that it forced the Soviet military spending to buckle the rest of the Soviet economy was one of the greatest decisions of the 20th century.
So, if Donald Trump is in some way thinking like this with his military parades in his battle to make America the world leader and not allow China to dominate, then he is on to something. But one should never be fooled into thinking that an impressive parade makes an impressive army.
