GenX Turns Fifty

“What we are looking at is good and evil, right and wrong” – US President George H.W. Bush

The Persian Gulf conflict began with the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein ordering the invasion of its oil rich neighbor, Kuwait. Other Arab nations were fearful that they could also fall to future invasion and called on the United States, other allies and neighbors to assist. January 1991 after a build up off the coast in the Persian Gulf, the alliance led by the United States launched Operation Desert Storm. In 42 days, the Iraqi military was either destroyed or fled their positions in Kuwait. A full cease fire was declared on 28 February 1991.

The Unraveling

The Cold War just ended. It was September of 1991 and the US President Bush knew that a new era required new alliances. It was at this time President Bush asked the creation of a “New World Order”.

With the end of the spread of communism, a move to unite against dictatorships and “religious republics” was proposed. Unfortunately for H.W. the Americans sought to elect Bill Clinton out of nowhere and began to look inwardly. Clinton tried a few excursions into global power projection into Kosovo and Serbia which results were mixed. Regimes festered and the rise of international terrorism began in this era. Clinton’s second term was riddled with scandals and much energy was lost even though he was able to run surplus budgets which was easy when you aren’t funding too many foreign wars and have a giant group of Baby Boomers in their prime fueling the economy and paying taxes – more coming in than going out. Living in the moment in the roaring 90’s but not looking forward to the times we are in now deficit spending and gigantic debt servicing. Not to mention the “dot com boom” and “dot com bubble” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble. We didn’t really need online pizza ordering but that’s what we got!

The “Fourth Turning”

The US Presidential Election in 2000 was pretty much a dead heat either way with the State of Florida determining the outcome. Anyone say “hanging chads?” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_presidential_election_recount_in_Florida

History will show George “W” won with much controversy. Bush had a lot of economic plans that seemed reasonable to pull the US out of the “dot com bubble” mess which was totally upended by the attacks on 9/11/2001. America was on its heels but not for long W announced Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). From there the US dismantled the Taliban (or so we had thought). Moving on to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and the Neo-conservative regime change through military action and building “democracy” worldwide was on. Cultural differences between the West and Middle East could not be further.

At the end of the 2nd Bush’s administration, the electorate was ready for Hope and Change. I would argue we got neither. Barack Obama came in as the first minority president and had a great chance to unify the country but history shows he did not.

In 2016 Donald Trump was elected over Hillary Clinton in a stunning come from behind performance. Calling it a performance is adequate due to we hired a reality show celebrity to be US President. Many know what happened next. Protests, riots, government distrust rose. Power struggles between the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch increased.

2020 – Joe Biden was elected over President Trump. A riot at the Capitol. A swing back to open borders and faux-globalism climate agendas. Russia invades Ukraine. Stimulus checks and high inflation (https://genxturnsfifty.blog/2024/03/17/the-inflation-monster/) marked Biden along with his age and mental and physical capacity diminishing Kamala Harris steps in. Trump Wins the 2024 election.

The “Real” New World Order

All of that gets us to now. The New World Order isn’t going to be what H.W. or the Globalist’s envisioned. Regional powers and alliances will prevail. Nations will scramble for resources, influence and power. The global allocation of trade will no longer have the Americans’ protection unless it’s in their interest. This is the New World Order. Europe, Asia – the United States may assist you if it suits us or we have a specific strategic position. Just don’t mess around in the Western Hemisphere or you will Find Out.

You can agree to all new trade deals (or not). You can band together for common interests (or not). You can choose your future (for the most part).

Depending on which way this all turns, alliances between former enemies could become a real possibility. Former partners could become rivals. Or it could descend into total war. This part has not yet been decided.

Well we can’t get much further until something breaks. But until next time I’ll leave it with a GenX classic –

“Cause they say
2000, zero-zero, party over, oops, out of time
So tonight, I’m gonna party like it’s 1999”

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026!

Next: Don’t Cry for me Venezuela