A Prediction

Okay, I want to predict something. I know I can and probably will be wrong, but if I'm not, I at least want to be able to say that I predicted it.

As far as I can see, the political atmosphere is like this:

The Democrats desperately want to liked by the rest of the world and don't care what the Republicans think about them. They (Democrats) use the whole "the world hates us because of Iraq" thing and the media gives them way too much airtime for it. Nothing America does will never actually be the right thing to do, according to the rest of the world, which is why the Democrats take that tone, too. The rest of the world has disliked us for one reason or another since WWII, whether it's because we're such a young country and are so powerful and rich so early, or because we just have the best looking girls, or just because Donald Trump is from the US, and not, say, Germany.

The Republicans desperately want to be liked by the Democrats and don't care what the rest of the world thinks about them. They (Republicans) don't understand that this sort of inferiority complex is actually a media bias and have yet to understand that about 95% of the media favors Democrats. Nothing any Republican will ever do will ever be right, even if they actually compromise or agree with the Democrats. Therefore, the Republicans will always compromise their values in order to score points with the Democrats, only to find themselves at square one... again... and then trying to figure out what happened. Just remember, the Democrats don't care about being liked by the Republicans. They just want to be liked by everyone else that isn't American.

So, enough funny stuff. Keep my expert analysis in the back of your mind as you read the rest of this, though.

Basically, Iraq is going to come down to a hellacious nightmare. (Not there. Here.) We're going to fight about it for the next two years, until the next president is elected, which will probably be a Democrat.

I predict that at some point, Russia (and maybe a few other countries) will seize on all our infighting and "volunteer" a bunch of troops in order to "help" us with Iraq. This will happen once the Surge has been reasonably effective.

After we get the message that Russia wants to help, the next administration (likely a Democratic one) will take credit for restoring the world's faith and trust in us and will gladly allow Russia to put some troops in Iraq so that we can bring a large portion of our guys home. It's a win-win. Everyone else likes America again, the Democrats shove this down the Republicans' throats, who agree to allow the Russian conglomerate to take a larger role in Iraq just so they can show the Democrats how bipartisan they can be.

Once the transfer is complete, Russia will "suddenly" become friends with Iran. You can guess where that will lead: an Iran/Russia-ruled Iraq.

Remember that Russia has been the sort of go-between for Iran and the rest of the world. Russia has played it cool with them, offering to help the rest of the world sort out the different impasses we've had with Iran.

So, there you have it. I hope I'm wrong.