Imagine, if you can, a few foreign naval groups parked off the west coast of the United States – the full deal: state of the art aircraft carriers, destroyers, missile boats, frigates, support vessels, nuclear submarines, aircraft.

That, right there, is a fair fight.

Imagine something akin to the B2 Stealth Bomber. Imagine a few of them winging over the heartland intent on reducing Kansas City to rubble.

That, right there, is a fair fight.

Imagine a squadron of F-18 Hornets streaking across the Mediterranean towards the shores of Israel. Imagine them flying over the beaches and reaching Tel Aviv. Imagine significant naval support sitting off the coast firing Tomahawks at secondary targets as attack helicopters fly close support for amphibious landing craft filled with thousands of soldiers outfitted with state of the art equipment and weapons.

That, right there, is a fair fight.

Truth be told, there hasn’t been a fair fight involving two significant militaries since the Chinese hit US forces on November 1st, 1950. In fact, the Chinese invasion of North Korea was one of the main reasons an armistice was reached – because without employing nuclear weapons the United States had no other option than to either escalate the conflict and confront the Chinese directly, which would have been disastrous, or end it. Truth is, you just can’t take on millions of Chinese on the other side of the world and expect to come out on top unless you do use nuclear weapons. And in China’s case, given their population, even that might have been more akin to poking a hornets nest than anything else.

Vietnam wasn’t a fair fight. Can you imagine if the North Vietnamese had been able to carry out significant high altitude bombing raids on American cities? Well…the US probably would have responded by nuking the North – because fair fights suck.

Spare me the ‘honour’ in warfare diatribe. The practice of warfare itself is in complete contradiction with the definition of the word.

There is no such thing as a fair fight – which makes the successes of guerrilla resistances over the last sixty years rather amazing. Be it the Soviets in Afghanistan or the US in Afghanistan – the truth is that the tactics used by those in opposition are, if we’re to cut the shit, pretty remarkable. For the last eight years they’ve been able to stave off the world’s foremost superpower without an air force, a navy, significant artillery, helicopters, unmanned drones, or armor – all of which NATO forces have at their disposal. They’re driving around in freaking pickup trucks, use animals to carry equipment, and primarily rely on small arms and explosives.

Can’t nuke Afghanistan though. At least not yet.

Do you know the last time that this continent was home to a large scale conflict? Over 140 years ago. Besides Pearl Harbor and September 11th, continental North America hasn’t been attacked since – well – we came here. In truth, Hawaii doesn’t even really count being that it didn’t become a State until 1959. Beyond that, the Revolutionary War doesn’t count, the British didn’t invade the original 13 colonies. So besides a handful of conflicts, all of which took place before the 20th Century, we have absolutely zero experience with dealing with the first hand affects of war. Which is interesting, when you think about it, given our love affair with all things death-dealing.

We’ve got the money and we’ve got the weapons. As has been the case for quite some time now, if you possess both then a magical world of political options becomes available to you. Through the use of force, the security of deterrents, and the ability to adversely or positively affect other economies, you can pretty much do whatever you want – as long as there isn’t anyone else that possesses the same ability. Then you have a problem, one which, as we’re all aware, can only be dealt with through the acquisition of more weapons, deterrents, and using others as disposable pawns to achieve your ends – unless you befriend a few of those pawns and decide to help them become team players.

That, in short, is how the world works. Politics is power and power is defined by what you have, what you can take, and whose ass you have the ability to manipulate or kick to take it. Think of it as a street fight in which one person shows up with their fists and the other shows up with a machinegun and 100 of their closest friends with machineguns. And people honestly wonder why possessing a nuclear deterrent is such a hot ticket.

This entire diatribe was inspired by Gideon Levy, who today wrote the following…

“Combat is the best, my brother, as the famous bumper sticker reads. It’s a good thing we have Shayetet 13. Operating at the crack of dawn – or was it before nightfall? – the daring naval commandos fearlessly took control of a rusty, rickety, unarmed boat bobbing in the middle of the sea. That’s exactly why we have a naval commando force – to take control of ships offering humanitarian aid. Behold, the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. The military correspondents reported on the incident with an amazement that only they can muster. But even they could not provide a fig leaf for the operation: The Israel Defense Forces has once again used its power to overcome the weak; the navy has once again acted like pirates. The Arion was abducted in the framework of protecting Israel’s security for all eternity, blah, blah, blah.

Soldiers, journalists and news consumers automatically refrain from asking questions. The navy captured another ship carrying symbolic aid, as if its passengers were Somali pirates. These were people of conscience from various countries carrying toys and medicine.

This was not the navy’s first daring operation of this kind, nor will it be the last. When there are no hostile aid ships on the horizon, the navy takes control of wretched Gazan boats, using water hoses or firing at its passengers – poor fishermen who only want to make a living at sea. This is the main activity unfolding off Gaza’s shores. A navy outfitted with the best arsenal in the world is hunting surfboards. One of the best-armed forces in the world is chasing children, examining old people’s documents and entering bedrooms to make arrests.

We ought to pay close attention to what preoccupies our military. While defense officials hold discussions on buying the F-35 combat jet at $200 million per plane, the IDF is mostly busy with miserable, pointless police work that befits an occupation army. It is engaged in ludicrous and useless policing in a “war” against people equipped with some of the most primitive weapons in the world.

In the dead of night, soldiers in elite and not-so-elite units break into the homes of Palestinians, some of whom are guilty of no crime, and needlessly awaken and frighten women and children. Their comrades spend their service standing at checkpoints, occasionally shooting and killing needlessly. Other soldiers chase after children throwing stones or Molotov cocktails and shoot at them. “A huge terrorist attack” that was thwarted near the security fence in Gaza a month ago was to be carried out by “a force” that numbered eight Palestinians, some of them mounted on mules. The mule-rider’s brigade – these are the forces against us.”