ON THIS DAY – AT 10:15 A.M. ET:  Today marks the 69th anniversary of the end of World War II.  On September 2nd, 1945, Japan formally surrendered aboard the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay, bringing to an end the most catastrophic war in history.

Ironically, yesterday marked the 75th anniversary of the start of World War II.  On September 1st, 1939, German forces invaded Poland. 

The American phase of the war started with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  The United States fought three years and almost nine months, contributing mightily to the defeat of Japan and Germany.   The war in the Pacific was largely an American war.  European nations fought approximately six years, if they were also involved in the Pacific.  Many Americans don't realize how much longer the Europeans fought than we did. 

We fought the Cold War that followed based on lessons learned from World War II, and from the pre-World War II decade.  Nations must take threats seriously.  They must respond when potential adversaries start to build their militaries.  "Power for peace" became a popular American slogan during the Cold War.  We meant it.  We understood that the appeasement of Japan and Germany before World War II contributed to making that war inevitable.  So did the pathetic state of our military. 

Today we're in danger of forgetting the lessons that carried us through the Cold War period.  We have a president who seems contemptuous of that wisdom.  Conservative British commentator James Delingpole says this, on Breitbart: 

All I do know, is this:  the times we are living in are definitely not the kind of times you'd want a weak, vacillating, ill-advised, culturally insecure, strategically illiterate, tactically incompetent President in the White House; nor when you'd want Britain in the hands of a government so blind to history that it is prepared to take the gamble of shredding its already shoestring armed forces by 20 per cent.

COMMENT:  I don't think Obama will change.  I believe he thinks he's Divinely inspired by himself.  As we noted earlier this morning, Britain does appear to be responding vigorously to new threats of terrorism.  Let's see if that country will now restore its defenses.  There is still a powerful welfare-state current in Britain, but the prime minister is making the right moves.

September 2, 2014