What would happen if the United States fell off the grid as the world super power and did not enforce peace and tranquility in the world? Since the end of the Second World War the United States emerged as a world super power and since then has helped other nations in the peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts of the globe. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s, the United States became the predominant super power and its responsibilities became even greater, with more dependency on the nation as a means to ensure peace abroad. A lot of people either do not understand or agree with the role the United States plays in the world. People complain that the United States should not get itself involved in foreign affairs and should simply “mind our own business.” The fact of the matter is though, that if a nation such as the United States has the ability to take action, they have the moral responsibility to take action. If the United States does not do it then what other nation would step up to the plate and ensure that the world is a safe and happy place? Militarily wise, if the United States fell from power, chaos would ensue around the globe. China would not have anyone able to stop them from expanding their territory like they want to. The Middle East would break out in total war from religious differences between Sunni and Shiite Muslim’s as well as the Jewish. Right now if the United States did not back Israel, terrorist organizations and countries such as Iran would have nothing stopping them from taking over what they believe is their Holy Land. Aside from peace keeping efforts, humanitarian relief to nations that suffer from phathom and natural disaster would decrease significantly.
In Europe alone there are nearly 100,000 U.S. troops stationed in hundreds of bases hosted by 27 different ally nations of the United States. The United States has these bases in foreign nations so it can respond to any crisis in the world at a moment’s notice. An example of this was in the early 1990’s the country of Yugoslavia broke up resulted in war between the provinces of Bosnia and Serbia leaving 250,000 people dead. Most of these deaths were the result of “ethnic cleansings” between different religions. There was no single European power at the time to be able to resolve the issue in Bosnia and Serbia. In 1995 the United States intervened in the situation in Bosnia. Thousands of troops were sent to the region and within a month peace agreements were made. In 1999, Kosovo, another province of the former Yugoslavia, sought independence from Serbia. This revolution was started by the Albanian citizens that comprised the majority population of that region. The Serbian’s conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing to expel Albanian civilians from the region. The United States along with NATO forces began a bombing campaign against Serbia and 71 days later the government agreed to withdraw its forces from Kosovo. These conflicts in this region of Europe are the best recent example of how the United States has helped maintain peace in the world. If it were not for the United States’ involvement in those wars, hundreds of thousands of more people, including innocent civilians, would have lost their lives.
In the Middle East region, the United States has also recently help restore peace to the region. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991 under Saddam Hussein for control of the nation’s oil, the United States along with coalition forces drove Saddam’s troops out of Kuwait, helping the nation maintain its independence. A lot of people will argue that the United States is only in the Middle East for oil, however, before this conflict arose the Iraqi government was selling oil to the U.S. for only 11 dollars a barrel. After the September 11th attacks on the United States in 2001, the U.S. went into the nation of Afghanistan to remove the terrorist network of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban government that supported them. In doing this, the