By Lee Webber
In my most recent column I addressed the need to move the Guam Missile Defense mechanisms forward adhering to the established 30-day response window.
That belief has only been reinforced by very recent world news generated by generally belligerent nations joining forces.
The recent news that Russia and North Korea have signed a joint defense agreement that would have either moving to defend the other should the need arise is disheartening, concerning and should be an indicator for rapid movement to better protect our island home.
This new public relationship will only serve to embolden North Korea to step even further into the breach of belligerent behavior in our region.
If you continue to look in the same direction and recall the recent agreement between Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) this essentially brings these three contentious nations ever closer together.
It is my belief, given their historical relationship between North Korean leadership and the PRC that this additional connection will do little but exacerbate the continued and growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific region.
Add to this the relationships between Russia, Iran and other nations in the Middle East bent on terrorism that Iran has and continues to subsidize with arms and training and you have a formula for impending global disaster.
Particularly given the current Middle-East crisis that has Israel fighting for its very existence.
As President John F. Kennedy so eloquently stated during the Cuban Missile Crisis, “The 1930’s taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war. This nation is opposed to war. We are also true to our word.”
If we are wise, our nation cannot and should not stand by and allow the current trend of cumulative growth between aggressive and belligerent nations to gather together without taking a clear and affirmative strong position to address these obvious threats to our nation, the region and our freedom.
Unfortunately, the leadership in the current U.S. administration has spent the past three years painting a dismal picture of an internally fractured, weak and frail nation to the balance of the world.
Island elected officials cannot in good consciousness allow themselves to fall prey to similar behavior by being part and parcel of sending a message to our regional partners and potential enemies that we are acting in the same manner as Washington.
Moving forward with all due and deliberate speed with the Guam Missile Defense system is a critical component to solidifying a 360-degree defensive system for our island and her people.
The three separate and distinct prongs of island governance, executive, legislative and judicial have not, in this writer’s opinion, worked together to collectively deliver the type of strong and affirmative leadership that the people of Guam deserve and are owed by their elected and appointed officials.
Additionally, the Fourth Estate, the island press corps has lapsed into little more than a baby food delivery system as it relates to being the watch-dog on government and demanding open and honest governance by the people who have been elected to public office.
These elected officials work for the voters of Guam. It is not the other way around.
As we move toward the upcoming elections, remember we need to have strong and decisive elected officials who truly care about our entire Island and her people.
Wake up voters – let’s make Guam Great Again!
Esta.
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Lee P. Webber is a businessman and civic advocate, the former publisher of the Pacific Daily News, a former president and publisher of the Honolulu Advertiser, and a former director of operations for USA Today International/Asia
