Posted on 08/24/2006 10:41:56 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
In his upcoming book about the horrors of the 20th century, "The War of the World," the British historian Niall Ferguson has a chapter called "The Pity of Peace." It is about 1938, when World War II loomed, and Britain -- especially and importantly Britain -- did precious little to stop it. The warnings of Churchill -- "believe me, it may be the last chance . . ." -- were ignored, and the government under Neville Chamberlain obstinately pursued a policy that forever after made the word appeasement one of the most odious in history. Somehow, though, it looks like 1938 all over again.
The events in the Middle East are often compared to 1914 and the start of World War I. That war -- the Great War, the war to end all wars -- is actually the all-purpose war. It not only began for what seemed like a trivial reason (the assassination of someone who wasn't a head of state) but it was fought with tenacity and brutality for what now seems no reason at all. In the end, millions died and the world was utterly changed. Why?
But when it comes to the Middle East, 1938 is also a pretty instructive year. At the moment, the United Nations has committed itself to maintaining peace in Lebanon. It has done so by saying it will interpose an armed force between Israel on the one hand and Hezbollah on the other. At the same time, the Lebanese army will -- as it has already started to do -- invade its own country (gasp!), securing the south for the first time in decades.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
>>>Europe without American leadership is a mere tourist destination.
And not even that for much longer if Iran gets it's nuclear arsenal.
Garbage from Dicky Cohen. Quite the contrary, The US is exerting more leadership in the Middle East than it ever has.
Oh those Oslo accords now that was a stroke of leadership that accomplished NOTHING.
How about that leadership we showed when our people were taken hostage in '79 or our barracks were attacked in Beirut.
Who cares if in Dicky Cohen's mind we are loathed, what we are is the only major power that the Middle East respects and fears.
And tell me Dicky, what would we be accomplishing if Saddam had not been neutralized. What leverage would that give us versus the current Hezbollah assault on Israel.
Another pointless article from the WaPo.
What if Brittan and France had placed forces in 1938 Poland? Germany would have known that to attack Poland was to be at war with the allies and the USSR would have been forced to make a choice.
The allies in 1938 did not have that option but Bush in 2003 did.
Another Clintonite Do Nothing screaming the absurd nonsense about Iraq. Iraq IS the war on terror. That Richard Cohen cannot see the stategic need for the US to control the land wedge between Syria and Iran shows he is utterly cluessless on this issue.
Dicky should sit down and think of what might have happened if we didn't take out Saddam, and this war, started by Hezbollah erupted. It wouldn't have been so easy to stop, and there would probably be a lot more raining down on Israel from more than one emboldened Islamic state.
man that guy is an idiot.
The leadership it once was able to exert -- especially in the Middle East -- is a thing of the past..What's striking about Ferguson's account of 1938 is the almost total absence of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The American president is almost never mentioned -- sidelined by the Great Depression and, more important, American isolationism
So FDR was ineffective because of Isolaionism, and Bush is ineffective because he wasn't isolationist.
Sorry, Cohen, but try as you might, the blame lies with the UN in general and France in particular. Oh, and the past leadership you pine for? That's your illusion as well. Clinton's policies led directly to where we are today - seeking temporary peace that is nothing more than deferred war.
The war to end all wars only created more.
Very good point. As well as the others on this thread.
If there are any lefties left on the planet after this next World War, (the first in which nukes are available to more then one country), they will have a hard time swallowing how much of a genius Bush will appear to everyone.
There simply is no better place on this planet right now for US troop deployment. Our brave men and women are preventing all hell from breaking loose in the most strategic location on the planet (oil reserves). Unfortunately they alone may not be enough of a deterrent. Turkey is now attacking Iraq. Iran is now attacking Iraq. Hezbollha was/is attacking Israel. Saudi Arabia is worried about the Shiites. And then we have the Russians trying to stir the pot and bring it all to a boil.
The people here at FR seem sufficiently alarmed, but we are for the most part not those in public decision-making capacity and few have a voice in the MSM or own sufficient personal nukes to take care of things on their own. It is like watching ice cubes freeze. Slowly, inevitably, and then at some point there it is.
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