[Verginius Rufus]

So Sisci merely thinks Bush's behavior resembles Mussolini's...unlike American and British intellectuals who compare him to Hitler.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

" So Sisci merely thinks Bush's behavior resembles Mussolini's...unlike American and British intellectuals who compare him to Hitler."

Hmmm, it's not clear. The quote:

"The US ultimatum dilutes the importance of the UN in a way similar to what happened in the late 1930s with the League of Nations, when Italy proceeded to occupy Ethiopia despite the scathing criticism of the League."

I took to mean as the "League's ineffectiveness at stopping Musolini's invasion of Ethopia is similiar to it's ineffectiveness at stopping Saddam, as demonstrated by the US ultimatum." The "scathing criticism" of the League was delivered to Musolini and similar to the UN's criticism of Saddam.

Your interpretation is possible, although I don't think the UN has given "scathing criticism" to the US; France has. The UN's criticism has been toward Iraq; it just hasn't done anything, just like the League didn't with Italy.

I didn't even consider your construction of meaning--it was too bizzare to consider the US and Iraq as analogous to Italy and Ethiopia. There really is no correspondant to the US action in Iraq in the 1936 invasion of Ethiopia. No one defended Ethiopia.