The 1930s, Again: A hard rain is going to fall.

National Review ^ | March 25, 2002 | Victor Davis Hanson

[aculeus]

Chilling ... but accurate.

[The KG9 Kid]

Bump

[cynicom]

We have an awful lot of Neville Chamberlains residing inside the beltway.

[kapn kuek]

Yes! Yes! Let's win this war! What are my marching orders?

[dighton]

"After 30 years of listening to nauseating chanting from Teheran to Islamabad to Nablus, hearing the childish rants about "The Mother of All Battles" and "The Great Satan," and witnessing presidents from Carter to Bush burned in effigy, the ritual torching of the American flag, the misspelled banners of hatred, the thousands of paint-by-the-numbers posters of psychopaths from Khomeini to bin Laden, televised threats that sound as hideous as they are empty, Nazi-inspired anti-Semitism, embassy takeovers, oil-boycotts, hijacked planes, cars, and ships, lectures from unelected obese sheiks with long names and gold chains, peacekeepers incinerated in their sleep, murders at the Olympics, bodies dumped on the tarmac of airports, shredded diplomats, madmen in sunglasses in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, demented mullahs and whip-bearing imams in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, continual televised murders of Americans abroad, our towers toppled, our citizens butchered, our planes blown up, hooded Klansmen in Hamas and Hezbollah, killers of al-this and Islamic-that, suicide bombers, shrill turbaned nuts spouting hatred on C-SPAN broadcasts, one day the salvation of Kuwait, the next sanctions against the swallower of Kuwait, the third day fury against the sanctions against the swallower of Kuwait, the fourth day some grievance from 1953, the fifth another from A.D. 752; and all the time sanctimonious fingerpointing from Middle Eastern academics and journalists who are as bold abroad in insulting us as they are timid and obsequious under dictators at home in keeping silent, I've about had it. No mas. The problem is you, not us — you, you, you…. "

[Centurion2000]

bump

[Trust but Verify]

Wow. Columns like these almost make me sorry I brought children into this world!

[Orual]

He got it all right in one paragraph. Very powerful.

[Mike Darancette]

Bump for the elephant in the parlor.

[mercy]

1000% agreement BUMP.

[GOP_1900AD]

Now, imagine the 1930s with a few additional twists. Imagine the new "Hitler" (Saddam) backed by a great power (Russia) (some say this actually occured in the 30s as well!....). Imagine another country above and beyond Iraq playing the role of Germany, but headed by a Communist - corporatist oligarchy, and in some ways more substantial than Nazi Germany (none other than the PRC!). Imagine that this oligarchic neo-Germany is funding and arming a number of anti-Jewish and / or anti-Western nations (Pakistan, Iran, Myanmar, Laos, Zimbabwe, S. Africa, Venezuela, Cuba). And imagine that the oligarchic neo-Germany are themselves aided by Russia, including a promise to provide ICBM "cover" in case of hostilities with the West.

The 1930s - early 1940s were only the dry run! This is the real McCoy!

[mercy]

One of the most improtant pieces written lately and not at all subject to smartass one line reply posts. Probably make it to 35 posts or so.

[DoctorMichael]

Talkin' 'bout a Jihad, Bump.

[LS]

This column is exactly why no matter what happens on CFR, we have to keep our eye on the ball. This is why it is tough for most Americans to get worked up about a bill that they simply don't understand or care about, and certainly don't understand the Constitutional implications. But 9/11, they get.

[anatolfz]

I read this this morning and tried optimistically to think how he could be wrong. I don't think so though.

The truly maddening thing is so many people who are in a position to form opinion just chatter on mindlessly, making little swipes at the US-coalition war effort, and staring goggle-eyed at the Saudi peace plan as if it contained some startling, daring new proposal. The rot started back in the early 1970's when the UN welcomed Arafat as a legitimate leader.

[hchutch]

No wonder the domesctic agenda's running a little slower and off-kilter. Bush has a tall order ahead of him, IMHO. We need to make sure he doesn't have to deal with sniping from the Senate.

[hchutch]

Agreed. Pinging elsewhere.

Bush knows how to delegate jobs to people who can get them done. And he has done so on CFR and elsewhere of late. Time to make sure he isn't let down by Spineless Trent Lott, and to make sure we get the Senate back, and increase our margin in the House.

[Sawdring]

BUmp!

[x]

History teaches us that certain nations, certain peoples, and certain religions at peculiar periods in their history take a momentary, but deadly leave of their senses — Napoleon's France for most of a decade, the southern states in 1861, Japan in 1931, Germany in 1939, and Russia after World War II. And when they do, they cannot be bribed, apologized to, or sweet-talked — only defeated.

So who's going to defeat VD?

[happygrl]

Victor Davis Hanson Bump