Comments on: King Philip II, not Napoleon

By: tom c.

tom c. — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:08:31 +0000

I compare our Prince and his “supporter” to Kaiser Willhelm II and the onset of WW I. He urged his peopke “to begin the fight that will settle forever our great position in the world”. The Times, 5 August 1914

I have drawn the sword which without victory and without honor I cannot sheathe again.” Wilson’s The Great War, Vol 10 page 562.

The carnage has never ended. Nothing has changed and the Spaniard Santyana’s dictum will persit until —-?

By: certaindoom

certaindoom — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:44:25 +0000

Another problem with that King Philip II comparison is it tends to cast the future of the USA pretty negatively, with Spain going from the most powerful nation on earth at that time, to pretty much a third rate power that never returns to world leadership.

On the other hand, maybe we’ll just get really good at making wine.

By: Feedback

Feedback — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:41:42 +0000

Yeah where were all the people who know to judge the probability of future human events by the experiences of the past, in the run-up to this Occupation?
My guess is that they were the ones actually pushing hardest for this “Use of Force” and had positioned themselves to profit most from what transpired. Like the Monarch here under consideration and his yet more odious and venal Ministers, whose pattern in matters of war and faith and political economy may be found repeatedly in even older places (Byzantium, Roman Empire, China and India as well).
In this context distraction from and continued ignorance of History is a tool of the Leaders who profit by war…to the extent that the Net becomes a tool for Distraction from, rather than for Instruction in, human affairs it too is a problem as much as the bigoted ignorant hate-spewing “mass” media has been during these Wars…

By: yill

yill — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:52:11 +0000

Great parallel universe history lesson needlenose, thanks!

(P.S. You’re got some rather odious anti- Obama propaganda links coming up on you Google ads links. Don’t know if you can filter out that crap, or how that works…)

By: microdot

microdot — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:12:15 +0000

Napoleon? No….His nephew, the manipulative mini Emperor Louis Napoleon? Perhaps, a little more than maybe.

By: greenboy

greenboy — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:51:38 +0000

LOL

By: anna missed

anna missed — Fri, 30 May 2008 08:43:52 +0000

I bet King Phillip would also in retrospect, describe his tenure as commander in chief as “a fabulous experience”.

By: texasbob

texasbob — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:00:01 +0000

I’d suggest Tsar Nicholas II of Russia as a parallel Bush. One of his more capable prime ministers described him as a locomotive which, though slow and very hard to start, was impossible to stop once underway, even when on a disastrously wrong course.

By: Athenawise

Athenawise — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:16:44 +0000

Spot-on parallels, greenboy.