This little war is instructive on a lot of different levels. It exposed the weakness of The League of Nations (precursor to the UN). It showed the willingness of the Western Powers to overlook some of Mussolini’s bad habits (like imperialism) and it showed that even the wisest of leaders (Churchill) could succumb to the charms of a totalitarian fascist.
The point, you ask? Simply this: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The League of Nations was a wonderfully aspirant idea, but ultimately doomed to failure. The Great War (WWI) sowed the seeds of WWII and anyone willing to read “Mein Kampf” or attend one of Mussolini’s Blackshirt rallies could read the writing on the wall. Most chose not to.
The UN is a joke. We’ve seen its repeated failures in the Balkans, and Rwanda and Somalia. The notion of “multilateralism” is as pointless today as it was in the 1930s and as easily dismissed by Putin and Kim Jong-il as it was by Hitler and Mussolini.
It may be remarked on as a tired old argument, but simply because its as old as history itself. I was told that reading Thucydides would provide the template for the rest of recorded history and, sadly, its true. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Do you really believe, Brian, that you are possessed of some inner truth and deeper knowledge that provides a new and heretofore unseen answer? If so, I’d like to hear it. Personally, I still hold to old George Foreman’s boxing axiom: “Everyone has a plan. Then they get hit”. So, you can use reason and your intellect and try to be nice to Messrs. Putin, Jong-il, Chavez, et al and see where it gets ya.
Me? I’ll slap a fresh 30 rounder in the mag well, yank on the charging handle, flip it to full squirt and invite those assholes to my own personal Rock-and-Roll dance party. We’ll compare notes after. Hoo-ah.
