Neither Cardinal Richelieu nor Metternich
Well, it was magically fixed and now the UN is the best and brightest hope offered by the Bush administration for regional stability and reconciliation through whatever. Heckuva Job Brownie kudos to Prester John Bolton for resolving that one. Roger Cohen's comments on this idea in the International Herald Tribune are worth considering. "
"America has incurred a debt to Iraq, and the liability is weightier than the paper on the sub-prime mortgage market. Those in a hurry for neat resolutions in Mesopotamia might cast their minds back 60 years to the summer of 1947 when, on Aug. 15, after almost a century of direct rule, the British quit India, having drawn some hasty lines on a map. The lines produced Pakistan. The rapid exit - independence and partition had only been approved a couple of months earlier by Parliament - produced a savage outbreak of killing and rape among millions of Hindus and Muslims attempting to disentangle entwined existences. India and Pakistan went to war over still-contested Kashmir. I know, India is not Iraq, the world of 1947 is not that of 2007, and America's Iraqi foray amounts to a brief interlude compared to Britain's passage to India. But playing with fire still tends to produce explosions. Any U.S. withdrawal, or significant troop reduction, must be meticulously prepared."
Cohen goes on to discuss the messiness of proxy wars -- the Iranians are using the Shiites as proxies to enlarge their influence; the Saudis are supporting the Sunnis to ensure that they have a share of the wealth and power; and, oh yeah, the Turks just want to make certain that whatever happens in Iraq doesn't produce the beginning of independent Kurdistan. Inishallah. Deus Vult.
Ok, for those of us who have forgotten that golden oldie, the Thirty Years War , it was a proxy war.
Sweden, Denmark, Austria and everybody else was dancing the tune of Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu across the canvas that was Germany. Richelieu was a prince of the Church, but what he really was consisted of a combination of Chancellor, Baron and master of Real Politik that made Metternich look like an amateur and Henry Kissinger like the babbling baboon he really is. D'Artagian and the rest of the Boys aside, Richelieu had no issues of conscience allowing the various kingdoms, Freistaats, Electorates, Baronies and the rest to devolve into a totally Hobbesian world. Which it did...the Germans were exhausted by 1630, but Richelieu kept pumping money and provocation into the mess for another 15 years of rape, plague, massacre, murder and wanton destruction. If the Catholics were losing, he'd send stompin' John Czerlaes, Count of Tilly and commander of the Bavarian and Imperial Army and the rest of that murderous crew money and mercenaries and inspiration; if the Protestants were losing, Gustavus Adolphus and the Danes got what they needed to keep on keeping on.
Ok, if Iraq ain't India, it ain't Germany either. I'd say it's closer to 17th Century Germany than it is to India in an ontological-logos kind of way, but still worth considering...I suspect that the blue helmeted UN forces will either be made up of proxies for everyone with a dog in this hunt and they'll add a level of comic relief Hobbit style as the slaughter plays out.
Now, the AXE is not without some hope. As Cohen points out, if the administration can meticulously plan and execute a strategic withdrawal and replacement then it won't be horrible...Actually, given the destruction of our government by the Busheviks, I am having problems not giggling insanely as I consider these guys doing anything meticulously or well. Except running a campaign for relection.
Comments