The US, The UN and Iraq

I saw this when I got up this morning, but had to go see my doctor this morning. When I got back Setanta's piece was "buried" in the back pages.

Setanta's overview of Livy's Roman history is first rate. I am less sure of its relevance to the present discussion. The Republic of Rome was an important influence on the founders of our republic, but the two are very dissimilar . . . There are valuable lessons to be learned from the Roman experience, but which are relevant here?

These dynastic cycles are very common, though the details provide endless variety for students of China. I don't see any great parallels between the dynastic history of China and the present state of the world. The United States is not China and our political cycles are not comparable. China has traditionally scorned everything that isn't Han, but I believe Americans have for the most part embraced difference and celebrated the variety of cultures that flock to our shores. China looks backward and inward; we look forward and outward. Again there are lessons to be learned, but I'm left uncertain as to which lessons Setanta would like us to draw. Maybe I'm just being dense.

I was disappointed that Setanta didn't devote more space to the British Empire, which I believe is far more relevant to thinking about where the United States should be going in the 21st century.

Someone said this forum was intellectually superior to Abuzz---there is no evidence of that on the last two pages.

Setanta, in an earlier brilliant examination of the histories of previous empires - Rome, China, England, France - concludes by saying that none of these is a model for the present world, but without making a distinction between the empires of the past and the hegemony the United States is alleged to have over much of the world. This was unfortunate in that the distinction is - at least in my view - critical to the question at hand. The U.S. does not govern extensive territory outside its proper borders as did the empires of the past. Despite this we are called an empire by some critics, who, in effect, say that because we have the power and potential to intervene and rule, we are therefore an empire. Any extraterritorial adventure, however well-intended or exceptional it may be or how well intended is taken as confirmation of that rather tenuous principle.

It is equally nice and pious to argue for multilateralism, but if we are to be constrained by the least common denominator of the courage, wisdom, and resolution of our many allies and the greater number of observer powers that too want a voice - then our power won'l last very long, and the world may quickly discover that there are far worse alternatives waiting in the wings.

Setanta, The one thing that is not necessary is to get defensive about your posts.

Feb. 4, 2003 | Before Vice President Dick Cheney gave the opening address at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a three-day gathering of the right-wing faithful outside of Washington, D.C., organizers asked vendor Gene McDonald <http://www.0cents.com/> to put away his "No Muslims = No Terrorists" bumper stickers.
McDonald complied, and for the rest of the conference the jolly white-haired Floridian peddled his popular anti-Islam wares from under a table. As the leading lights of conservatism, including some of the most powerful figures in the Republican Party, gave speeches to a packed house, McDonald did a brisk trade, despite official condemnation by CPAC staff. He offered T-shirts with the words "Islam: Religion of peace" surrounding a photo of a bomb with the word "Allah" on its timer. A towering linebacker of a man attending the conference with his elderly parents bought a mug saying, "Islam" in red Nazi-style block lettering, with the "S" replaced by a black swastika. "They're going to love me at work," he chortled.
It was another year at CPAC, <http://www.cpac.org/> ground zero of the vast right-wing conspiracy, the place where in 1994 Paula Jones was first introduced to the world. This year marks CPAC's 30th anniversary, but not since the Reagan presidency has its agenda meshed so easily with that of the White House, which honored the event by sending both Cheney and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao to speak. Republican National Committee chairman Marc Racicot, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, Senate Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and a bevy of other Republican congressmen were also there, cheered by hordes of college boys in blue blazers, soignée blondes in short skirts, and portly Southerners in T-shirts with slogans like "Fry Mumia" and, above a photo of the burning towers of the World Trade Center, "Clinton's Legacy."
They seemed the embodiment of what historian Richard Hofstadter once called "the paranoid style of American politics." And George W. Bush has harnessed their obsession and rage for his own political gain.