| | Wolrd War One was undoubtedly the greatest tragedy in human history. The Great War led to the end of the innocence of the West, decisively shifting our culture from the Romanticism and mannered comedies of the late 19th Century to the disillusioned movements of Dada, "abstract art," cynicism, nihilism, and what we now call post-modernism in literature, the rise of Gertrude Stein, Samuel Beckett, and the near-extinguishment of the 19th Century ethos of "Human Progress." Economically, the trend toward free-trade was replaced by central planning and the rise of Marxist-Leninism, killing some 20 millions in the 'Soviet Union' and 30 million under Mao, just to name a 'few.' Politically we see the rise of the totalitarian state in its Imperialist, Fascist and Communist guises, with the post-Ottoman m*slim states almost universally adopting or accommodating the Wahhabist or Ba'athist type authoritarian statism. The connections of the Ba'ath party with Nazism are well known. Mein Kampf and are a few of the books ever translated into Arabic, and not banned by isl*mist states.
But World War One was not a result of a "family squabble." Indeed, the pro-German sympathies of the British Royalty, and the close relationship between Kaiser Wilhem, Tsar Nicholas, led to urgent attempts between these rulers to avoid the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914. A series of correspondences between the Kaiser and the Tsar (nicknamed the Nicky-Willy letters) show that the executives were trying to head off a crisis instigated by the murderous Serbian provocation of Austria-Hungary. The military and militarist political wings of Austria-Hungary, France, Russia and Germany were all itching for war or at least 'mobilization.' Neither religion nor dynastic rivalries played any major role in the outbreak of war between the great colonies.
Comparisons of the World Wars with sectarian tribalist violence amongst Bedouin clans is a very poor analogy. The motive for making such a claim put forth in a passive-aggressive manner as both a joke and a serious claim is more consistent with the "Just kidding" personality of a James Taggart than a Dagny Taggart. Just what is the point of making such claims of moral equivalence, if not some sort of hidden anti-Western agenda? Indeed, there are possible intellectually honest and historically fruitful analogies to be drawn between, say, the devastating 30 Years War where the Holy Roman Empire consumed itself in sectarian violence with Catholic and Protestant princes and armies killing off entire towns and provinces and some 30% of the population of Germany. One could make a more recent comparison with the "troubles" of Northern Ireland, again, with murderous religious and political struggles between thugs and terrorists to gain secular hegemony in the name of hypocritical 'spiritual' values.
But even here, there is an essential flaw. The West has worked through and overcome its own problems through internal struggle. The West, with the concession of the major Christian sects, whether or not those churches have conceded eagerly and whether or not rabid critics of Christianity want to admit it, has freed itself.
Ted Keer
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As long as the arabs fight amongst themselves, they will remain a little people, a silly people, barbarous and cruel.
