Let's remember that today is the 65th anniversary of the start of World War II.
I think its generally accepted by now that the Second World War was brought about by how the First World War was ended: to wit, at the peace negotiations at Versailles (WWI ended in an armistice, folks) the Allies discovered how weak Germany and Austro-Hungary were and decided to take advantage of this. Their reparations clauses and the punitive destruction of the German merchant marine (not to mention taking the Ruhr valley) led to a great deal of dissatisfaction in Germany. This dissatisfaction was fertile ground for Herr Hitler when he came to power in 1933.
John Maynard Keynes predicted the Second World War while attending this conference. Quite prophetic.
In any event, spare a thought for the millions killed during the war today.
Posted by artandscience at September 1, 2004 11:15 PMYou're not thinking about the impending breakup of Iraq and how the fragments may be more dangerous than the whole, are you?
Posted by: paul at September 2, 2004 09:27 AM