On the Verge of a New Ottoman Empire, and a New World War

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The Drudge Report gave the following headlines:

CLAIM: It's 1914 all over again...

World bears striking similarity with build-up to First World War...

From appeasement, to underestimating the drive of Islam, we may be mirroring the times before each of the World Wars.

Rather than the Balkans, the Middle East is the tinderbox, and nuclear weapons are the new tools of slaughter.

According to Professor Margaret MacMillan, of the University of Cambridge, we are on the verge of a nuclear arms race that would be likely to start if Iran developed a bomb.  

"While history does not repeat itself precisely, the Middle East today bears a worrying resemblance to the Balkans then," she says. "A similar mix of toxic nationalisms threatens to draw in outside powers as the US, Turkey, Russia, and Iran look to protect their interests and clients."

The Professor recognizes other parallels, as well.  Modern-day Islamist terrorists mirror the revolutionary communists and anarchists who carried out a string of assassinations in the name of a philosophy that sanctioned murder to achieve their vision of a better world. And in 1914, Germany was a rising force that sought to challenge the pre-eminent power of the time, the UK. Today, the growing power of China is perceived as a threat by some in the US.

Transitions from one world power to another are always seen as dangerous times. In the late 1920s, the US drew up plans for a war with the British Empire that would have seen the invasion of Canada, partly because it was assumed conflict would break out as America took over as the world's main superpower.

She may be right, and now, as in history, it is systems with strong statist governmental systems that are acting as the match that may strike the spark.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

It is 1914 all over again?  We are in danger of repeating the mistakes that started WWI, says a leading historian - The Independent