W

“Refusals” was supposed to be the 2/14 post - I must have missed the button or something, because I realized today that it was only a draft, not a post. As far as I’m concerned, though, technical issues don’t count for whether I’m keeping up with a-post-a-day. 

The more I find out about The Great War, the more the players match up with our current Crisis. I recently read how Theodore Roosevelt was a big fan of the Kaiser and was supportive during his presidency. A few years later, the Kaiser was suddenly a huge threat who had to be neutralized. And that "suddenly" was during Woodrow Wilson's presidency, only a few years later. Wilson was elected in no small part because he pledged to keep the U.S. out of the war and focus on domestic issues. 

That lasted - despite other incentives - until the sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat with the loss of nearly 1200 lives. As far as the Germans and British were concerned, the Great War had been going on several years, and it was early in the conflict that the Germans made clear that British coastal areas were part of the war zone. The United States and its people may have been less aware of this declaration, which didn’t make them any less forgiving of the resulting deaths of Americans.  The United States entered the war on the 

Which means the broad parallels are:

Kaiser Wilhelm == Saddam Hussein

Woodrow Wilson == George W. Bush

German War Zone declaration == Osama Bin Laden’s Fatwas

Sinking of the Lusitania == 9/11

Conspiracy theories == Truthers

World War I == Iraq War

There are problems, of course - what parallels match exactly, in these exercises. Hussein's lack of involvement in 9/11 is a significant contrast with the Germans re: Lusitania. Roosevelt is a fine parallel with Reagan, as they are both Republicans (like Bush), but Wilson was a Democrat.   Much of it works well, though.

What World War II is in this progression is left as an exercise for the reader.