No sooner had I read this today:
There is by now an entire book to be written about the way that "Munich," "appeasement," and "Churchill" have been ritually invoked, from Suez to Vietnam to Iraq, so often in false analogy, and so often with calamitous results.
than I saw this:
U.S. President George W. Bush stirred up the campaign to replace him on Thursday, suggesting Democratic front-runner Barack Obama’s pledge to meet Iran’s leader was akin to U.S. appeasement of Nazi Germany before World War Two.
Imagine that.
More like this
Every once in a while Chris Matthews does a good deed. On last night's edition of Hardball he had conservative radio talk show host Kevin James on his show. James was keen to pontificate on the nature of appeasement. Matthews' other guest was Mark Green.
Turkey is considering adding the letters "Q," "W," and "X"
to their alphabet. The idea is that it would appease the
Kurds.
As many bloggers have noticed, with the latest revelations about NASA and other agencies, the Republican war on science continues apace. But what's driving it?
When I put up a bunch of good election-related links about Iowa caucuses and the impending New Hampshire primaries last night, I have no idea how I missed
George Bush is monumentally ignorant. I think other republicans can come up with even better "appeasement" arguments.
I guess Bush's administration negotiating with North Korea makes Bush an appeaser too.
Then there's that photo of Dick Cheney shaking hands with Saddam Hussein...oh, wait--that was back when Saddam was our friend.
There is at least one academic treatment of the subject of the influence of Munich and other historical analogies on foreign policy making. For those interested: "Analogies At War: Korea, Munich, Dien Bien Phu and the Vietnam Decisions of 1965" by Yuen Foong Khong (Princeton University Press, 1992).