Bill Moore
11-11-2018, 01:05 AM
A century later, America must remember the lessons of one of its biggest blunders
We need a national security consensus to maintain the world order.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/09/24/century-later-america-must-remember-lessons-one-its-biggest-blunders/?utm_term=.8d217f420259
1918 was the year that the United States became what it has been ever since: the greatest of the great powers. But it was also the year that failures in American leadership, combined with a partisan media, undermined Washington’s international position, paving the way for World War II.
Newer analyses of the Treaty of Versailles make the point that the peace was not nearly as hard on Germany as critics ranging from Adolf Hitler to John Maynard Keynes contended. . . Absent Hitler, Germany would have recovered to dominate and prosper in this space no less than it does today.
And it was the reckless American retreat from global responsibility after 1918 that propelled Hitler into power. A century ago — no less than today — Washington wrestled with a president convinced that he had a knack for disrupting global power relations. This grandiose conceit produced executive grandstanding exacerbated by partisan politics and an impassioned media.
The author goes on to draw parallels to today's political and media environment, and the risk it poses to our national security. History may not repeat itself, but it does have a tendency to rhyme.
We need a national security consensus to maintain the world order.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/09/24/century-later-america-must-remember-lessons-one-its-biggest-blunders/?utm_term=.8d217f420259
1918 was the year that the United States became what it has been ever since: the greatest of the great powers. But it was also the year that failures in American leadership, combined with a partisan media, undermined Washington’s international position, paving the way for World War II.
Newer analyses of the Treaty of Versailles make the point that the peace was not nearly as hard on Germany as critics ranging from Adolf Hitler to John Maynard Keynes contended. . . Absent Hitler, Germany would have recovered to dominate and prosper in this space no less than it does today.
And it was the reckless American retreat from global responsibility after 1918 that propelled Hitler into power. A century ago — no less than today — Washington wrestled with a president convinced that he had a knack for disrupting global power relations. This grandiose conceit produced executive grandstanding exacerbated by partisan politics and an impassioned media.
The author goes on to draw parallels to today's political and media environment, and the risk it poses to our national security. History may not repeat itself, but it does have a tendency to rhyme.