tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post6525441623464458987..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: The What Ifs of HistoryStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-42506500438550590032017-11-17T18:26:49.641-08:002017-11-17T18:26:49.641-08:00AO: “What-ifs are fun with 20/20 hindsight“
Your ...AO: “What-ifs are fun with 20/20 hindsight“<br /><br />Your comments here show this every day. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-32307897202627390282017-11-16T23:56:04.596-08:002017-11-16T23:56:04.596-08:00Ask yourself how effectively we in the West have r...<em>Ask yourself how effectively we in the West have responded to the rise of militant Islam</em><br /><br />Militant Islam was created by the West. The United States played a huge role in creating, funding, promoting and supporting radical Islam. Or has everyone forgotten the enthusiasm with which the US embraced the mujahideen in Afghanistan?<br /><br />Before the US started to play its disastrous role in the Middle East the British and other European powers did plenty to encourage radical Islam through a combination of bungling and sheer criminal folly. The Americans have simply been even more foolish and even more reckless.<br /><br />The current problem with militant Islam is what is known as chickens coming home to roost.dfordoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-28392913058153589802017-11-16T14:04:44.728-08:002017-11-16T14:04:44.728-08:00The world always changes but that doesn’t mean tha...The world always changes but that doesn’t mean that we need to repeat mistakes and ignore history or let go the steering wheel.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08008551988150483228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-53771438602215006922017-11-15T13:50:10.264-08:002017-11-15T13:50:10.264-08:00@dearieme. I evaluate only what the articles prese...@dearieme. I evaluate only what the articles present. And even in a short article, failing to mention the war aims of the Kerensky government as a main cause of the successful October revolution is a sign that someone isn't thinking. If you want to indulge in what if, ask yourself what if Kerensky withdrew from the Entente, let the high command preserve a loyal army and used it to suppress the communists.Jack Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17873320680596889057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-60468048650406103802017-11-15T13:38:12.023-08:002017-11-15T13:38:12.023-08:00Assuming that the US would not commit its troops p...Assuming that the US would not commit its troops piecemeal, as was the historical case, it would have taken a year to two years for the US to train <b>and equip</b> a national army in numbers large enough to make a difference on the western front. In other words, about the time of Verdun and the Somme, where US armies and corps would have fallen under French high command and been fed into the meat grinders that <b>all</b> WW1 offenses were until the end of the war. Moreover, this was at a time when German forces were at their height of strength in men and materiel. And with the Germans on the defensive the situation would have been worse. The traditional ratio of 3-1 attackers to defenders considered necessary to force an enemy position was too low by this time (because of the dominance of artillery, defense in depth, and the difficulties of exploiting local successes), and even if the US added weight of numbers that only means that ze Germans would have been driven out of France at a cost of hundreds of thousands of American lives. <br /><br />The cost in lives would still have to be paid, but the US would shared the butchers bill. Madness.Jack Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17873320680596889057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-76661054743616609422017-11-15T13:35:45.226-08:002017-11-15T13:35:45.226-08:00What-ifs are fun with 20/20 hindsight, but we don&...What-ifs are fun with 20/20 hindsight, but we don't know all the other futures this one avoided. Who would have guessed our once strongman Saddam Hussein would have invaded Kuwait leading to us building military bases in Saudi Arabia, and leading to the devout Sunni Muslim Osama bin Laden to lead a terrorist organization that successfully attacked the U.S. with boxcutters? And who could guess we'd react by starting a war to take out Hussein for the actions of mostly Saudi citizens? It's inexplicable.<br /><br />If I wanted to get revenge against the Islamists, I'd promote weening the global economy off from petroleum fuel sooner than later. But who knows all the consequences of such choices? And besides, it's way too hard, and drones strike against families of terrorists is much more cool.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-88883155277966086072017-11-15T13:23:58.558-08:002017-11-15T13:23:58.558-08:00"the writer of the article ... seems to be un..."the writer of the article ... seems to be unaware of Kerensky's policy of continuing the war, or the reasons the Imperial German government let Lenin return to Russia": there is not the slightest chance that Ferguson is unaware of these things. You could always check by having a look at his book on WWI.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-23491887569484968272017-11-15T12:47:03.442-08:002017-11-15T12:47:03.442-08:00Both of which, I suggest, would not have happened ...Both of which, I suggest, would not have happened if TR had been in charge. You are all missing the point here.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-24120144624026700222017-11-15T12:14:03.251-08:002017-11-15T12:14:03.251-08:00"TR would have intervened far more quickly an..."TR would have intervened far more quickly and decisively in the Great War."<br /><br />Because the US needs its own Verdun (500,000 French casualties) or Somme (630,000 Entente casualties).Jack Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17873320680596889057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-87639912155266534342017-11-15T12:12:53.482-08:002017-11-15T12:12:53.482-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jack Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17873320680596889057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-53426891734140429732017-11-15T10:19:48.695-08:002017-11-15T10:19:48.695-08:00Thanks you... change made.Thanks you... change made.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-86873181046085307242017-11-15T10:16:08.777-08:002017-11-15T10:16:08.777-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-13326417890486875092017-11-15T08:03:54.906-08:002017-11-15T08:03:54.906-08:00@Jack,
I knew you weren't.
@TW
"Historica...@Jack,<br />I knew you weren't.<br />@TW<br />"Historical inevitability is the necessary theoretical consequent of the materialist/behaviorist position that human behavior is fully contingent."<br />I thought I was the only relative of AO here!<br /><br />Ps. Ferguson's remarks just prove that people I like can very silly.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13642228725661059539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-48911864527992546082017-11-15T07:47:10.274-08:002017-11-15T07:47:10.274-08:00SS: "Ferguson is striking a blow against theo...SS: "Ferguson is striking a blow against theories of historical inevitability..."<br /><br />Historical inevitability is the necessary theoretical consequent of the materialist/behaviorist position that human behavior is fully contingent.trigger warninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06310637474428322994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-87616382164412235332017-11-15T07:42:50.832-08:002017-11-15T07:42:50.832-08:00James, I wasn't referring to your remarks, jus...James, I wasn't referring to your remarks, just to be sure. I was criticising the writer of the article, who doesn't mention the 1905 Revolution or the February Revolution, seems to be unaware of Kerensky's policy of continuing the war, or the reasons the Imperial German government let Lenin return to Russia (the result being the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which took Russia out of the war.<br /><br />"What ifs" usually are pointless, since they requires so much hand waving away inconvenient facts, and the "what ifs" can be massaged to come out any way the author wants. Personally, I like <i>Inglorious Basterds</i>, but ... its fantasy.Jack Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17873320680596889057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-6263945664404840132017-11-15T07:28:08.096-08:002017-11-15T07:28:08.096-08:00You're probably right Jack. In my opinion play...You're probably right Jack. In my opinion playing what if is always kind of silly.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13642228725661059539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-12746545109344541462017-11-15T07:08:07.467-08:002017-11-15T07:08:07.467-08:00That's probably the worst historical analysis ...That's probably the worst historical analysis I've seen in years. The February Revolution produced a Provisional Government that kept Russia in WW1, that disastrous decision is what paved the way for the October Revolution that put the communists in power. The Allied invasion in support of anti-Soviet White Russian forces in Europe and Siberia was always doomed.Jack Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17873320680596889057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-58223452801391494362017-11-15T05:32:17.153-08:002017-11-15T05:32:17.153-08:00I am going to argue somewhat against you Stuart. F...I am going to argue somewhat against you Stuart. First, I do agree alot with Glick and the exposure of the Obama foreign policy as a failure. I just say that what has happened in the ME would have happened regardless, the argument should be more about timing. Prior Administrations also bear as much blame as the Obama for the events we now see happening. The world itself is going through changes as dramatic as the ones of 1500 and very little can be done to stop it. All that can be done now I believe is steering, mitigation, and hopefully delay of the more dire aspects of the coming change.<br />What people refuse to understand is that the world will change regardless of people's wants, desires, or hopes. Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13642228725661059539noreply@blogger.com