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SPEAKING FREELY
George W Bush as
Alexander the Great
By Mark M Miller
Speaking Freely is an Asia
Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here if you
are interested in contributing.
Does
George W Bush believe, or are others trying to convince
him, that he is the second coming of Alexander the
Great; anointed by god(s), inheritor of a mighty state,
given the divine purpose of converting the barbarians
(everyone else) to the true path espoused by his
ideology and nation?
Alexander took the
Greco-Macedonian military power and Greek alliances
established by his father Phillip, and conquered the
known world within 12 years. Not for him, the decades-
and centuries-long path taken by earlier Egyptian,
Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian conquerors. All fell to
Alexander's advanced combined forces strategies, the
iron-hard hoplites (warriors) wielding 18-foot
sarissa (the Macedonian pike and cavalry lance)
in phalanx formation, and his faithful Companions in
timely cavalry charges. His military was vastly superior
to anything in his time. Sound familiar?
The
Hellenic Empire did not survive Alexander's death, but
perhaps the new Companions, "the Bushites", have
formulated a cunning plan with their Project for a New
American Century. Make it the doctrine of the mightiest
empire ever known, that preeminence in all matters:
political, social, economic and militarily above all,
will always be maintained, and all potential threats
will be opposed. If the vibrance of any imperial sector
is in question, then it may be time for a triumphal
conquest.
Alexander's non-Greek empire covered
all of the Middle East; from modern Turkey in the
northwest, down the Mediterranean coast to Egypt, and
everything eastward including Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The White House has already conquered Afghanistan, Iraq
(ancient Babylon and Mesopotamia) has succumbed, and
others have been put on notice that they must adopt the
American way (as prescribed by the Bushites) or else.
Consider that Iran (Persia), a member of the
"axis-of-evil", lies between the military protectorates
of Afghanistan and Iraq, with the brutal dictatorship of
the Assads in Syria just to the west. To the Bushite way
of thinking, the application of American influence,
bribes and threats just may cause a wished for
domino-effect, changing all of the region to states of
joyous vassals of a benevolent and righteous hegemony.
This scenario is unlikely in the extreme; instead of
calming and advancing the Islamic societies with Western
values, it may start a conflagration that will consume
all societies.
Peace, order and good government
cannot be imposed on developing nations by unilateral
imposition of philosophy or force of arms; it needs to
be encouraged and engendered through multilateral
organizations and civil discourse. The Afghan conflict
was a just cause, deserving and receiving the approval
of the world for the ousting of a regime that was
directly implicated with the devastating events of
September 11, 2001 by harboring and nurturing the group
that carried out the heinous acts. Regime change for
calculated opportunity and possible imperial expansion
should not be conciliated by announced rhetoric of
immediate necessity. Many regimes in this world are
despotic and tyrannical, with the potential to threaten
neighbors and create major weapons of destruction. Who
or what should forcibly change them?
Alexander
either had a god-king complex, or was deluded by others;
let's hope George W does not, and is not, prodded into
an un-American imperial stance by the sarissas of
the neo-Companions.
Mark M Miller is a
Vancouver-based consultant and a geopolitical
commentator for Esprit de Corps, Canada's independent
military magazine.
Speaking
Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that
allows guest writers to have their
say. Please click here if you
are interested in contributing.
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