You got the teeth of the hydra upon you

[fellmama]

Walter Page, American ambassador to London, had the following conversation with the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, regarding the 1913 military coup in Mexico:
"[Grey:]'Suppose you have to intervene, what then?'
[Page:] 'Make 'em vote and live by their decisions.'
'But suppose they will not so live?'
'We'll go in and make 'em vote again.'
'And keep this up 200 years?' asked he.
'Yes, said I. 'The United States will be here for two hundred years and it can continue to shoot men for that little space till they learn to vote and to rule themselves.'"
--Quoted in Empire: the Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, Niall Ferguson

Sound familiar?

In other news, I had an extremely rewarding practice today. It felt really GOOD to play. That makes me happy. Not so happy-making were the dead batteries in my CD player, which meant that my arranging session was cut short. It doesn't help that all the pianos are so out of tune. I can never tell if my chords will actually work because they're so off-pitch anyway. /stab

Comments

[parksdh.livejournal.com]

Reporter: What, in your opinion, do these people hope to gain from this war?
Lawrence: They hope to gain their freedom...freedom.
Reporter (writing): "They hope to gain their freedom." There's one born every minute.
Lawrence: They're going to get it, Mr. Bentley. I'm going to give it to them.

[superquail.livejournal.com]

?

[fellmama.livejournal.com]

It's from Lawrence of Arabia. Of course, the Brits sold the Arabs down the river over Lawrence's head . . .

[superquail.livejournal.com]

Tell me more about this Lawrence of Arabia. We had to read an essay by him in my international politics class, but I have since forgotten the entire thing.

[parksdh.livejournal.com]

You should go watch the movie. Its a little on the long side, but it's amazing. Its probably one of the best movies ever made, actually, but, like all good cinema, it takes patience.

[superquail.livejournal.com]

Have you ever seen the movie Lagaan? That one takes a lot of patience, but is well worth it.

[parksdh.livejournal.com]

Its from Lawrence of Arabia. We can all see how wonderfully "giving" the Arabs their freedom has turned out.

[superquail.livejournal.com]

And what would you recommend, sir?

[parksdh.livejournal.com]

Nuke 'em from orbit. It's the only way.

[superquail.livejournal.com]

You'd make such a good jew.

[parksdh.livejournal.com]

I'd make a terrible jew. I don't even own any banks.

[superquail.livejournal.com]

Well, once you sign up for the club, we could probably hook you up with an extra one that we have lying around. Don't worry. We Jews take care of each other.

[fellmama.livejournal.com]

Well, they didn't GET their freedom. There was quite about this in Empire, actually. Political expediency trumped Lawrence's desire for any sort of truly "free" Arab state(s). And, as Fergusson noted, the Balfour Declaration contained a (now self-evidently) tragic contradiction: support for a Jewish state without infringing on the rights of Palestinian Arabs.
It's interesting to me that people whine all the time about how Israel was just carved out of nothing but say not a word about Jordan or Lebannon.

[superquail.livejournal.com]

You are very wise, Mary. It is true: the Arab states as they are formed today were carved up at the convenience of the British and the Ottomans, not as a reflection of the desires and needs of the people. The Arabs have been dicked over by more than just Israel.

[superquail.livejournal.com]

Dude, that quote was awesome. Teh suck about about the batteries, though.