http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/opinion/world-war-iii.html
NOV. 26, 2015
“Mommy, please tell me again, how did World War I begin?”
“Sweetheart, I already told you, that was long ago. A century is a very long time.”
“But, Mommy, please.”
“Well, it’s complicated. Do you really, really want to know?”
“Yes, Mom.”
“It’s a sad story. The world was organized in one way, and that way collapsed, and in the process millions of people were killed.”
“Wow. How was it organized before?”
“There were things called empires. They controlled vast territories full of different peoples, and some of these peoples wanted to rule themselves rather than be governed by a faraway emperor.”
“O.K.”
“The Austro-Hungarian Empire was one of them. It had lots of grand palaces in its capital, Vienna, where people danced at fancy balls. It governed parts of a poor corner of Europe called the Balkans where its rule was disliked. One day in 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife were assassinated in a Balkan city called Sarajevo by a young man, a Bosnian Serb, who wanted the freedom of the south Slavs from imperial rule.”Continue reading the
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“That’s sad, Mommy. Guess the music stopped. But so what?”
“The empire got really angry. It told Serbia to do a bunch of things or face war. The ruler in Vienna was confident because he had a close friend, a rising power called Germany. Serbia also had a good buddy, a country called Russia, which is big. Anyway, Serbia kind of dithered around, like you with homework, so Austria-Hungary went to war against it.”
“Then Germany declared war on Russia, whose friend was France, which didn’t like Germany for various reasons. Soon Germany attacked France through Belgium. That made Britain cross. It went to war against Germany. Another empire — a sickly one — called the Ottoman Empire, eventually joined the German and Austro-Hungarian side. Later the United States, a rising power, came in on the British and French team. After a few years, more than 16 million people were dead. The Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, German and Russian empires had collapsed.”
“All because a couple was killed? Mom, that’s weird.”
“Sometimes little things get bigger, people lose patience and perspective, there’s a spark and you get a big mess.”
“Mom, it couldn’t happen again, right?’
“Nope.”
“Are there any empires left today?”
“Some people call America an empire even if it doesn’t have an emperor. It is the most powerful country on earth, with soldiers all around the world and different peoples that rely on it for direction and protection. But America’s getting weaker.”
“So, Mommy, is it kind of like what you said about the world being organized one way, and then being organized in another way, and lots of people dying in the process?”
“Not exactly, sweetheart. Dying where?”
“In Syria. Mom, what’s Syria?”
“It’s a small country with different peoples and religions that came into being when the Ottoman Empire got so sickly it collapsed.”
“Why are people fighting there?”
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“It’s complicated. Do you really, really want to know?”
“Yes, Mommy.”
“Well, there was this brutal, remote tyrant behaving like an emperor and some of the peoples in Syria rose up against him. The tyrant started shooting them. America and Britain and France, among other countries, didn’t like that, and they said they’d kind of support the rebels, but didn’t really.”
“Why?”
“Because, like I said, America is sickly. It’s getting weaker.”
“Okay. Then what?”
“The tyrant had a big friend called Russia. He had another quite big friend called Iran. They both really did support him.”
“So he won?”
“Not quite. Many of the people who wanted to get rid of the tyrant were Sunni Muslims. They had the backing of Saudi Arabia, which is Sunni Central and hates Iran and has supported Sunni fanatics. Turkey, which was the successor to the Ottoman Empire and hates the Syrian tyrant, also got on the rebel team. But Turkey hates another people in Syria called the Kurds even more than the tyrant — so much it’s been ready in a sneaky way to help one group of Sunni crazies who slit throats, kill Kurds and shoot people in Western cities.”
“Mom, I’m confused.”
“Syria has broken up, like the Ottoman Empire. Russia is bombing some enemies of the Syrian tyrant. America is bombing the throat-slitters. So is France. Turkey shot down a Russian plane. Russia is angry. The Kurds want the state they didn’t get 100 years ago. Saudi Arabia is fighting a region-wide war against Iran. That war is most intense in Syria, where hundreds of thousands are dead.”
“All because some folks wanted to get rid of a bully?”
“Sometimes little things get bigger, there’s a spark and it’s a big mess.”
“Mom, what would World War III be like?”
“Don’t worry, darling, everything is different now.”
“Totally?”
“Totally. We have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Happy Thanksgiving, my love.”
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