Is Emperor George more like Napoleon or Cromwell?


Historians like to make comparisons and I thought an interesting one to make would be to compare George Bush (or Kaiser Busch as I prefer to call him) to some other historical figure. Gary Leupp , a Japanese historian who writes for Counterpunch.com, has compared Bush to Cromwell, an English general who secured the English Revolution and brutally conquered Ireland in the 1640s, and the Japanese general Hideyoshi who unified Japan in the 1590s. Both were successful generals who went on to have political careers, both justified their actions as being part of God's will to bring English/Japanese civilization to the barbarians (Irish/Koreans), both committed horrendous atrocities in doing so as the people being subdued were regarded as less than human in some respects, and both engendered long-term hatred of the invaders for centuries by the Irish/Koreans. He also notes the glaring gap in the comparison: that Kaiser Busch has not had a military career of any success or glory. His time in the Texas Air National Guard borders on desertion or a cushy sinecure for the sons of the rich and powerful. [More]

Historians like to make comparisons and I thought an interesting one to make would be to compare George Bush (or Kaiser Busch as I prefer to call him) to some other historical figure. Gary Leupp , a Japanese historian who writes for Counterpunch.com, has compared Bush to Cromwell, an English general who secured the English Revolution and brutally conquered Ireland in the 1640s, and the Japanese general Hideyoshi who unified Japan in the 1590s. Both were successful generals who went on to have political careers, both justified their actions as being part of God's will to bring English/Japanese civilization to the barbarians (Irish/Koreans), both committed horrendous atrocities in doing so as the people being subdued were regarded as less than human in some respects, and both engendered long-term hatred of the invaders for centuries by the Irish/Koreans. He also notes the glaring gap in the comparison: that Kaiser Busch has not had a military career of any success or glory. His time in the Texas Air National Guard borders on desertion or a cushy sinecure for the sons of the rich and powerful. [More]

I would have added Napoleon Bonaparte to the line up of miscreants. Others like Paul Craig Roberts have noted the "Jacobin" aspects of the aggressive foreign policy of Bush and the neocons - a conviction that they alone are right, that "feudalism" throughout Europe (or the Middle East) can be overturned by French military might, that "freedom" (the French Civil Code and plebiscites to enthrone Napoleon's brothers and other family members) can be imposed by force, that this will be welcomed by the European masses "panting to be free". The parallels continue... The short term consequences of Napoleon's military conquests and "revolution from above" was to provoke a guerrilla resistance in Spain after the invasion in 1808 (the very word "guerrilla war" comes from this sad episode) and to begin the stirring of German nationalism in the occupied German states (with massive consequences for late 19th and 20th century history of course - Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hitler). The longer term consequences was the discrediting of the real classical liberal aspects of the French Revolution, Napoleon's ultimate defeat, the restoration of the monarchy in France and elsewhere in Europe, the discovery by the British that they could fund their domestic state and their world empire through the magic of central banking and government loans. One wonders what the long term consequences of Kaiser Busch's Mid-East adventures will be.

Posted: Sun - March 27, 2005 at 06:04 PM        

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