Category: History

Elvish Hegemon and the Subaltern Orc.

And now the terrible Orcs invade Balin’s tomb. Let’s be clear about a few things here. The Orcs are fighting a war of self-defense against the invading Fellowship. They basically busted in on the Orcs’ place here…One would think that if the Orcs were as bad as the corrupt Man-Elf coalition says, they would be a lot better at fighting. Via a friend of mine in the department, it’s the lost Fellowship of the Ring commentary track by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. Touche.

Hedging their Bets.

In the wake of Dubya’s embrace of preemption, historian Joyce Appleby wonders whatever happened to Congress as a center of foreign policy. As James Madison put it, “The constitution supposes, what the History of all Govts demonstrates, that the Ex. is the branch of power most interested in war, & most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care, vested the question of war in the Legisl. But the Doctrines lately advanced strike at the root of all these provisions, and will deposit the peace of the Country in that Department which the Constitution distrusts as most ready without cause to renounce it.” Looks like recent experience has proven him right.

A Chill Wind Blows.

Rumors grew of a shadow in the East, whispers of a nameless fear…In a bid to stop the spread of SARS, the World Health Organization encourages travelers to stay out of Toronto. (I’m supposed to go there for a wedding in July, and as of right now I’m inclined to take my chances.) Perhaps it’s partly because of the post-Iraq news void, but it’s starting to look like SARS has the potential to be the 1918 influenza epidemic all over again.

Goodnight Euphrates.

Despite significant warnings from historians and anthropologists, the Pentagon does little to stop Baghdad’s National Museum of Antiquities, a priceless archive on some of the world’s oldest civilizations, from being systematically looted and pillaged. Our response to this tragic event is too little too late – what are we going to do? Have a couple of INTERPOL guys watch for suspicious items on Ebay? I doubt many of the most priceless artifacts travel that well anyway. It just wouldn’t have been that hard to station troops around the museum, particularly given (a) that the Pentagon was briefed beforehand, and (b) US troops were already protecting the (ahem) Oil Ministry. This isn’t the burning of Alexandria’s library, but it might just end up being close. For shame.