Kaiser Wilhelm II, revisited, in a new American century

Some time has passed since the events in this article transpired, but it is good to remember them anyway. With the Democratic Party primaries beginning, we must remind ourselves of the nature of the person we are trying to defeat. Our President, George W. Bush, is a man who desperately needs to be removed from office, as he is herding us all onto the path of war and our own destruction. There are clear parallels between the actions our president is taking now and those taken by Kaiser Wilhelm II over a century ago. You should know good ol’ Willie – he’s the one who started World War I.Wilhelm believed that it was not enough that Germany was the most powerful of the continental European powers – it also had to be shown, even though the policy of Germany before was to behave rationally and responsibly. His predecessors had believed that showing off was simply not necessary. Bush is currently doing the same thing. He is showing off America’s power by intervening wherever he wants to. Just like Willie, Bush believed that the nations he was intruding on would love him when in fact they hated him instead.Wilhelm’s greatest “achievement” was to threaten both Britain and France with German military might to the point where they formed an alliance against him to protect themselves. Keep in mind that the British and the French had been blood enemies for nearly a millennia, but they united in the face of German aggression. During the last week of November 2003, the major partners of the EU, Britain, France, and Germany, along with many of the smaller states, agreed to plan the development of a common defense initiative that is more independent of NATO. The U.S., through increased aggression and military posturing, has succeeded in uniting Europe, which has been in conflict for 2000 years, in a common defense against American aggression!The supporters of Bush’s foreign policy want you to believe that what we are doing is morally justified and in the best interests of the U.S. They say that we are precipitating a revolution in foreign policy that we put the world at peace for the rest of time. Remember that the Germans in the Imperial government over a century ago said the same exact thing. Those great plans helped Europe erupt into one of the worst wars the world has ever seen.Newmark can be reached at mnewmark@campustimes.org.