History – one bloody repeat after another
Tuesday 28th June 2011, 6:00AM BST.
The excellent The Kennedys (BBC2) reminds us that in 1961 the United States supported Cuban rebels in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, having been assured that Cubans would rise up against their communist dictator, Castro, writes Peter Rhodes.
It was only after the invasion failed that President Kennedy discovered the assurances of Cuban support had come from Cuban exiles living in the States who hadn’t a clue what was happening on the island.
Forty-two years later, the White House was assured, by Iraqi exiles, that Iraqis would welcome an American invasion.
The rest is history, and history tends to repeat itself.
Anyone for Syria?
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Very true. I personally have always said we can never ignore history. Just because it is in the past does not make it irrelevant.
There is a long line of events that have been seen, have occured, or been perpetrated in the past that bear an uncanny similarity to more recent events.
Reading history and looking into the human race’s not always illustrious past should be seen as a warning of what is to or may come in the future. We humans have an amazing ability to make the same mistakes and not learn from past ones. To not see the link between history and the present/future is not only short sighted but stupid and dangerous.
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Ecclesiastes Chapter 1, Verse 9
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As the old saying goes ” Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”
Take the Highland clearances as an example. Scottish landowners had tenant farmers who complained about rents, required cottages to live in and maintenance, got sick, poached your game and were generally a pain in the neck. Solution – get rid of them and fill the land with sheep requiring no shelter, never complained and if they got sick you ate them.
Fast forward to the 20th and 21st Century. Industrialists making things using domestic labour. They go on strike, keep asking for more money, chuck sickies, steal the stock. In addition, factories and machinery to maintain. Solution – close the factory, sack the workers and have it made abroad in some sweatshop loads cheaper and import it back in to sell here. Still make your profit without the inconvenience. Simples. History repeating itself.
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America doesn’t need to go overseas to see an invasive force..it only need look at it’s borders (especially Mexico), as well as it’s own administration. Alas, when America gets invaded that’s OK you see..change is good (blah blah blah). In reality the statistics of this invasion are staggering..so is the amount of money pumped into a debt-ridden economy. Europe learned the hard way, never to turn it’s back on leaders who promise everything. America has yet to learn that lesson.
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