Honestly, is nothing sacred these days? There was I pondering on the first few pages of Fritz Fischer's superb history "Germany's Aims in the First World War" in which he describes the various amazing developments and growth in 'Prusso-German' society during the 19th century which eventually led them into the folly of not just one world war but two, and thinking to myself, that sounds awfully like China in the 21st century. 'Golly-gosh', I thought, that would make an interesting theme for a blog-post today but then - dammit! - domestic events intervened and I was forced to save my (very rare) original thinking for later.
In the meantime, Mr. Jonah Goldberg at the National Review, who obviously has my brain bugged, wrote this:
China is in a nationalist phase, just as Germany, France, Italy, and other former or would-be Great Powers were on their way to democracy. That poses very real dangers to the global order in the same way the nationalist movements of the 19th and 20th centuries did. Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm wanted what he called a “place in the sun” for the German empire, and so did Adolf Hitler. Chinese leader Xi Jinping wants it, too.
And in one brief paragraph he nicked my idea! Even so, go read his piece which, as usual, is spot on!
Crikey, two really and truly genius types on the planet at once. How lucky are we?
Posted by: Andra | Saturday, 17 August 2019 at 03:11
I know, Andra, and better still, we're free - well I am at least!
Posted by: David Duff | Saturday, 17 August 2019 at 08:54
Jonah is pretty close to your standards David and it was good of you to lend him your mind for this piece. China is about to learn the lessons of liberty vs. power. The communist party thinks it can dole out freedom in bits and pieces. Nope. As the article points out, Western intellectuals are often excited by "new" forms of government power and their wished for benefits. Thomas Friedman just knew the world was finally seeing "good communism".
It appears Hong Kong may be the flash point.
Posted by: Whitewall | Saturday, 17 August 2019 at 12:43
Why would you need to tell him not to read your mind?
Posted by: decnine | Saturday, 17 August 2019 at 13:48