The Appeaser

The handsomely-mustached man you see on the left was Neville Chamberlain. You’re probably familiar with the other guy. Neville Chamberlain is mostly remembered for this line:

“This is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace in our time.”

Then, almost a year later, the Nazis invaded Poland.

During the last 7 years, Chamberlain’s appeasement has been frequently tapped as a method of shaming anyone who would disagree with the military policies of the Bush Administration. “Oh, you want to talk to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? That really worked out for Neville Chamberlain, didn’t it?” It’s also commonly used to smack down anyone who claims to be pacifist? “You know who was a pacifist? Neville Chamberlain. Good luck with that.”

This is why, as Russia swept through Georgia right before the Olympics and George Bush attending the Olympic Games with Vladimir Putin, pictures like this and this and articles like this, seem so disturbingly familiar.

Oh, well. At least the US military is rested and ready for a return to the Cold War…oh, wait…okay…well, at least Georgia isn’t a part of NATO, and they’re probably like other former Soviet Republics in that they don’t like us all that much, right? What? They have a street named after President Bush?! Then, at the very least, we can rely on this administration to work the foreign policy magic it always has. Sigh.

I got nothing.