From: Bob DeAngelis <bobdea@t...>
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 12:54:56 +0100
Subject: OTSuez. (was nukes ..tunnels.. boom)
Jonathan White says > > bullet. I suggest you consult a good late C20 John Atkinson said > Didn't that backfire rather badly? Yes it did as most older Brits still remember. A perhaps badly considered colonial exercise much like that of the US in Panama, was followed by a very successful military operation that achieved most of it's objectives within the operational time frame. It went wrong as you put it when the USA and other oil based economies crapped their oil based economic pants, left their former allies in the shit and supported diplomatically the Arab nations that Mr Atkinson loves to denigrate on this list. It's worth noting that the strength the Arab nations and Egypt in particular got from this US led boost gave Nasser the required impetus and standing in the Arab world to infect the whole Arab sphere of influence with his own rampant brand of Arab nationalism. Maybe, just maybe, the whole saying that you reap what you sow is perfectly apt here. One wonders if Suez had had a different result if the whole bloody middle east mess, Islamic fundamentalism and even the events of sept 11 might have taken a different course. That of course would have required the same level of unfailing allied commitment that the UK has shown the US in the last 30 years. (I do enjoy alternative histories)