The term Thirty Years’ War, a reference to the 17th century bloodbath between the Catholics and Protestants and their royal proxies in what is now Germany, is creeping into the blogger vocabulary in the context of a region-wide consequence of the Mess in Mesopotamia. Will the mainstream media be using it next?
Andrew Sullivan is the most recent to use the term:
“History will probably record that the United States accidentally jump-started a thirty year war in the Middle East. Oil prices will become terribly unstable, as it is used as a weapon by both Sunnis and Shiites. But that’s good in the long run for the West as well. Our politicians won’t take responsibility for the energy-environmental crisis, so we might as well let war take care of it.”
I bring this up because events in Iraq are moving so rapidly — and rapidly beyond control.
In October, I put up a post at Kiko’s House, my home blog, entitled Iraq & The Edge of the Universe in which I asked:
“Beyond troop withdrawal timetables, benchmarks and stuff like that, lurks an enormous question: What will happen to Iraq and the Middle East after the U.S. withdraws?
“Answering that question is like trying to figure out where the edge of the universe is, but I’m going to give it a try: What will happen will be enormously wrenching, blood soaked and perhaps catastrophic.”
I didn’t feel terribly confident about that assessment then, but what a difference two months makes.