SSdB

Today's screed is quite literally Biblical in the extremity of its weirdness:

• The way for the Arabs to gain self-respect is for them to become provinces of the American Empire

(I wonder if SdB reads Friedman, btw? He also appears to be happy to talk about what "America" is going to do in the region, without pausing to think that "America", a very fine country indeed, with all the virtues SdB sttributes to it, tends to stick within the borders of the USA, and that the actual business of nation-building in Iraq will be carried out by the bunch of untrustworthy clowns currently occupying the White House. The Romans were also highly civilized and virtuous people, but it didn't make them popular, and the wheels rather tended to fall off when the bloke at the top wasn't up to the job. Does Bush own a horse to appoint to the Senate?)

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And another one:

• America is on a mission to bring democracy to the Arab world and save them from totalitarianism, much along the lines of its similar crusades in Latin America and SouthEast Asia

(It should be pretty clear by now that I have given up all pretence of accurate precis and am just randomly editorialising, What the heck, at least it's short).