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The Crisis in the Caucasus
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While I agreed with most of what was said in the Aug. 12 editorial "The Invasion Continues," I was amazed and disappointed by the use of the word "unfamiliar" in the secondary headline -- "The West confronts an unfamiliar sight: a nation bent on conquest."
Even ignoring events that many would consider acts of conquest (Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, etc.) one need only look back 20 years to when Iraq attempted to take over Kuwait and remember that our recent history is littered with examples of military aggression. The 1950s and '60s were dominated by our invasion of North Korea and North Vietnam's invasion of the South.
And, of course, it has only been 70 years since Germany tried to take over its entire continent.
That we haven't seen any clear attempts at conquest so far this century is wonderful, but to put forth the notion that our collective memory goes back only a decade is extremely dangerous. The conflicts of the past century exist not only in history books but also in the minds and memories of the millions who lived through them. Perhaps it's too much to expect our newspapers to always provide a historical context, but at the very least they should never pretend that the past doesn't exist.
LIAM TOOHEY
Washington
