Reinach, like the Roman general, Marius, is good at war but not at peace. He improvises instead of planning long term, e.g., Pappas, dictator of the Macedonian Free State, wants a seat on the Council in exchange for the services of his efficient rat-extermination force. Reinach wants to accept which will mean:
recognizing a warlord's right to loot;
taking a dangerous man onto the Council;
accepting the existence of an ideological dictatorship;
thus provoking a retaliatory claim from Greece and also wars with Arabs for oil.
Fourre says let's hit Pappas now and exterminate the rats ourselves later.
Because there had just been a neofascist coup in Corsica, Reinach rushed the decision to send only two European representatives to the Rio conference to establish a world government although further debate and more representation might have been necessary to prevent an exacerbation of nationalism: "'...the fatally outmoded principle of unlimited national sovereignty...'" (p. 13) can only lead to further wars.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Reinach, like Marius, would not be the first or last well meaning soldier who made a hash of things when he became a politician. The cast of mind and methods needed for being a good soldier simply does not TRANSLATE well into something as messy as politics. We see Jerry Pournelle, along with co-authors like Stirling, making that same point in the Co-Dominium timeline. And Drake/Stirling did the same in their THE GENERAL books, where we see Raj Whitehall repeatedly refusing opportunities for seizing power.
Ad astra! Sean
Although Raj is wise enough to know that he's simply not suited for political leadership. Mind you, some soldiers have done it fairly well -- de Gaulle, for example.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, but not very often. And Raj knew he simply could not be a successful politician.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment