Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis

by Robert D. Kaplan

For decades, strategists have used this military adventure of ancient Athens, documented by Thucydides, as a metaphor for both the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Athens had gone to war in support of allies in far-off Sicily, only to become embroiled for a number of years in a military quagmire there. After steeply building up its invasion force, Athens had to retreat with its reputation in tatters. Sicily is next door to Greece, whereas Vietnam and Iraq are half a world removed from the United States. Yet, as we know, the contraction of geography on account of transportation technology has rendered Vietnam and Iraq as close to America in practical terms as Sicily was to Greece; or, put another way, the absence of such technology in 5th century b.c. Athens rendered Sicily as distant as Vietnam and Iraq were to America. Thus, in either case, the analogy holds.