In the fall of 1938, Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, traveled to Berchtesgaden to meet with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Hitler had just threatened to invade Czechoslovakia unless Britain and France stood aside and allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland.
At that meeeting, Italy's Benito Mussolini suggested a four-power conference between Britain, France, Germany and Italy to resolve the issue. Czechoslovakia's Eduard Benes was excluded from the meeting that would decide the future of his country.
Chamberlain, and France's Edouard Daladier traveled to Munich in late September.
Desperate to avoid war, Chamberlain and Daladier agreed that Germany could have the Sudetenland. In return, Hitler promised to drop any further territorial demands in Europe.
On September 29, 1939, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini signed the Munich Agreement which transferred the Sudetenland to Germany.
When Czechoslovakia's Eduard Benes protested at this decision, Neville Chamberlain told him that Britain would be unwilling to go to war over the issue of the Sudetenland.
The Munich Agreement was popular with most people in Britain because it appeared to have prevented a war with Germany. However, some politicians, including Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden, attacked the agreement.
These critics pointed out that no only had the British government behaved dishonorably, but it had lost the support of Czech Army, one of the best in Europe.
Neville Chamberlain came home to cheering crowds, waving the Munich Agreement and optimistically announcing it represented "Peace in out time."
Less than a year later, the Wehrmacht invaded Poland, beginning the Second World War.
The Iraq Survey Group was tasked with re-evaluating the war in Iraq and to come up with recommendations leading to its conclusion under favorable conditions to the United States.
The ISG fumbled and hemmed and hawed over the Iraq issue, in the end suggesting a plan where the US could pull out and blame the Iraqis for not being ready.
The ISG is headed by James Baker, who during Bush 41's administration, famously snapped, "F*** the Jews! They don't vote for us anyway!" Baker was widely seen by the Israeli establishment as one of the least Israel-friendly -- if not downright anti-Semitic -- member of the first Bush cabinet during the first Gulf War.
The spirit of the ISG final report's conclusions could be summed up using the exact words of Baker's 1991 outburst. It's recommendation could be called the "Neville Chamberlain Model for Bringing Peace in Our Time" and it proposes using the same outline.
Only this time, Israel is being cast in the role of Czechoslovakia.
Baker's group proposes a four-power conference to discuss handing over more of the West Bank and the Golan Heights (Israel's Sudentenland) -- with Iran standing in for Germany and Syria standing in for Mussolini's Italy.
In return, Iran and Syria will promise to help 'stabilize' Iraq. The ISG report is popular with the US left because they believe it might avoid a war with Iran and Syria.
And the report's critics, including Senator John McCain, are echoing Chamberlain's critics, calling it dishonorable and warning of the consequences of losing Israel as our most important ally in the Middle East.
Of course, Israel will be excluded from the conference, as was Czechoslovakia in 1939. And for the same reason.
Once you've already made up your mind to betray somebody, there is little point in giving him a dissenting voice.
That's why Benes wasn't invited to Munich. And why the ISG recommends that Israel be excluded from discussions aimed at its dissolution.
In his vision of the last days, the prophet Zechariah predicted that "ALL the people of the earth" will "be gathered together against" Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:3)
The prophet Ezekiel predicted that when the Russian/Persian Gog Magog Alliance makes its move against the mountains of Israel in Ezekiel 38-39, the rest of the world reacts by launching a weak diplomatic protest:
"Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" (Ezekiel 38:13)
According to Scripture, in the last days, Israel stands alone, without an ally in the world. God Himself comes to Israel's rescue.
"And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone." (Ezekiel 38:22)
Interestingly, that is exactly what Iran and Syria are promising to do to Israel.
My money is on Israel.
2006-12-09
15:36:45
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9 answers
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asked by
Duane G
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