"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." - Mark Twain
Historical comparisons are tricky. I remember reading numerous comparisons of Bush to Hitler in 2003. On the one hand, such talk is both absurd and offensive. On the other, certain detailed similarities were extremely accurate, such as Goebbels' infamous quote about denouncing pacifists for lack of patriotism.
Nothing ever repeats exactly, and empires least of all. The best lesson that can be drawn from the history of powerful states is that they learn from one another, carrying forward the "best practices" based on what did and didn't work.
Has the U.S. become Nazi Germany, or Stalinist Russia, or even modern China? Not even close, by any metric. But have we engaged in human rights abuses analogous to other actions by those three? Undisputedly. The fact that we do so on a smaller scale and with more effective P.R. does little to help the victims.
Historical comparisons are tricky. I remember reading numerous comparisons of Bush to Hitler in 2003. On the one hand, such talk is both absurd and offensive. On the other, certain detailed similarities were extremely accurate, such as Goebbels' infamous quote about denouncing pacifists for lack of patriotism.
Nothing ever repeats exactly, and empires least of all. The best lesson that can be drawn from the history of powerful states is that they learn from one another, carrying forward the "best practices" based on what did and didn't work.
Has the U.S. become Nazi Germany, or Stalinist Russia, or even modern China? Not even close, by any metric. But have we engaged in human rights abuses analogous to other actions by those three? Undisputedly. The fact that we do so on a smaller scale and with more effective P.R. does little to help the victims.