Neurotik:
The planet where Israel is beginning the process of pulling out of the territories, and the Palestinian leadership is toning it down a notch. The planet where, while Iraq is a disaster, it at least has a pretense of democracy going for.
True, but taking the ME as a whole, it’s not really fair to say Syria is “out of step.”
Apparently on a planet where people have balls to change things
Update: The U.S. has already told Syria it will face further sanctions if it does not withdraw its troops from Lebanon, crack down on anti-Israeli militants within Syria and put a stop to cross-border support for the Iraq insurgency. And today, a new demand: Syria must help investigate Hariri’s murder, or face sanctions. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_20-2-2005_pg4_5
Gavrilo Princip has already been mentioned in this thread. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I#Outbreak_of_war:
Austrian regional security concerns grew with the near-doubling of neighbouring Serbia’s territory as a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Many in the Austrian leadership, not least Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph, and Conrad von Hötzendorf, worried about Serbian nationalist agitation in the southern provinces of the Empire; they were still haunted by the memories of the Piedmontese inspired campaigns against the Austrian Italian provinces in 1859. Just as France had backed Piedmont in the campaign, culminating in the Battle of Solferino, they worried that Russia would back Serbia to annex Slavic areas of Austria. The feeling was that it was better to destroy Serbia before they were given the opportunity to launch a campaign.
Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in June 1914 provided the opportunity sought by some Austrian leaders for a reckoning with the smaller Slav kingdom. The Sarajevo conspirators were alleged by the Austro-Hungarian authorities to have been armed by the Black Hand, a pan-Serb nationalist grouping with alleged links to Serbian ruling circles. These links have proven to be somewhat dubious since then. In fact, Serbian government officials were eager not to antagonize their stronger northern neighbour and had ordered border officials to ensure Serbian radicals could not enter Bosnia or other portions of Austria-Hungary. However, since they were looking for an excuse for war, these considerations mattered little to Austro-Hungarian politicians.
With German backing, Austria-Hungary, acting primarily under the influence of Foreign Affairs Minister Leopold von Berchtold, sent an effectively unfulfillable 10-point ultimatum to Serbia (July 23, 1914), to be accepted within 48 hours.
Austria-Hungary demanded that the Serbian government undertake the following:
To suppress any publication which incites to hatred and contempt of the Monarchy . . .
To dissolve immediately the society styled Narodna Odbrana…and to proceed in the same manner against the other societies . . which engage in propaganda against [Austria]
To eliminate without delay from public instruction in Serbia, both as regards the teaching body and the methods of instruction, all that serves or might serve to foment the propaganda against Austria-Hungary
To remove from the military service and the administration in general all officers guilty of propaganda against [Austria–names to be given over by the Austrian govt.]
To accept the collaboration in Serbia of organs of [A-H govt.] in the suppression of the subversive movement directed against the territorial integrity of the Monarchy
To take judicial proceedings against the accessories to the plot of 28 June who are on Serbian territory; Organs delegated by [A-H] will take part in the investigations relating thereto
To proceed without delay to the arrest of [two named persons implicated according to the preliminary investigation undertaken by Austria]
To prevent by effective measures the cooperation of [Serbia] in the illicit traffic in arms and explosives across the frontier . . . .
To furnish [Austria] with explanations regarding the unjustifiable utterances of high Serbian officials both in Serbia and abroad, who . . . have not hesitated since the outrage of 28 June to express themselves . . in terms of hostility towards [Austria]
To notify [Austria] without delay of the execution of the[se] measures . . .
The Serbian government agreed to all but one of the demands, noting that participation in its judicial proceedings by a foreign power would violate its constitution. Austria-Hungary nonetheless broke off diplomatic relations (July 25) and declared war (July 28) through a telegram sent to the Serbian government.
And then Europe exploded.
