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Entry: The Past Is Another Country--Counter-factual History and the Buchanan Controversy Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_past_is_another_country_counterfactual_history_and_the_buchanan_controv#29875 Post contents: Leon Hadar: >[...]I imagine that at Takimag many readers and contributors are nostalgic for the good old days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I doubt that they miss the not-so gemütlich Ottoman Empire, which was defeated by the Brits. Professor Hadar, in the Balkans the Ottomans were rolled back in the 19th and early 20th centuries (prior to WWI) largely through the efforts of the Balkan peoples, sometimes with significant Russian military participation. In WWI the British failed in their aim to wrest Constantinople from the Ottomans. Moreover the British-supported Greek expedition into Anatolia immediately following WWI also ended in disaster. It’s true that the Ottomans lost their extensive holdings in the Middle East partly due to British and French efforts. Nevertheless the Arabs (in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Greater Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, etc) do not consider the Brits as liberators, but rather as imperialists who pursued their own aims, drawing borders and setting up client regimes. Only the Israelis remain grateful to the Brits for the Balfour Declaration and other support. Sent at: 2008 12 01