In 1909 Norman Angell published a book titled The Great Illusion, in which he argued that Europe, and the world, was now so intertwined financially and culturally that war was unthinkable. And we all know what happened five years later. Bismarck said war would come from some damn fool thing in the Balkans, and he was right. And it is happening again, this time in Greece, with debt default looming over Europe and the world, a default by the Greek government that could bring down the financial structure of the entire world. The last damn fool thing in the Balkans brought on world War 1 and the destruction of five world empires, the German, the Ottoman, the French, the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian, with the British empire lasting only another twenty-five years. And this time the collapse of empires may well include us.

The deer walk softly through the wood

Alert for danger, does and fawns

Small men stride worlds where giants stood

Outlined in light from pale false dawns

We know what’s right, the small men smile

We know what’s right, we know what’s good

And so they take us that last mile

There is no danger in the wood