The Third World War

I have often mentioned the importance I attach to the directional symbols history plants along her trail. Naturally it is easier to see and interpret—or invent— symbols from the vantage point of the accomplished future. It would be a clumsy haruspex who could not see death in the chickens’ entrails when Caesar is already murdered. But I believe that often, with a certain amount of insight or luck, we can glimpse the symbols and their meaning as they appear, especially when a number of symbols form a pattern.

A few weeks ago the President of the United States, leader of the nation that is the most powerful on earth in material terms, announced that 25,000 American soldiers would be withdrawn from the active combat theater of Southeast Asia; the first contingents are already back home. This event is not of much intrinsic importance. The number is less than 5 per cent of the American troops now in South Vietnam. Still, the total had been rising for 25 years.

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James Burnham

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I have often mentioned the importance I attach to the directional symbols history plants along her trail. Naturally it is easier to see and interpret—or invent— symbols from the vantage point of the accomplished future. It would be a clumsy haruspex who could not see death in the chickens’ entrails when Caesar is already murdered. But I believe that often, with a certain amount of insight or luck, we can glimpse the symbols and their meaning as they appear, especially when a number of symbols form a pattern.

A few weeks ago the President of the United States, leader of the nation that is the most powerful on earth in material terms, announced that 25,000 American soldiers would be withdrawn from the active combat theater of Southeast Asia; the first contingents are already back home. This event is not of much intrinsic importance. The number is less than 5 per cent of the American troops now in South Vietnam. Still, the total had been rising for 25 years.