The oldest game in poltics

Thou who shalt be king hereafter, protect thyself vigorously from the Lie; the man who shall be a Lie-follower, him do thou punish well, if thus thou shalt think, 'May my country be secure!'

so said Darius I,King of Persia c. 500 BC

Many times a study of ancient history gives better insight into the world today than the best analysis.

Darius came to power by assassinating the king of Persia, Smerdis son of king Cyrus, in a good old coup d'etat... Except it wasn't Smerdis that he had killed. Oh no, you cant simply go around killing the king of Persia and expect everybody to declare you the new monarch. So the official story of the assassins was that Smerdis had been killed years before and replaced by an evil impostor pretending to be Smerdis. Darius had thus not only killed an impostor but saved Persia from a fate worse than death. So he was chosen as the rightful heir by the gods.

As the above quote puts in chilling terms, anyone who dares challenge this story as a Lie is not just to be simply told-off but should be completely destroyed and made an example-of. So no one would dare repeat the Lie for fear of suffering the same fate. And the king must persecute the Lie-followers vigorously or risk losing his country.

Fast-forward to the present day. Let us look at how the western world follows Darius's teachings...

Anyone who dares challenge the legitimacy of the state of Israel is to be not just to be contradicted - no,he must be labelled with the foulest of insults and consigned forever with the foulest of people. And this must be done vigorously by all protectors of Israel - 'May their country be secure!'.

It also explains how the Dutch court must define the attack on Halabja as more than a war crime but as an act of genocide without challenging all the evidence. To say otherwise is to become a follower of the Lie. And the fate of the world order depends on repression of the Lie-follower.

It is also why the assassination of Kennedy will never be described as anything other than the act of a lone mad gunman.

It also explains why Saddam was never able to shake off image of genocide and mass destruction that was built around his regime. Over time, the order of the Western world had become dependent on this Lie. It was simply not possible for Clinton to undo it and politically expedient for him to push the Lie and chase the Lie-followers. Unfortunately it was the belief in this Lie that led the world to the disaster that is Iraq now.

One can only look to the future and see the next Lie being built around Iran and wonder if it will lead to an even bigger disaster.