My letter to the editor in the Financial Times













letter to the editor
... but at least Prof Ferguson kept it short this time
Published: January 4 2008 02:00 | Last updated: January 4 2008 02:00

From Dr Leon Hadar.

Sir, It took me 416 pages, or about five hours, to learn that the US could and should become the 21st-century version of the 19th century’s successful British empire (Niall Ferguson, The Rise and Fall of the American Empire, Penguin Books, 2005). But it took me only 914 words and about five minutes to discover that the US was actually becoming the 21st-century version of the 19th century's bankrupted Ottoman empire (Niall Ferguson, “An Ottoman warning for America”, Financial Times, January 2 2008).

Thank God (and the FT) for small mercies.

Leon Hadar,
Research Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies,
Cato Institute,
Washington, DC 20001, US

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