to pander to your pedantry

It is not pedantry, it is about a way of thinking in the terms of nationalism and war propaganda. Rethink it for your own sake, not for me.

I wrote about my impression (no proof, but good arguments) that British diplomacy could have prevented the war in the 190x years, to the immense benefit of their own country and of the world. Same with France. If you do not share this view, you should nevertheless take a closer look at those years, and not believe the theatrical myths (half-truths) about an Archduke, brave Belgium, genetically aggressive Germans (whose kaiser happened to be Queen Victoria*s favourite grandson, chatting English with her and his jealous uncle Ed, later with his cousins), autocracy vs. free world, etc. etc. Such story-telling heralds ever more disastrous "victories". The last Iraq war has not yet been the worst imaginable scenario, if we let the jingoists have their way. Think of China, as some journalists did.

Of course, lions-donkeys etc. are similar myths, designed for different political purposes. I wrote that before. Blackadder is black comedy, quoting clichés to identify them as such. Too bad that many viewers are too ill-informed or lazy to understand it.

In the course of this year, we will read and hear more about the "kaiser's fleet theory" and other analyses, hopefully more deeply rooted.