"Another heartbreaking tragedy," Alice sobbed. "It's gotten so I can't read the newspaper any more."
"You mean there are still newspapers?" said the Mad Hatter between bites of a scone, earning a glare from the White Rabbit.
"I know," the Rabbit soothed, "it almost feels like we've been at war for the last--well, at least ten, fifteen years."
"Make it sixty," Hatter interrupted, "If you believe what Ike said a half-century ago." He took a swig of tea. "Guerilla warfare on a global scale. It's how they play the chess game." Another bite. "And eat up our resources."
"You're making as little sense as usual," Rabbit frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Today, tragedy in Norway. Last month, tragedy in Sweden. 7/7. Madrid. 9/11. Oklahoma City."
"You mean Al Qaeda?" ventured Alice.
"The Arabs, Iran?" guessed Rabbit.
The Mad Hatter pulled down the brim of his hat as he shook his head. "Oh, no. Not me. I don't name names. But, I don't mind speaking hypotheticafragiliciously."
Rabbit shrugged. "As if we could stop you."
Hatter aimed an index finger at him and smiled. "Okay, let's start with a Global Empire, say we call it the Engican Empire. Let's add a few--a lot--of global corporatists, financiers, military-industrial complexers, arms dealers, Beltway bandits, the list goes on and on."
"As do you," said the Rabbit.
"I'll ignore that, thank you." Hatter swallowed another sip of tea. "I won't speculate on the first half of the twentieth century, but let's add a little spice to the recipe for the last half. The Engican Empire takes colonial lands and establishes an outpost and stronghold in a strategically important place in say, WestwestAsia., facing Stalinland and Maoland."
"I don't know where any of those countries are," Alice confessed.
"Of course not," Hatter continued. "I'm speaking hypodermicthetically. So, Engica and its WestwestwestwestAsian allies fund, arm, and support this stronghold, Stillwaters, as a base of operations and control in WestwestAsia." Whispering to the Rabbit: "You see most people have it backwards--they conspiracytheorize that Stillwaters is the chicken, when it's really the egg."
"Ah," said the Rabbit. "Still muddy."
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