Bush in Denmark and the Fall of the Roman Empire

Comparisons between the US and the Roman Empire are very common these days. In fact, RogueClassicism is tracking them pretty much on a daily basis.

Just now, George W. Bush has arrived in Denmark for a 2-day official visit. In antipication of his visit, the Copenhagen-based Politiken newspaper interviewed a broad spectrum of political commentators, journalists, writers, business people, etc. about what they would tell Bush if they were his hosts (2 July, frontpage and p. 2 of the Culture section). Unsurprisingly, the answers ranged from hostile to fairly enthusiastic, but everyone had a piece of advice for him. I noted some of the advice of Imam Abu Laban from Islamisk Trossamfund (‘Islamic Faith Community’) – in my translation:

Q. What present would you like to give him to take home?
A. I would give him any book on the greatness and fall of the Roman Empire – as a reminder that no condition is ever permanent. If everyone read such a book, humanity would be better off.

To be fair to Bush, I read somewhere that he quite likes Cicero! Anyway, Politiken also has a detailed description of his plans for the visit as well a dedicated page with related news on their website.

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