Someone isn't learning

One of the principles of leadership drilled into our heads is to become a "life-long learner." This is also brought up with the concept of the "3000 year-old mind"...basically, we have 3000 years of written history (especially involving warfighting), so we should make use of it. This prevents major, life-threating mistakes that have been observed in the past. Clearly, an editor from the Seattle Times has not really understood his history...or willingly refuses to use it.

Now, numerous blogs have covered the main story, such as Little Green Footballs here. My particular take is the editor's response in the comments after being ripped to shreds by so many readers:

I am making an argument against using the story of the Munich Conference of 1938 and the idea of "appeasement" as a touchstone in making foreign policy decisions in the Middle East. I am making two claims about it. The second claim, which most of the respondents did not mention, is that the comparison is not relevant. That is, that the Middle East is so different from Europe in 1938 that the two should not be connected.

Why would you not use your history in foreign policy decisions. It doesn't matter whether you are talking to Canada or Togo, you have a resource in all your history...so use it and learn. You won't regret it, I promise.

Update: He edited it.