The Sick Man of Europe

Observe my words, and mark them well:

Slovenia, Scotland, Senegal, Spain --

no country known this side of hell

does anything, except for gain.

 

The big ones beat the small ones up,

and chain them into slavery.

No plea, appeal, passkey, prenup,

no getout clause, no referee.

 

If grunts are on the ground somewhere

(like, say, Gaddafi’s former haunts)

for sure, it’s not to take the air:

there’s something there the White House wants.

 

Jack London told of husky teams

and Fenimore, Mohicans:

the strong will spoliate, it seems,

a running-mate who weakens.

 

By 1850 it was clear

that Ottoman days were numbered.

Outmoded, feckless, based on fear,

top-heavy, crude, encumbered

 

by obscurantist practices,

corruption -- Turkey lost its rudder.

The rest said, “Time to grasp, this is,

the bovine by its udders!”

 

The Bosphorus, Jerusalem, Greece,

Albania, Bulgaria --

the big boys queued to take a piece --

and who knew which was scarier?

 

The Thousand Cuts, with ifs and buts,

while handing round the saw,

or savaging the quarry’s guts

in all-in, all-out, war?

 

The Berlin Conference, seventy-eight,

a bid to stop the slaughter:

but far too little, far too late --

its words were writ on water.

 

The Germans wanted colonies,

the British, Cyprus, Rhodes:

the Russians, ports that didn’t freeze:

the Habsburgs, not to implode.

 

Around the corpse the vultures came

to claim their pound of flesh.

You think today it’s not the same?

It’s happening afresh!

Author's Note

The Sick Man of Europe -- This name was often applied to Turkey (or the Ottoman Empire, as it then was) in the 19th century. The outmoded Turkish Empire had little industry and could not control its vassal nations. Europe's big boys were waiting to pounce and rob Turkey of whatever goodies they could plunder.
Jack London -- This American novelist, exactly contemporary with the final days of the Ottoman Empire, wrote in books such as "White Fang" and "The Call of the Wild" of teams of sled dogs who would savage and cannibalise any husky who appeared to be ailing.
The Berlin Conference -- In 1878, a conference of the major powers was called, to try to settle "the Turkish Question" peacefully. It failed.
It's happening afresh -- Another way to put it is, "the Turkish Question" still hasn't been resolved. In 20125, the Turkish state is at open war with its former colony, Syria.
Illustration -- The front page of "Le Petit Journal", October 18, 1908 shows the Powers ransacking Turkey's assets.