magus eye in temple bright shine on empire

reality is in the eyne of the beholder:the magus eyne is least able to gaze into lest you find oneself mesmerized like a snake before the charmer. the king it seems heard the snake charmer:mesmerized by the evil magicians whose lies and deceit have set his smallish mind adizzy with visions of empire gifts and apocalypse on the potomac.

oh the sad fate of the idiot king who walked naked to his political funeral;
danced before the fires of armageddon with jesus his purpled lord;
walked on streets of topaz and opals with the families of the dead he'd sent to their deaths;
sat before the philosopher savior whose words gassed his lungs with joy:

then he awoke to a world set ablaze with terror and horror and cries that called his name as though demons themselves spoke into his ear and talked of a sin that he must crawl on his knees to holy mother church for ten thousand years to repent.

the following is realism--maybe magical if you seek the truth--but surely more real and less deceit than you will find in the kristol wyrd stone dark:spoken by the guru's guru of those who prognosticate the fall and decline of imperial designs:

Given the result of the recent US elections, we need to think hard about the consequences of possible defeat in Iraq. To elaborate on what I said earlier, that conflict can be won only by a much more effective coalition effort, requiring a major increase in US and allied troop numbers in Iraq, substantial improvements in training and operational methods, and a much stronger civil reconstruction effort. This is not likely to happen. The probable outcomes are either a sudden descent into chaos as Coalition forces are withdrawn, or a protracted civil war, overlain with an insurgency against remaining coalition forces.

In the event of chaos, effective government in Iraq will cease for at least some years during which terrorist groups will be able to concentrate, re-build, flourish and reach out to other targets utside Iraq. Enemy forces will be heartened; recruiting will rise; funds and weapons will pour in; pressure will be exerted on regional governments friendly to the West; more young men and women who are willing to commit suicide to harm Western and Israeli interests will become available; and the oil price will rise to new heights. Defeat in Iraq will be a serious blow to the public standing of the United States and will invite other challenges to its authority...

Iran will read a message of encouragement for its intransigence in dealing with the West. It will almost certainly go ahead to produce nuclear weapons. It will exercise an overshadowing influence in Iraq, Syria, the Arab Gulf states and Israel. The lesson of US failure in Iraq will be read (perhaps wrongly) as US unwillingness to attempt regime-change in Iran. The North Koreans will probably draw similar conclusions, although with less justification than in the case of Iran because North Korea is nowhere near as strong a state. Nuclear weapons proliferation will become more difficult to control with the threat of intervention against the proliferators dismissed...