Between the economic global recession, entangling Mideast politics and the sudden appearance of swine flu, the world has become a much smaller place than it ever has before – or rather people seem to be more attuned to the world than ever before.

For a lingering eight-year stretch, the Bush administration did just about everything a sitting president could do to alienate the entire world. With the U.S. military controlling two other countries, it’s hard not to liken the similarities to the crusades. I’m not talking about spreading Christian influence or condemning Islam.

The similarities are found in how the cultures collide and what the fallout has been. Although the last eight years have been relatively violent and tumultuous, they have been educational.

As in the time of the crusades, the bloody side of the conflict was followed by an explosion of European interest in the outside world. Cultures and nations across the darkened medieval time period suddenly woke up and rediscovered places long ignored since essentially the fall of Rome.