Everything old is new again

Regarding Bin Laden's threat that, if we just leave him alone, he'll call a truce, I found this gem from the November 5, 1938 New Yorker:

The Reich has renewed its demand for the return of its colonies, in accordance with the rule of modern warefare, "Loser take all."

The same page offers this datedly-phrased bon mot, which could apply equally well to the Sudan:

Japan announces that it intends to police all China and compel amity. So the good work will go on until all Chinamen are dead or happy.

Regarding precisely the desert-like amity the Japanese were at that moment inflicting on China, read this.