Grozny

The lessons of history

Biting into another Oreo made in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I cannot escape that uncomfortable feeling I’ve lived through this moment before.

I'm sitting in much more comfortable circumstances than usual: a room in the 5-star Serena Hotel in the centre of Kabul, watching the outpourings of the cable channels across the world as President Obama’s moment of history approaches.

I began my career in journalism just as the war in Vietnam was ending. The images of that debacle - which only with hindsight now seems inevitable - did much to propel me into a career as a television correspondent and a check-in to the world’s conflict zones.

In the opening stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka I was staying in the Hotel Oberoi as the bloody pogroms against the Tamils were underway on the streets of Colombo.