APPEASEMENT AND OTHERS

PEACE IN OUR TIME AND OTHERS
History must be viewed from more than just one perspective.
I believe this whole business springs from the Treaty of Versailles, where Germany and a few others got a raw deal from the victors. Germany was held responsible for this war, however, this in my view is not entirely clear and responsibility must be shared by the other powers. There was a fear of Germany trying to carve out its own empire at the expense of the European states, greed as per usual on both sides.
We must not forget that there is a vested interest in portraying Mr. Chamberlain as a villain in league with Germany, this is still very much in the forefront of today’s politics in Europe and America.
Germany would sooner or later demand her place at the head of the table and, France particularly would not have that. The British as usual never really showed their cards and would neither encourage nor discourage Germany, all the time seeing France as her main rival, even when they were supposed to be allies.
I don’t think this was appeasement but rather playing for time as Britain was neither ready nor willing for an all out armed conflict with Germany. Please note that at the time, Britain had more in common (including the royal family) with Germany and with France.
Germany’s ambition was continental whereas France had designs on British overseas territories.
As to THE question whether one should avoid war by all means, I would answer yes! What we call appeasement would only be a fair shake for the other party in those given circumstances.
Regarding India, Mountbatten, mercifully overstepped his brief as viceroy but could not bring Ali Jinnah, another illuminati with his own very particular agenda, to reason, and hence partition. The Indian question is still very pertinent today, as we all know.
Afghanistan was part of British India, although not wholly accepted by the Pashtoon, and Britain, after a number of wars had to withdraw, only to return a mere hundred years later with renewed American vigour only to suffer the same end, I think. The British if nothing else are persistent, particularly when there is a bit of business to be done (Central Asian minerals,oil and gas).
With respect to the Cuban Missile Crisis, remember that the Soviet Union was surrounded by US missiles from Turkey to Britain, and yet the US could not tolerate Soviet Missiles in Cuba, rather an unbalanced position I would say.
In short avoid war at all costs, but please note that there are very powerful interest advocating the contrary.
War can be most profitable to the usual suspects.
It is also useful to look at any given situation from your opponent’s viewpoint, I am sure this would make our world a lot safer.
Joe, I always try and look at myself as my opponent would see me and it can be most disconcerting.
Suddenly you become the bad guy and your opposite number is the good guy.
To this end I recommend a book written by Tariq Ali about the Crusades from a Moslem perspective, an eye opener indeed.

REFLECTIONS

Throughout history, due to the writings of Roman historians/writers, these ancient people were portrayed as evil and barbaric. There were hardly any other sources to consult except these, who by the way, were their sworn enemies and eventual conquerors, and thus slightly suspect.
New archaeological discoveries are disputing what the Romans said and are shedding a different light on these folk. From Spain and North Africa and other Mediterranean lands newly discovered data show a totally different picture of these descendents of the Phoenicians.
Another instance of historical manipulation.

The fast and furious plot to occupy Iran

 

 

 

HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!!!!

 

 

The audacity of vetoing hope – Opinion – Al Jazeera English

The audacity of vetoing hope – Opinion – Al Jazeera English.

DECLINE & FALL MARK II

Decline and Fall?

Someday – perhaps sooner than we think – a new Edward Gibbon in China or India will surely sit down to write The History of the Decline and Fall of the American Empire. Hopefully it will be but one volume in a larger, more progressive oeuvre – The Renaissance of Asia perhaps – and not an obituary for a human future sucked into America’s grasping void.

I think she’ll probably classify self-righteous American “innocence” as one of the most toxic tributaries of national decline, with President Obama as its highest incarnation. Indeed, from the perspective of the future, which will be deemed the greater crime: to have created the Guantanamo nightmare in the first place, or to have preserved it in contempt of global popular opinion and one’s own campaign promises?

Obama, who was elected to bring the troops home, close the gulags, and restore the Bill of Rights, has in fact become the chief curator of the Bush legacy: a born-again convert to special ops, killer drones, immense intelligence budgets, Orwellian surveillance technology, secret jails, and the superhero cult of former general, now CIA Director David Petraeus.

Our “antiwar” president, in fact, may be taking US power deeper into the darkness than any of us dare to imagine. And the more fervently Obama embraces his role as commander in chief of the Delta Force and Navy Seals, the less likely it becomes that future Democrats will dare to reform the Patriot Act or challenge the presidential prerogative to murder and incarcerate America’s enemies in secret.

Enmired in wars with phantoms, Washington has been blindsided by every major trend of the last decade. It completely misread the real yearnings of the Arab street and the significance of mainstream Islamic populism, ignored the emergence of Turkey and Brazil as independent powers, forgot Africa, and lost much of its leverage with Germany as well as with Israel’s increasingly arrogant reactionaries. Most importantly, Washington has failed to develop any coherent policy framework for its relationship with China, its main creditor and most important rival.

From a Chinese standpoint (assumedly the perspective of our future Ms. Gibbon), the United States is showing incipient symptoms of being a failed state. When Xinhua, the semi-official Chinese news agency, scolds the US Congress for being “dangerously irresponsible” in debt negotiations, or when senior Chinese leaders openly worry about the stability of American political and economic institutions, the shoe is truly on the other foot. Especially when standing in the wings, bibles in hand, are the mad spawn of 9/11 – the Republican presidential candidates.

Mike Davis teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of California, Riverside.

Islamic Russia

Sometimes I really think we are hopeless.
And the perpetrators claim to be religious folk.
It’s beyond me

clipped from www.newser.com (Newser) – Russian women have become the target of bombers because they’re … wearing bikinis. While men show off their muscles and wrestle on the beaches of the Caspian Sea, women in the increasingly fundamentalist Islamic region of Dagestan have been blown up as a warning that they must cover up, reports the Daily Beast. Now, nearly all local women seen wading into the sea wear neck-to-ankle flannel dresses and veils. Three bombings this season have targeted women in Dagestan. The only place safe for them to show some skin is in Russia’s first Sharia-compliant beach, a gated area in Dagestan that allows women, girls and boys under the age of 6.