Saturday 16 March 2024

The perception of war is different from reality

 The Perception of War is different from Reality

Throughout history, the outcome of wars has been reported as victories and defeat, conquests, and so forth, but the reality of war has escaped proper consideration.

Even in victory there has been a price to pay to win. For those who were tragically injured or killed there is no victory. There is also no defeat. It is the end of their lives. There is no recovery. Even if they survive, life will no longer be what it was.

Warmongers will not often suffer the consequences of what they have instigated. For warmongers, the lives of those they see as enemies don't count, but the lives of those they pretend to be close to don't count either. It is just a matter of numbers. As long as they can claim victory and even if as consequence of their acts there is defeat, they will go around living their lives happily ever after while both presumed foes and presumed friends will suffer dire consequences.

When we see or hear reports about tens of thousands of people dead or injured, names don't count because it would be time consuming or even impossible to determine the identities of those who have lost their lives. The pulverised buildings of what used to be a living city cannot possibly reflect the full story of the tragedy that has occurred. 






Saturday 9 March 2024

Olaf Scholz: Hesitating man or man deeply aware of the dire consequences of knee jerk reactions

 

An article on The Guardian newspaper qualifies the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as 'hesitant', supposedly a label for somebody seen as weak or indecisive because he is not fully committing Germany to yeat another war in Europe.

As a German, Olaf Scholz is extremely aware of the consequences of war. He might not have been around during World War II, but he certanly knows about what happened in Germany all the way until 1945 and after that.

Despite all odd, Germany prospered and with a lot of hard work managed to reach an enviable position, leading those who were supposed to be the conquering nations, the winning nations, after World War II.

The recipe for German success? Ingenuity, creativity and a lot of work done from the very beginning in the worst of circumstances. Germany started the way to recovery and excellence as an occupied and devided country. It capital city was not more. Berlin was divided by the victors and for a time Bonn became the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. Much of its territory had been lost. Much of it was taken by Poland, Prussia was chopped to bits. The DDR was born, the so called Polish corridor - German land - was given to Poland and much of the eastern side of German was also given to Poland. Eastern Prussia was taken by the Soviet Union and is now part of the Russian Federation.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was much celebrated as was celebrated the end of the DDR and the reunification of Germany, a reunification that is very much incomplete as vast expanses of German land are still in other countries.

Olaf Scholz explicitly said that despite the fact that Germany is part of NATO - in fact is still under American occupation and its contitution was not designed by Germans. It was imposed by the USA that maintains a substantial military pressence in the Federal Republic of Germany. So Germany is still an occupied country.

The German Chancellor has to move with extreme caution. He is the head of a coalition that is intrinsically weak and SPD won an election without winning a big number of votes. It was the debacle of CDU/CSU that fell so massively what made it possible for SPD to win an election with less than 30 per cent of the votes cast.

A new party now has more than 21 per cent of electoral support and, unlike SPD that is only represented in 11 of 16 Federal States, Alternative für Deutchland has captured the imagination of German voters to the point that in the last days of the then Chancellor Angela Merkel many elected representatives of CDU were working together with Alternative für Deutchland.

The present German Chancellor knows full well that if things take a turn for the worst the present coalition will not survive. He also knows that after decades of constant lecturing and self-imposed and imposed guilt, the German peoples themselves are reluctant to engage in yet another European war that would be fought not because of German interests, but of American interests that go against German interests. The German peoples are not willing to throw away decades of hard work and prosperity to please the invaders that fragmented Germany and left Germany in ruins.







Sunday 31 December 2023

On the way to World War Three: This is not the end, not the beginning of the end. It is maybe the end of the beginning

 

Although, officially, the beginning of World War Two was September 3rd, 1939, in actual fact the World War Two started a lot earlier. 

In the early 1930s, Japan was battling it out with China. In 1936, the Spanish Civil War was yet another step. In 1938, the then Czchecoslovakia so much of its territory taken away. So other things were happening long before German troops launched the atttack against Poland.


Palestine, Ukraine and Yemen are just part of the picture. They are steps towards World War Three. All sides, as it usually the case, try to interpret the opponents' movements, according to what they think is the opponents agenda.

The war in Palestine is a war of extermination. The general idea is to get of Palestinians on the way to the creation of the bigger Israel. When Palestinians are out of the way, or even before that, Israel will use any justification to attack its neighbours. Ir is already waging war against Syria and Lebanon and other countries will be attacked.

The conflict in Ukraine has served to clarify the contradictions of a presumed unified European Union. The European Union is a political project and the controversies in terms of lack of support clearly show that behind the facade of unity there are dangerous differences when countries are asked to choose between the political project and their own national interests.

The conflict in Ukraine is only about winning. In the same manner, that Israel has no intention of allowing Palestinians to have a political solution, in Ukraine there is no political solution. So this is war for years to come and in the process other conflicts will appear, conflicts we have been hearing about as possibilities.

We have repeatedly heard the British Prime Minister, the Secretary for Defense and many other major and minor political personalities talking about doing the walking. The fact remains that in the event of any major conflict Britain is desperately ill equipped. One government after another has totally disregarded the need for Britain to be prepared. They have done the talking, but they haven't done the walking. Britain has barely 40,000 people fit for war of a total of about 73,000 - counting administration staff and cleaning personnel. Britain is not even capable of guarding its own borders or patrolling its own territorial waters.We hear talk about long term projects that mention 2035. Well, what has Britain got today in 2023? 

European politicians talk about their fears of yet another President Trump's presidency. Why? Because they fear that USA will walk away from NATO. Why? Because NATO is the USA. If you look at all other NATO members, they don't have the capacity to wage yet another World War. Germany's development was stiffled on purpose. Germany has been prevented from developing its true potential and German politicians will have to make a huge effort to convince German voters that they need to part with more of their tax monies to build infrasture to prepare the country for war. Germany's bridges and Germany's road have not been built to endure tanks and heavy equipment. But this, as important as it is, is practically nothing compared to the fact that Germany does not have neither the material resources nor the emotional preparedness for war. Decades of blame and apologizing for World War Two have left Germany disabled to even defend itself from aggression. And let us remember that Germany is - even it is poor present state - the biggest economy in Europe.

There are two certain possibilities - vertical escalation and horizontal escalation. Vertical escalation means the use of much more advanced weapons. Horizontal escalation means the spread of war beyond the present boundaries, but there is yet another possibility - vertical and horizontal escalation. Lets see how many countries have the capacity to combine both. Look at both sides of the divide to know what will happen next.


Thursday 14 December 2023

Grant Shapps: More white elephants instead of beefing up British Armed Forces

 

New white elephant projets announced while British Armed Forces suffer from lack basic investment and have a manpower crisis.

Systematically, one administration after another has been underinvesting in the British Armed Forces. On top of an endemic lack of manpower caused by recruitment issues, Britain has permanently underestimated the need to raise standards and support for the Armed Forces. Instead, Britain persists in its efforts to repeat the experiences of the Euro Fighter or facing ridiculous situations like the construction of aircraft carriers that had to go without aircraft or had to be returning to port because of technical defficiences. Britain does not have not even enough ships to protect its own territorial waters. Just a few weeks ago, the British Prime Minister had to announced that it was abandoning plans to deliver what was promised in terms of transport infra-structure.

The construction of stealth aircraft that will not be stealth aircraft produces headlines for people to congratulate themselves but it does not improve National Security.

Once again, huge amounts of money that will have to taken out of the public budget (or borrowed) will be thrown away. In the meantime, the country will be struggling to borrow at rising rates of interest. Fancy projects will not make Britain more safer.


Wednesday 6 December 2023

The Road to Hell: If demonization does not stop, the only way leads to hell on Earth

The Road to Hell: If demonization does not stop, the only way lead to hell on Earth

It is impossible to watch and listen to mass media without listening to demonization messages. Every single minute is being used to exploit stereotypes, to build barriers and to promote violence. How long can this continue before there is disaster of major consequences?

Nowadays it is also impossible not to detect an agenda. Hatred messages are being spread openly and directly, without the faintest attempt to sound impartial or balanced.

Such messages are not about 'love thy neighbour'. They are about hate your neighbour, discriminate against your neighbour, harass you neighbour, blame your neighbour for everything that is going wrong and ultimately about expel your neighbour or kill your neighbour. It is absolutely disgraceful and what is most disgraceful of all is that educated people are the ones promoting such messages.