Sir Humphrey Appleby:I strongly advise you not to ask a direct question.
James Hacker: Why?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: It might provoke a direct answer.
Yes Minister: The Moral Dimension 1982
Were the sacrifices of World War 2 worth it?
My father who served in the pacific braving Kamikazes & Subs to keep capital ships & carriers supplied died would have turned 104 last week on Halloween but died just after I was engaged but before I was married at the age of 65 so while I have an opinion of what he might think of this subject I can’t state it as fact.
However Alec Penstone who served in the Royal Navy is still with us at the age of 100. As soon as he was of age he left his factory job for the Royal Navy braving U-Boats and Air attacks to protect Great Britain from actual Nazis (as opposed to the phony Antifa cosplayers of today) and saw many of his friends lose their lives doing so.
Thus is was an awful shock to the British TV show when on Good Morning Britain he was asked what Remembrance Day (Veterans day for us) means to him and he answered thus:
However the moving segment took a turn when Kate asked him what Remembrance Sunday means to him. He said he felt that winning the war was “not worth” how the country had turned out today. “My message is, I can see in my mind’s eye those rows and rows of white stones and all the hundreds of my friends who gave their lives, for what? The country of today?” he said sadly.
“No, I’m sorry – but the sacrifice wasn’t worth the result of what it is now. What we fought for was our freedom, but now it’s a darn sight worse than when I fought for it.”
It’s one thing for a blogger like myself online or even a Tommy Robinson during a protest to say that The Few, the term used to describe the pilots in the battle of Britain who defeated the German Luftwaffe, would be ashamed of what the Brits have done with the freedom they bought for them. It’s very easy for the powers that be to dismiss us.
It’s quite another thing for a man who fought and saw his friends die enduring all the Nazi Kriegsmarine could throw at him saying so on live television to an entire nation.
Here is the full interview:
What was really interesting however was his response when one of the hosts Aldi Ray followed up with a question concerning what he had just said:
“What do you mean by that, though?” the GMB host probed, prompting the WWII veteran to reply: “What we fought for, and what we fought for was our freedom.
“We find that even now it’s downright worse than when I fought for it.”
Ms Garraway intervened to bring the discussion to a close before Mr Penstone could face any further questions from Mr Ray. “Oh, Alec, I’m sorry you feel like that,” she said.
Ray is ironically getting hit for asking that follow up question because even those who have been so determined to Bring down the Britain that Mr. Penstone fought for dare not publicly attack him for giving that honest answer. As the Irish Sun put it:
It was a heartbreaking admission from a war hero and a damning indictment on the state of Britain today.
'What we fought for was our freedom, even now [the country] is worse than it was when I fought for it,' says 100-year-old World War II Veteran Alec Penstone. pic.twitter.com/M9HSsS5sIW
Alec Penstone may not realize it but he just preformed one last great duty for his country speaking the truth outloud for the entire country to hear. Giving one final warning concerning the path that those he fought to protect have taken.
How the nation reacts to that warning will determine if Britain falls.
Yesterday I was at an event at the American Heritage Museum in Hudson MA. They had a parade of World War 2 Tanks: Stewarts, Shermans and a Jackson. For those with money to burn you could actually ride in said tanks and if you had a LOT of dough to burn you could even getting a driving lesson or two.
Their collection of items from a Russian T-34 to a German Panther and a British Matilda and lots more. It was like a living exhibit of the book Great Weapons of World War II, they also has tanks and planes from later eras as well as other exhibits.
But the real prize of a 103 year old gentleman who served in the Pacific both in New Guinea and in the Philippines at the same time as my father. My sons born in the 1990’s have known few such men while in my youth I was surrounded by those like him who had seen combat in World War 2. I met plenty when my dad took me to the local VFW and such events. I found myself very moved when I realized that this was likely the last such man I would ever meet.
And that, in a round about way brings me to Russia, the talks between Trump and Putin and the attempt to end this war.
Before anything considers this one must look at Russia honestly, for all the efforts of Peter the Great and all the perceptions of elites, Russia is not a western country, it’s people are not western people and it does not think like a western people.
Russia is a country that suffered defeats. They lost small wars to Japan and Poland in the last 150 years and had massive defeats both in Europe and in Russia proper to the armies of Napoleon and Hitler before their armies eventually marched to victory in bringing down both Napoleon with the help of the Brits and Prussians and Hitler with the help of America and England.
No Russian leader will forget that in each of the previous two centuries they were invaded by the single greatest war machine in the world of the time and both had to be repelled at great cost. In us the Russians face the greatest war machine in the history of history. No amount of assurances, deals or negotiation is going to convince any Russian leader that the west does not have designs on their territory and or their vast resources.
Furthermore they remember that at one time the Ukraine was the bread basket of Russia and that the Baltic states and Poland once flew their flag.
Their misadventure in Ukraine (which they see internally as protecting a Russian minority as well as reclaiming a chunk of “historical” Russia) is in many ways a way to create a larger buffer between Russia proper and western armies.
When I say “misadventure” I’m referring to their reverses. The Ukrainians who have no business beating a world power who dwarfs them in population and arms have been stubborn, creative and have managed quite a few moves to set a complacent Russia on their heels but the reality is this:
Ukraine can not win a war of attrition: Eventually they will run out of manpower while Russia can bring not only their own troops but North Korean troops to the fight. Basically they’re in the same position as Lee being driven towards the siege of Petersburg. They can make some impressive moves but It’s only a matter of time.
The only way that Lee could have been saved would have been massive intervention by a foreign power but England was not going to war to save the Southern Confederacy and France was not going to war without England.
In the same way the only way Putin can be defeated militarily would be if west decided on open war.
Europe will not go to war without America and the bottom line is America is not going to risk a war that at best would cost tens of thousands of lives and at worst will result in a nuclear exchange that would not spare the American mainland not to mention what would happen to eastern Europe when the scourge of the last World War is still in living memory.
There are plenty of self righteous keyboard warriors who have no problem with hundreds of thousands of Americans and others sent to Ukraine to risk death as they sit far away imagining themselves immune to the costs but to those of us who live in the real world and understand how many men like the old gentlemen I met yesterday didn’t come back think twice before committing our young men to the risk of death in a fight that frankly isn’t ours.
That being said a deal must be made, such a deal has to take into account the realities on the ground plus understanding that you don’t want Putin to be in a situation where a more belligerent rival will replace him on the promise of winning a war he lost.
Thus Trump will negotiate with a goal of preserving as much of Ukraine as possible as an independent state with the ability to defend itself while taking into account both what the Russians currently hold and the ethnic issues of Russians in said area.
It’s not going to be easy anything short of Putin begging for forgiveness will be painted as a defeat by the left and anything that doesn’t give Putin sovereignty over most if not all of Donbas will likely cause grief to the Russian hawks, but only quietly as Putin is still Putin.
Let’s hope Trump can pull it off, if anyone can it’s him.
A final thought, all of this was made possible by Joe Biden & Co who signaled to Putin that he had no issue with him going to take the Donbass (the media might have forgotten Biden’s words before and at the start of the invasion but I haven’t). Putin seeing Biden for what he was, a weak horse not actually in charge, decided to go all in and try to take the lot rather than grabbing the piece old Joe’s team thought he was going for. For all his faults (and he has PLENTY) if Zelenskyy doesn’t very publicly turn down Biden offer of escape and declared he would stay and fight we might be talking about Russia threatening Moldovia or even Belarus, assuming he didn’t gobble them up while the weak Biden admin was his only threat.
If Trump adds peace in Ukraine via a deal that preserves Ukrainian independence to his already impressive case for the Nobel based on his peace efforts worldwide, the prize will likely be automatic. If it happens we must remember that whatever else I might think and whatever else he has done the reason why there will be a Ukraine still there for Trump to save was because of Zelenskyy.
In 1939, Chinese Americans protested the loading of scrap iron in Oregon on a ship bound for Japan.
As you’ll see the link, there is a photograph of the protest “This iron is for bullets” and “Your wives and babies may be next,” are among the messages on the picketers’ signs.
The protesters were right.
As you of course know, two years later, Japan not only attacked Pearl Harbor, but also Guam and the Philippines, both US possessions.
Before those attacks, Japan seized Manchuria and invaded the rest of China in 1937. The Japanese committed numerous atrocities against the Chinese during the Second World War, most notoriously the Rape of Nanjing.
Last month, on September 11 no less, the Biden Administration announced it was releasing $6 billion in frozen funds to Iran, that was part of swap of American hostages held by the terrorist regime in exchange for some Iranian prisoners held here.
Swap? I call it a ransom payment.
The appeasement-minded Biden administration at the time claimed that the $6 billion can only be used for humanitarian reasons. Even if that is true, which I doubt it is, the definition of charity in the West is remarkably different than how jihadists define it.
Okay, yeah, I get it, the $6 billion probably isn’t in the hands of the radical mullahs in Iran yet, but like someone who knows he’s about to collect a huge inheritance, Iran is now financially confident–and it’s emboldened by Joe Biden’s weakness.
Yesterday, Hamas, the Iranian-funded terrorist group, attacked Israel in the deadliest strike against the Jewish state since the Yom Kippur War.
The Iranian mullahs call Israel “the little Satan” and America “the Big Satan.”
We talk about why Europe doesn’t defend itself but while the Russia Ukraine war is nearing the end of year 1 it’s worth nothing that since World War 2 and American Troop stationed in Europe there has not been a major war between European Powers.
That is the longest period in centuries that this has been true and even the wars we have seen (Russia vs Ukraine, Balkans War) have all bee from states that had been broken up (Yugoslavia) or part of each other.
For all the PITN about defending Europe that’s quite an accomplishment.
Of course one of the disadvantages of this has been the empowerment of the international deep state. Once wealthy elites did not have to worry about national wars destroying their wealth they discovered they had more in common with each other than the people of the land they lived in or ran businesses in. They became, in effect their own nationality a group who believed that it was their right and destiny to direct the world around them and for others to bend the knee.
Welcome back feudalism! That’s the goal (with them as the Lords astonished that the people demand the comforts that they possess) but it is only doable against an unarmed population.
That’s why gun control will never be off the table for the left.
As I look at the attempt to wrest Project Veritas from James O’Keefe all I can think of is Matt Drudge. Because Drudge was pretty much a solo flyer it only required buying one person willing to be bought.
I suspect after the Pfizer expo an attempt to buy O’Keefe was attempted and failed and thus plan B was put into effect.
It’s always been easier to buy people to get what you want. I wonder how much the folks on the board were paid and if it was contingent on the ousting of O’Keefe?
Speaking of real reporting vs phony stuff apparently Senator Fetterman’s condition has reached a point where it is impossible for the media that insisted he was well and denounced anyone who said otherwise to tenably make that argument.
For myself, I would not allow him to resign or be replaced in any situation short of death. The people of Pennsylvania decided they wanted a brain injured invalid as their Senator and by golly they should get what they asked for.
On a personal level of course it would be nice if he recovered, it must be murder on his family and himself and I’d feel bad for anyone with such health issues but in terms of politics he decided to get onto the playing field and if he’s on the field during the game he doesn’t get the right to be left open.
Speaking of games today is Superbowl Sunday and with Tom Brady’s retirement New England’s interest in the game is going to return to the “once a decade” mode at best or more likely to the “not us” mode that it was in pre-Brady.
That a franchise had a 50% chance of making it to the Superbowl over a 20 year period is, next to the Celtics run of championships with Bill Russell, the most incredible run you will likely ever see. (You can even argue that it’s more impressive since in a best of 5 or best of 7 series you can have a bad game and still take home the gold, Brady didn’t have that luxury). Watching the sudden decline of the team has been like watching the sudden decline of the American republic. People thought it would last forever but it can’t unless you keep it up.
It’s appropriate that WEEI named their Patriots postgame show “The six rings postgame show” it will be many decades before they’re forced to rename it again.
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