Category Archives: Tragedy

The War Posts Part IV – A VJ Reflection – Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Why the Resonances?

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Foreword:

The original post was written on 9th August. It was longer with more detail. WP wiped it out and I foolishly had not created two back-ups. This is a short version which ends a series on War. And expands upon points I raised in the previous post .

15th August 2025. 80th Anniversary of Japan’s surrender and marked the official end of WWII. There will be commemorations in the UK. That’s the official term we will not celebrate the event that would not be proper. Particularly when the events leading up the surrender were overshadowed by the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Everything else which took place from the 7th July 1937 when Chinese and Japanese forces clashed until the 6th August 1945 has taken second place in the Western World public consciousness; the provinces of folk with interests in the entire era.

The question remains. Why the particular abhorrence in public mind of the nations involved in the victory over Japan. There is only one event of that era which supersedes the revulsion and that would be the Nazi Concentration Camps and attendant genocidal actions in the field.
The casualty lists make grim reading both in the explosion and aftermath.
Hiroshima: 80,000 – 166,000 killed, injured not accurately recorded
Nagasaki : 80,000.
Higher than the following:
The controversial firebombing of Dresden Feb 1945 :Estimates  25,000 dead
The Firebombing of Tokyo March 1945: Estimates 100,000 dead.
French civilian casualties by allied air action during 1944: Estimates 15-20,000 dead

Those three examples are in the provinces of military history. The public in general can be forgiven for not knowing about them and many other events which were part of the 75- 80 million deaths associated with WWII.
London, Leningrad, Warsaw, Stalingrad, Philippines, Okinawa, Berlin, Konigsberg all have their own bloody tallies of dead and injured civilians , some do figure in some sections of the public consciousness, but none weigh as heavily as the fates of those two Japanese cities. Why is that?

This is my statement. It is my considered opinion that the objections and the revulsions to the use of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki result from shock and at the bottom of our Human being- Fear of what took place. The idea that approximately 20% of the Japanese civilian casualties of WWII were caused in two locations in mere minutes is horrific information that vibrates deep into the Human consciousness. So quick, so efficient. So possible, everywhere? For it is an acceptable fact by most people that if one nation has a weapon then sooner or later another will have the same weapon, and that it could be used ‘here’.
And we don’t want that. We want it to be uninvented. If there’s a war and some foe flies over with conventional bombs and drop them on our city, that is frightening but we reckon the damage is local(ish) and can be repaired and we can all work together to help out, because even if our location is in chaos there’s one down the road to lend a hand. We can cope with conventional wars. We have our own ideas of what to do.
Not so with Nuclear Weapons. We have been brought up to understand that those bring destruction on an ultimate scale. They lay waste on a massive scale. Everything collapses. No emergency services, no health support, no supplies. Better off at ground zero than miles away and surviving. And naturally, understandably, we do not want to live with that knowledge. The idea that there is a means so powerful, so effective, so dreadful that all we have known, accepted, learnt to live with can be gone. And worse, we are some of the survivors?

Now harsh words will follow.
A First World perspective?. There have been at least 300 what we might call wars since WWII ended. There are whole swathes of the world whose miseries and terrors might not be nuclear ones but are or have been as dreadful in their own, small ways, small because in most cases the rest of the world doesn’t even know they are going on; much less care. Unless of course it suits some purpose to notice. If you protest or are angry about one, then what about the ten that went before, or elsewhere in the world? Sorry if I am getting cross – but I try not to do ‘Selective’.

Anyway, back to….. analysis?
Meanwhile we are angry and scared that our lives or way of lives can be wiped out. I suggest therefore that the Atom Bombs became our own worse, personal nightmares. In our fear or rage we blame individuals for unleashing them. We are so frightened we want to blame someone. And we want to give our fear a justification, so understandably we channel it into an outrage. We call this one particular act of war a crime. We will of course call other acts crimes as well, and each of us no doubt as a list of those depending on our own trigger points. But no acts of war, to date has been so monumentally, individually, terrifying as those two bombs.
Yes they brought horrible suffering. War does that. Look back at the casualty lists above, and those are just some air raids. I have not included the urban battles, not the sieges, not the post battle eras of pillage, rape and random killings, not the unfortunate killings of folk who just got in the way, not the reprisals, not the massacres….not the….not the…
By all means beware of  The Logic of War. It leads to paths such as the dropping of nuclear weapons. A straight line from the splinting of the atom by Professor Rutherford in a laboratory in Manchester UK 1917.

By even more effort embrace Compassion, Respect and Tolerance, because around the corner, waiting in the Shadows waits Violence and Hate and they have their own version of those Horrors I have been writing about.

And dear reader, there is no other way to end this series.

Take care. Walk wide of violent solutions.

The War Posts – Part I .An Introduction to War

The War Posts Part II – The Logic of War

The War Posts Part III – When Industry Replaced Cavalry and its Arm Grew Long

The War Posts Part II – The Logic of War

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Foreword: This post is going to start off with what might be seen as in an unfair way. Bear with me.

Opening
I am going to ask you a few uncomfortable questions:

Have you ever felt there was a group of folk you disliked intensely for their views?
Have you ever felt some folk were so opposed to your outlook there was no arguing with them?
Have you ever felt personally threatened by some group for a perceived potentially invasive potential?
Have you ever felt that a group is such a threat to you and your way of life that  force as a last resort is justifiable?
Have you ever felt that a group or community holds views which you consider so repellent and inexcusable that they should not be allowed to continue?
Have you ever coveted anything?

You may feel justified in thinking these are a bit unfair and leading questions. Understandable. Yet I ask them, because in my opinion these are at the very basic, fundamental urges to resort to conflict. In short at this current stage in the development of Humanity, Humanity is wired for conflict. At the least in the verbal; at the worst in warfare. Now you may feel you, personally, can and have managed with much effort to circumvent these urges, and that is laudable. Can however you say the same for the majority of people around you, or to take it one step further, in the world?
Or does the evidence suggest that despite all the hard, harsh tragic lessons of History Humanity still defaults to conflict and thus War? I would contend on that current evidence this is the case. War is a facet of the current Human Condition and thus has its own Logic, one which exists in the extreme versions of those opening questions.

The Environment of the Logic of War
Being this extreme activity which involves the seizure or destruction of people, resources and property either because one side feels a need to or the other side feels the need to stop them, the thought processes, the perceptions and the decision making are ones outside of the usual civil procedures. After all willing acceptance to inflict Death and wilful Destruction are involved and those are very much Absolutes. It can be argued that some wars are conducted with some restraints at some times, but overall the application of violence to achieve or foil achievement are there at the basics. Thus those who are involved in warfare either by profession, political decision or simply in there by no choice at all will shift their perspectives from the civil and civic ways, eventually accepting in within such an environment indeed The Means Justifies The End. By Need or by Duty.

Practices Within The Logic of War 
As stated in the previous post the destruction of on side’s resources and will to resist in addition to their armies was always there in the campaign. This would take various forms.

Outright slaughter upon any who resisted – The Mongol Invasions of the 13th and 14th century took this to such extreme forms that some historians have cited the environment changed such was the loss of Human Life.

Subjugation of The Population – Either by terror or by enslavement. Common in the classical eras for a population of a fallen city to be put into slavery. Even in the 18th century prisons of war taken by the Hapsburg Empire could find themselves sold off to the Ottomans. And of course the continued fear of the armed enemy now living in your neighbourhood, quite at their whim. William the Conqueror to name but one dealt with an Anglo-Saxon uprising in the north of England by what was called ‘The Harrying of the North’. There a many, many more examples – the 20th & 21st centuries were and are carrying on an old response.

Treating People As Resources or Vermin – As briefly covered in the previous post and also during extreme examples of the above questions an action which is ingrained into war. Destroy the people and you destroy the foe’s abilities or will to continue. Jonathan Sumpton’s five volume history of the Hundred Years’ War is a masterful work in scope and in detail, although as you read through the fifth volume you are starting to wonder how there were any folk alive left in France by 1460 after the depravations of The English, The French Civil Wars and the ravaging by mercenary armies. The Thirty Years War is synonymous with slaughter, pillage and rapine throughout central Europe. To spare you any more details I would just summarise by saying in Eastern Europe through to Russia, down to the Ottoman and Persian Empires brutality was the order of the day. When you look through the history of China a similar picture arises. And you can go in any direction and find the same processes. The ultimately depressing or shocking facet being a people can be victims and later instigators, or the other way around and not unusually  both at once.

The Arrival of Industrial Efficiency – There would be some debate as to when this approach impacted on the processes of war. Arguably the overwhelming replacement of steel by the missile as the principal deliverer of action, so maybe the early years of the 18th Century.  Now over the next two centuries would develop a stronger intention to destroy armies by essentially blasting them apart and if the place of conflict happened to include villages or small towns, this was how things were. During this era the French Revolutionary armies developed the principal of mobility through not relying on long supply columns, but living off of the land; in the long history of warfare this was nothing new- grab what you want and if the civilians know what good for them they accept it. (Only this did not work out so well for the French in Spain or Russia, and in 1814 there was retribution visited by a revised Prussia) .  As armies grew larger and supply became a constant problem appropriation of civilians and civilian resources  was not reduced by enlightened thinking or the growth of request for ‘Rights’ and ‘Independence’  Far from it. Fired up by a new concept of Nationalism The Means Justifies The End edict was allowed to run riot, literally in many cases, and woe betide a minority living in an area where a majority had just gained independence, for minorities are always treated with suspicion (see those worrisome questions) 

Being Truly Professional and Social About it – There have always been professionals but the demands and developments of the 19th Century required far more study and contemplation of war, and many more books than simply instruction manuals were coming into print. Probably the one which springs to the military inclined mind would be the Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz’s ‘On War’ being treatises on political-military analysis and strategy, which although published in 1832, still hold some sway in these times. I would suggest this was when Modern War as we know it was distilled from its embryonic form of the Napoleon Era. The Means Justifies The End  now had a truly modern feel. The soldier had to be educated to some degree to handle sophisticated weapons; officer classes trained to handle the various demands of the modern armies and those armies motivated to embrace a nationalistic feel. Science ever in the background was also fully entering the mix and something to be given some study and respect, for it was an exciting new world and every advance had the possibility of finding a place in warfare. With all this taking place a nation looking for or to keep its place on the World Stage or simply stay independent had to be more than ever aware of all these factors. What had once been conducted at the behest of Princes, Kings and Emperors was now overseen by secular Governments and their professional armies. Public support on a national basis had been growing since the 18th Century but now became a strong demand. Thus a change was taking place in the industrialised world. War was not something which happened to the civilian population, the civilian population through the evolution of mass communication could now enter the dynamic, no longer involved in just local squabbles over land or defence or religion, but now through Nationhood. 

By the beginning of the 20th Century the capacity for destruction of not just a foe’s armies but it’s resources and people had developed by enveloping and refining the usage of all possible advances, scientific, political and social. The era we now call Modern needs its own post for there The Logic of War shows its true colours and potential   

The War Posts – Part I .An Introduction to War

A Perfect Allegory for Recent US Politics

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The House On The Corner

Jill in a tireless and an astute commentator on the contemporary US political scene. Recently she has started to turn her talents to fictional narratives which adeptly reflect the sorry state of the USA since the hysterical wing of the Right seized hold of the Republican Party.

On the face of it, this is a poignant tale of a house which knew better days and how it reached the state it did. The weaving of story into the facts which are in danger of unravelling the USA is most artfully constructed. This is at one a sad tale and a stark warning.

A thoroughly good and valuable read 

In Memoriam Corey Comperatore

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Corey Comperatore

Died on the 13th July 2024 at Butler Pensylvannia, protecting his family from a shooter.

If we had ever crossed paths on social media we might have got into a bit of a disagreement over politics.

That just does not matter right now.

My respects to you Mr. Comperatore, may you rest in peace.

My condolences to your family, friends and colleagues.

And let us not forget the two also injured- 57 year old David Dutch and 74 year old James Copenhaver

To all of us on the opposite side of the late and the injured’s politics:

Judge not that ye be not judged (Matthew 7. Verse 1)

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Cause and Effect. This Time in Papua New Guinea

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Papua New Guinea Landslide

In this photo provided by the International Organization for Migration, an injured person is carried on a stretcher to seek medical assistance after a landslide in Yambali village, Papua New Guinea, Friday, May 24, 2024. More than 100 people are believed to have been killed in the landslide that buried a village and an emergency response is underway, officials in the South Pacific island nation said. The landslide struck Enga province, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of the capital, Port Moresby, at roughly 3 a.m., Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. (Benjamin Sipa/International Organization for Migration via AP)

Here is the BBC’s update on the situation as at 8am BST UK

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckkkyxvdv5eo

In this BBC link the toll of dead, injured and missing has risen to 670, as is often the case when more information comes to light. A landslide, and thoughts will likely focus on the possible environmental issues be they de-forestation, other mis-management or unusually heavy rain fall. Landslides, mudslides call the event what you will. Suffice it to say large and sudden movements of not just mud, but rocks, stones, trees and other dangerous debris cutting a swathe through populated areas, and not just isolated villages are a regular news events. Another warning.

I would ask you to read this and then pause at the last passage which I make no apologies for highlighting here below:

“But Care Australia, the humanitarian agency which is helping with relief efforts, warned that the number affected was “likely to be higher” because of an influx of people escaping tribal conflicts in neighbouring areas.“

Yes, the other blight which we see countless news items on. Inter communal violence. Those who work with incredible courage and dedication will have seen this aspect time and time again. We will of course not seen much in the main news about the myriad of ongoing situations

And here is a link from the International Red Cross page on the situation

https://www.icrc.org/en/papua-new-guinea-tribal-fights

And an extract from the Wikipedia page on Ethnic Violence in Papua New Guinea

“In 2021, approximately 30,000 people were displaced by tribal violence around the Highlands region. In Enga Province, fighting between the Yalingin tribe and the Yambalekin tribe that costs the lives of 80 people and began the year prior ended in a peaceful settlement.In the 2022 national election about 89,000 people were displaced nationwide, with most being from the Highlands region”

It is distressing. It may cause you anger. Despair. The eternal cry of anguish ‘But What Can I Do?’ . Yes you, I also of us may feel helpless at yet another news items of tragedy, indicating not just one but two sources. What can we do? For Pity’s Sake, we cry.

Well – If there is an appeal site and you feel you can manage even a small amount. There is that. The IRC has it’s own donation’s tab.

Also- When encountering, as we all must these days, those who make abusive aggressive comments or in the case of Charities those negative conspiracy heavy nonsense excuses, tell them they are not helping anyone, they are making things worse not just for others but also themselves, and then do not engage any further….let them think on that- it’s called sewing doubt- sometimes it has to be done.

You may also care to post up news items about these (God forgive me for using this word) ‘relatively’ minor incidents and highlight the message that unless we constructively address both problems all across the world, eventually there will be no ‘world’ left for our descendants.

Yes, I know these seem small, almost inconsequential steps but if enough millions to make say a billion or so take this approach, it is a start, a push back. Right? 

For who knows when the equivalent in one form or another will come knocking on our own door?

Stay alert. Stay active. Stay caring. Stay compassionate. Stay.

An Open Essay To The Current Protestors of The USA On And Off Campus

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US protests

Foreword: For those not familiar with my site. Just a brief introduction. British. 73 years old. Christian (slightly heretical- I’ll square it with God when the time comes) . Left Winger but not of a type you would be likely to recognise. 65 years with an interest in and an affinity to the USA. 60 years interest in politics. A possible affinity to Martin Luther of Eiseben without the vitriolic antisemitism common to his time. OK. That’s me. Let’s get down to issues.

Warning
There will be harsh statements, there will be very uncomfortable points of view, there will be a number reminders about The World, there will be questions asked of the reader, directly. And there will no simple arguments or points of view or answers 

Overview
It has to be accepted that the current one of the many outbreaks of full scale violence between Israelis and Palestinians has attracted the attention of the world. Emotions are running high as well as broadly justifiable feelings at the violence and the loss of life. Looking out from my allegorical window you must accept me thinking. ‘What a pity such demonstrations had not been expressed in other recent times for other peoples in their own sufferings through violence. The events were on accessible on the news and received sustained coverage on the Internet,’ I am not just discussing Ukraine here. Just check the word ‘Genocide’ and look back over the past twenty years. That said we must move on, for there is a future to discuss. We can learn from The Past. We may act upon The Present. But We must prepare for The Future. Your Future. The Future of Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren.

Next, something about The Past and The Nature of Events.

Events, Reactions and ‘Causes’. The Shadows and Shrouds of History
Political and Social Events which make the news do not have simplistic backgrounds, they have complex histories, and History has a way of extending itself back and back and back. There is no sudden start point. Back into the deep past there will be a gradual build up of a momentum which at some juncture reaches the Deluge or Avalanche or Earthquake stage and from there on those Earlier Events will have a strong resonance in the causes of Subsequent Events, and so on. Each one causing its own set of ripples or fault lines, criss-crossing the Human Geography of Peoples and their Communities, while calling up the echoes and resonances of the Past at a pace and frequency which leaves the observer possibly embracing the notion that Time is not linear or moving in one direction.

To witness October and onwards and put these in full focus requires what some would call an unsatisfactory and arguably heartless approach. Some would in the spirit of outrage at the loss of life simply deny. Usually these opening words of mine would be a conclusion of a paragraph. In this case just take them as warning of where we are going, a place where Death and Ruination have often walked, and the participants comfort themselves with many justifications, which depending on your view can appear strong but reasonable. We start in A Place which will have a focus in History. 7th October 2023. A concerted incursion by Hamas into Israel causing a very heavy loss of Life.

Of those protesting ‘Regrettable’ some might say. Even condemnatory. However they will add, for there is often an ‘However’ in these matters ‘Just look at the way Israel has treated the Palestinians. That is terrible and has been going on for so many years’ . Well in the harsh prism of History, yes that is an understandable, even acceptable outlook. Treat a people badly and there will be a violent reaction. There is a problem though with that line. The Jewish peoples of Europe (Russia gets included whether it likes it or not) for one thousand years or more were subjected to similar treatments and killings. When they finally get back to what they call their lands they have a long history of their own justifications. They learnt from ‘Europe’ (since there still appears to be a majority of American citizens who can trace European ancestry that includes You too). Therefore the tacit acceptance argument which is used for Hamas gets comparably morphed with a bloody swiftness and ease into one of ‘understanding’ the Israeli approach. Still be horrified? By all means be so? Tell me I am distorting the position? Be outraged. Point out that the death toll in Palestine exceeds that of Israel 30 fold. That is your right. Of course.

Now dip into the bloody, wide, deep, tribute river of War, one that ever flows from the larger River History.  350,000-500,000 German civilians in the allied strategic bombing campaign of WWII. 70,000 British civilians in the German aerial campaigns by bomb or rocket. True that is ‘only’ 7 fold. At the time the governments accepted the other sides losses- ‘they started it’. Thus do not be surprised at the Israeli response. It is one that takes place with regularity throughout the world throughout the ages, and no one seems to have a solution which puts an end to it.

You may now, if you wish express more outrage, only please do not accuse me of justifying Israel’s response. I am merely pointing out to you the Horror. This is how it works. I cite a few others. Ask the Syrian’s. Ask those Chechen folk not in a warlord’s pay, ask the Tamils, ask the Uyghurs, ask The Iranian Women and the Afghan Women (although the latter two were not bombed or shelled, just beaten up and locked up, only ‘a few’ died the other thousands upon thousands only live in terror and cohesion, and being locked up ). Ask the Women where Rape is used as a weapon of war. Keep on asking. You should. Keep on asking. For if you have taken up the Palestinian Cause, it does not end there, not in this troubled turbulent dangerous world. Marching on one Embassy, up and down one street is not going to trouble the worshipers at the Triple Altars of Death and Ruin and Oppression

“We can learn from The Past. We may act upon The Present. But We must prepare for The Future.”

Into Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Now to you. You who have taken up a Cause. You who have felt the need to protest. What will you do now?
Pack up and say ‘I did my bit’, then go onto the ‘rest of your life’
Continue with the Palestinian Cause
Or sign up for the Great Struggle.-The one where the Oppressors, Merchants of Violence, Hate Mongers, and Opportunists With Guns are legion. The one where the victims are counted in their millions, be they dead, dying, sick, injured, terrorised, brutalised, violated and ever on the move or sitting in hapless squalor. All located somewhere on the inside pages of a newspaper, maybe mentioned as a filler on a news channel, or when some anniversary comes along, or to be found by following a few links on the net. Those dead and those anguished faces, along with those dulled-eyed with the whole horror, forgotten. What comfort do they have? A few dogged journalists? Charities working ever hard?

If you are truly honest, if you truly care, you will learn a lesson from this time in Palestine and in the South West of Israel. You will realise there is no respite, there is no time to congratulate and go home to Sunshine and Lollipops. Hate. Violence. They never rest. They are never cowed permanently. If you are not ever alert, keeping a weather eye, willing to challenge not just your government but the ones who gave the acquiescence to pull the triggers, then somewhere, somewhen Some Folk will be suffering. One episode of protest does not cut it. If you care, you do not get to select the Cause. The Causes will come to you and ask for at least some attention.

Just take some time out and take a lot at the Amnesty site, or Medicins San Frontières’ or UNHCR, or – you just look.

Did you? Will you? When you do, be prepared for the shock and the feeling of absolute helplessness. Be ready to say without thinking ‘But I Can’t Be Everywhere!’.

No you can’t. Nor can those in the charities which work through the world. They try and they spread slender resources. I know how you feel. I challenge myself every day. As I write this the nagging thought  burrows deeper. ‘Fine Words. Now What Else Are You, Roger, Going To Do?’ and ‘Do you know you are in danger of sounding like John Bolton. An old guy demanding younger folk sacrifice themselves for your ideals?’ 

But I am not trying to stir the passive or the complacent or the apathetic. I am addressing You, those who have seen it right and just to take up a Cause, remember it is but one piece of a larger, bloodied ghastly picture where blood, tears and body parts are the paints and the canvas is human skin.

This in Palestine, as it did in Ukraine, in Syria will pass from the headlines, it already has started. At least it made the headlines. Learn then from this which will become the Past and realise there will be more of the same next year and the year after and so on. Unless we all in same way, somehow, some-constantly do whatever we can, how we can, where we can, when we can.

My generation with its flowers, face paints, gaudy clothes and music which at times was over-long and self-indulgent, we quite frankly failed. We went to a music festival or two, we might have marched, most certainly purchased the right albums, and then? We in the UK voted in Margaret Thatcher, You in the USA did likewise with Ronald Regan and two Bushes (the elder Not So Bad, The Younger in Comparison with now…?). And in our later years We welcomed Boris Johnson and Brexit and  You let Donald Trump, the Action Toy of MAGA be placed in the Whitehouse. Don’t fall into the trap of complacency or that curse of ageing which tends to set in in the 40s the ‘Huh! In My Day’ response as if what will take place will be nothing to do with us ‘We did our bit’
Yes, about that

One Final Message, Wrapped Up In Fable, A Warning And Even Admonishment

And this year. This possibly fateful year. The one which made decide whether the USA carries on, stumbling as do all nations, or slides off that time-honoured road, down the one where there are always storms and you can only just make out the sign-post ‘Warning. Rock Slides Ahead’. You have seen the intentions of the Right, you have heard the ravings of the spolied Brat who did not forgive for losing the last Presidential Election. To elaborate let me tell you that fable:

There was this guy. A man of simple Christian Faith, who prayed every morning, noon and night. He did not doubt God for a minute.
One day he hears on the radio a severe weather warning, storms are on their way, bringing heavy flooding. At once he gets down on his knees and prays to God to protect and deliver him. The rains start, the worst he has ever seen. He prays. A little later, a knock at the door, a police officer is there ‘Sir. You’re house is in danger of being hit by the flood. You best evacuate,’. The man assures the officer God will protect him, he will pray. The officer doesn’t argue, he’s got more houses, anyhow the fellow will soon change his mind when the waters come. The waters come, his house is cut off. An emergency crew in a boat turn up, hailing him. He tells them the same thing. They get a call on the radio, a woman not far off is in labour. Well she comes first. Off they go. The waters rise. The man is now on the roof, still praying. Along comes a rescue helicopter. He waves them off calling up that God will protect him. The crew have been on a long shift, the storm is getting worst. They can’t hang around, they got kids to save. So the house is swept away and he drowns.
He arrives at Heaven’s Gate, greeted by and angel with a clipboard. The man complains at sound length about how he prayed and yet still was drowned, How does that figure? Why didn’t God listen and  help? The angel consults his clipboard.
‘Well dear friend. God sent you a radio warning. God sent you a police officer. God sent you a rescue crew. In the end God sent you a helicopter. What more did you want?’

So then, I ask you, in all sincerity. What is this business about not supporting Biden? Have you not had enough warnings about what the Right has in store for you and the rest of the USA? They’ve made it very clear, give them that. They are going to roll up their sleeves and they are going to do their level best to sweep away liberal reforms. They are going to display their ignorance of socialism, squawk about this ‘woke’ word like crows with indigestion, get hysterical about what other folk do in their privacy, pick bits out of the Bible like stale crumbs and their followers are going to love it, then as a special treat they will throw minorities to the mob.

I would ask you, do you think, not just for one spasm of angry thought, but as a whole agenda that your selective punishment of Biden over Palestine is going to help those folk? Must I remind you that the alternatives are locked into an style of Christian Fundamentalism that is quite content for Israel to do this? If Trump gets back in the Whitehouse and you still stuck with your own fundamentalist agenda then you in part will be responsible for any more Palestinian deaths. Yes. Cause and Effect are terrible twins. In this ever tightening world none of us are actually free of them, but some choices can have more bitter effects than others. You do not get to try and parse your way out of this one. It is Biden or it is Trump. You cannot hide from that brutal truth. This World I have to emphasise is ever complex, nothing is easy, nothing is straightforward, nothing has but one answer. It is all hard work and dirty words like Compromise, Accommodation, Acceptance, Deals, Manoeuvre, Politics and all the rest that get the job done. You might wish for a better one, you might even be working for a better one, but in the meantime, you have this one.
There are other implications to punishing Biden and the danger of letting Trump in. Other aspects you will have to take in part-responsibility. You will have to explain to the LGBT+ community, to women living in fear of getting pregnant, to librarians, to minority groups, to teachers, to the future casualties and families of mass killings how your stance in punishing Biden was the right moral choice.

I am aware I appear cutting, but there is no other way. Implications hang heavy on the shoulders of anyone taking up a cause. They have the challenge of getting the balance right. and the challenge which turns inevitably into a responsibility. There is no way out. Nothing is simple. Ever. You might call me cynical. You are mixing that up with Realism. If I was cynical I would not have taken ten hours over four days out of my time to work on this. (That doesn’t include the thoughts running through my head while doing chores). I would have ‘let them get on with it, they’ll find out in time,’

In Conclusion
You will, I expect be holding fast to your beliefs that your opposition to Israel is the right course for you to take, that this is not a passing phase in the summer of 2024. If this is your choice may I make a plea in these points.

Remember the target is the current Intolerant Fanatical Government, whose brothers in Hate reside in Tehran, who gifted Trump the playbook on how to get The Big Seat. The target is not the Israeli people. And curses upon those who tell you it is the Jews. The target is the government, don’t forget.

Reach out across the distances to those in Israel who are angry at their government and wish to be rid of it. Support them. If they are demonstrating , then you should be in sympathy to. Have them realise there are friends out there, that they don’t have to circle the wagons with the unsavoury fanatics. Israeli politics is another complexity, one shove in the correct direction can bring change.

Research just who are the internal oppositions in Israel, the ones who for long years have tried to preach the creed of accommodation and partnership with Palestinians who also tread that dangerous road of recrimination and violence from within their own communities. For too long The Western Groups supporting Palestinians have not taken that road. When it is the blindingly obvious one.

We must prepare for The Future. Your Future. The Future of Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren.

These Days The World War Comes In Many Sizes.

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Crocus City Hall

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024 .It was 14, then 30, then 60 then 93. Dead. Injured? It was many, then a 100. How many escaped? Not known, but they will carry scars. Maybe they will be fearful of being in a crowd, never to go to any event again, fearing they may hear screams and gun shots. Will they ever sleep naturally again. Then multiply by numbers by relatives, friends, associates.

They were going to a concert. To have a good time. Enjoy themselves. Forget the troubles of the World. Maybe ease the pain of the loss of someone sent to Ukraine. Parallels to many Israelis back in October 2023. They were going about their ordinary lives. Just like Americans who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in 83 mass shootings in 2024 (Up until February that is).

They weren’t in combat. They not were fitted out for fighting. They weren’t even living in dread. Not like folk in Port au Prince. Folk in Gaza. Folk in the Sudan. Folk across the Sahel (look on a map for yourself). In Congo. In Nigeria. In Pakistan. In India. In Philippines. In Malyaia. In Myanmar. In Mexico. In Ukraine. In Yemen. And that list goes on and on and on. World War. Not neat. Not one side vs another. That’s out-dated, washed away amongst the mudslide of agendas and causes, and the debris of alliances; mostly based on Hypocrisy. 

Somewhere there is at least one record tallying up the estimates of non-combatants being killed. And someone will be parsing those numbers up into those unfortunately killed in cross-fires. those who were living near strategic targets, those slaughtered in some frenzy of hate and those who starve or sicken untreated because of a lack of resources. As if there is some comfort in pointing out that portions of those deaths were ‘unfortunate’. Like the police chief in To Have and Have Not says laconically about the death of the American tourist caught in cross-fire ‘It is unfortunate’ .But it’s war. What can you do?… Don’t start one? Or is that just a painfully innocent a suggestion.

Nothing worthwhile is easy to solve.

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024. Dead, dying, injured, traumatised  by being there, traumatised by association. Multiply that by the number of wars, rebellions, militias, gangs, mercenaries, authoritarian states, hate-groups. Some calculation. Like one of those massive boards that physicists and mathematicians have to use.  

There will be the usual dash to social media to pump out the agenda. Blame this group. Blame that nation. ‘I hate…. I’m gonna blame them’….. ‘Yeah me too’. The keyboards must have been hammered over the last 12 hours.

And there will be those who will justify, or glorify those who walked into Crocus City Hall on Moscow 22nd March 2024 and killed ‘in the name of’. Like the killing of non-combatant folk of a nation is going to make any state think ‘Oh gosh. We were wrong. Sorry,’ Russia, Israel, USA, China. Four classic examples of what happens when you tread on their toes, their majorities. No, they default to ‘Someone has to pay,’ Like any group, any region, any nation with a grudge or agenda really, deep down, worries about the loss of non-combatant life. Like any of those listens to any protest across the world.

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024. It’s 115 dead now. Four suspects held. Flowers being left at the site, people donating blood. It’s what ordinary folk do. Do something. Meanwhile as expected both the Ukrainian and Russian governments or security services make claim, counter claim and ridiculous assertions abut the other side. At least the ordinary folk are doing something constructive.

World War. As in a world beset by wars in all shapes and sizes, many so deep, convoluted and old that the original reasons were lost somewhere and there’s only The War. You could claim Political Expediency, Culture, Religion, Poverty, Corruption, Old Enmities, New Ones, Suspicion, Communal Hysteria; take your pick; add another, there’s no shortage.

But what to do? No use saying ‘It’s Not my Problem’. USA.Back in the 1990s what was going in The Middle East, Saudi Arabia, ‘The Gulf’ Lebanon was not ‘Your Problem’. Sure the government sent armies and folk got killed, which was a shame. But nothing to do with you. Then came 9/11- direct Cause and Effect and the USA went into several sorts of hysteria which is still plaguing you today. 

And why do European nations and the USA wonder why folk from other nations are flooding into their lands. War. Famine through War. Why else should folk be so desperate? 

In these days of hyper-travel, hyper-trade and hyper-communication what happens somewhere will eventually find its way in some way to your door, even if it is but an increase the cost of your favourite…..

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024. It’s our problem. It’s our tragedy. It’s our concern. And that nagging one, deep down inside. The one place where you get into the tangle of Cause & Effect, of Apathy and its distant cousin Selective Outrage, of Disassociation, of Assumptions Without Thought, and the rest. The one where we have to ask ‘Was That Something To Do With Me?’ Hopefully not. Hopefully you started out as innocent bystander who tried to do something constructive, even in a small, small, hardly noticed way, a ripple. Me? Involved in a war? You’d be surprised how far the reach is. 

Still, bear this in mind. It takes a lot of folk a long time to make a World War. And there are never simple answers.

One thing though. Those who beat the drums loud, and long. Folk who give you one liners as solutions. People who claim that killing their neighbours is the only solution. Mobs that blame an entire people for the crimes of a government. Ones who claim they have a direct line to a deity who says its OK to kill. 

They are liars, wretched creatures. And irrespective of the differences in their politics, religions, races and locations, they are all the same. Hate mongers. Blights. Bloodied hands by deed or association.  

Crocus City Hall, Moscow 22nd March 2024. Take some time out today to think of the victims. 

It’s a regular event in some parts of the world.

Jill’s Horror Story. Which is not so Fictional.

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Filosofa Tries Something Different …

Our Jill has taken the plunge into writing fiction. But is it?

Take a read and think back to factual accounts you may have come across in reliable newsfeeds. You know that normally in Horror stories the reader can be chilled but also take comfort in the idea, ‘This could never happen to me. S’only a fiction,’ . Well this one narratives a series of events which may come tapping at your door. Be prepared to be chilled and warned.

Well done Jill

Nothing is Easy. Nothing is Straightforward. Populism is a Mirage. Humanity Does Not Get The Last Say.

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This is another of those complex wandering posts of mine. My defence is in the Title. There are no simple solutions. The script of Life is long and complex and Humanity is not the principal writer either. I thought images were needed too. The news is coming in thick and fast this year, at least it seems that way.

You will see this post contains a number of those images. These are of the consequences of wars and those of Nature’s Environmental activities. They all involve suffering and great loss of life. Those of the latter could have been minimised if the nations involved were not strangled by wars or by governments with fundamentalist, opportunistic or cheap squabbling agendas. Thus they are all linked by actions, reaction or interaction. There are underlying tragic themes of inevitabilities, some because this is how the way The World works, others because of Humanity’s short-sighted and narrow-minded follies, failing to learn that the ‘last war’ was not glorious, but was due to a miscalculation, one which continues to happen over and over again.

We start with War. Because nothing sells so well as War. Right? It’s buried deep into our frameworks. Warning: The Sardonic will be at work here– Every war can be justified, by all sides. It’s so simple. Of course, there are costs. But those can’t be helped, can they? After all ‘We’ had no choice, if We started it; it was because of because of ‘Them’, they were the threats. Look at our histories (well, the ones we wrote; not theirs those are all lies). So Reader let us start by looking at latest headliners in Gaza / Southern Israel

October 2023 Gaza 1

Palestinians Celebrate The Hamas Attack on Israel

October 2023 Gaza

Then Suffer The Aftermath

October 2023 Israel 1

One Way How Israel Would Like Us To See It

October 2023 Israel 3

Then Reality Came To a Music Festival

Meanwhile another war with ancient roots but with modern implications for ‘US’ (ie The West- these days usually comfortably two-steps removed from conflict but it’s getting closer)

Ukraine….Ukraine

And lest we forget….

Sudan

SUDAN

A Picture and its Story: Girl survives air strike that killed her family

YEMEN

Myanmar

MYANMAR

Nahorno Karabakh

NAHORONO KARABAKH

And this entire region

Sahel-region

We didn’t even cover all of the wars. And we have not looked at the inter community violence which springs up in many nations or has festered at the low key for years.  So there will be no room here to consider all of the Human Rights, Regional and International Implications, much less the matrix of causes.

Meanwhile there are the constant reminders that despite the Deity complex some folk think Human posses or the antics of The Unholy Faith of Denial the Dynamics of this world has the last say, not us.

Earthquakes – No we cannot tame them. Unavoidable. BUT if there was less spent on wars, and tighter holds on corruption the damage to structure and life could be lessened

Earthquake Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Earthquake Morocco

Morocco

Earthquake Syria

Syria

Turkey Earthquake

Turkey

Fires – Reading Books by Hack Deniers or Populist Politicians will NOT make these stop. Nor can these events be intimidated by guns. In some cases the luckless can’t outrun even outdrive these.

Smoke billows upwards from a planned ignition by firefighters tackling the Donnie Creek Complex wildfire south of Fort Nelson

Canada

Fires Greece

Greece

Wildfire in Maui County, Hawaii

Hawaii

Floods– Common enough you say. In Libya this one was helped along by a decade long series of wars. Nearly 4,0000 recorded deaths; 9,000 missing, that was at the time of the event.

Flood Lybia

And we have not considered Famines nor Diseases nor the Serious Poverty that takes lives slowly.

The weighty truth being that none of these events are new by any means, a scroll through history will bring you examples of all these events and similar, even larger losses of life. However what shakes the fatalistic and providing you live in the comfier parts of the First World, complacent view is that TODAY.

We have the countless examples of what does not work

We have the technology to ease the suffering

We have the wealth to invest

We know how Corruption works

We have the scientific knowledge to open our eyes to solutions.

The problems being, aside from the Age Old ones of ignorance, prejudice, greed and so on. We know have a system that can spread lies world-wide at the touch of a button, and We fall for them, or We say the events are nothing to do with or, or What Can We Do. We also can twist technology to make it cause harm, theft, fear and hate. There is nothing corrosive or destructive We cannot do if we switch off our consciences and compassion. 

Ah Dear Reader. It all seems hopeless does it not? What can you or I mere small individuals do against such Flaws of Humanity or Forces of Nature?

I’ll offer you this yet again

There are no simple solutions.

The world is a complexity of cause and effect. I’ll give you one example. If cocaine and heroin had not become chic drugs to be indulged in by the comfortable as a recreation or the desperate as an escape and if the use had not be made ‘everyday’ in media and entertainment there would not have been the demand. If there had not been the demand there would not be the proliferation of powerful drug cartels in poverty struck nations. If there were not such desperate circumstances  there would not be floods of immigrants. Why the surprise? There has been a northwards drift in the USA for decades? Walls? Border Patrols? You’d need a small border and a Communist style state to cope with the flood of the desperate.  I could give you a Cause and Effect in Europe too. Yet….apparently the simple solution is more border patrols and populist governments. That is just a summary of one Cause and Effect and an addition. 

We come back to this then:

No populist solution will work to any problem, be it on the Left or the Right, or the Activist. Look at those pictures again, and again….and again. Is any one of those problems going to be solved by a line of spluttering outrage on social media? Is anyone really going to sort it all out in a few months? Do throwing paper towels help? Or suggesting one community moves out of an area? Or denying what is happening? Or blaming just one side? 

Neither you, nor I can stop what is happening or what has happened in the above images. What we can do though is adhere to a few factors. Compassion. Respect. Tolerance. Neighbourliness. And turn our backs on those who Deny and Distort. Those who spread Hate and Ignorance. Those whose incompetence and unsuitability is masked by Populism. 

Of course nothing will stop The Earthquakes or Volcanoes. Or Extremes of weather. But We can minimise the effects, for there are efforts being made. We can support those, and not listen to those babbling about socialism a subject they evidently know nothing about.

And there is the adage to remember which seems to be have many origins and is still being passed down:

“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness” 

One person’s small efforts then? The intolerant still haven’t got the notion that ‘Snowflake’ is the stupidest insult ever. Why do they they think blizzards are comprised of? How do they think they can’t get their fancy cars out and about? Lots and lots and lots of snowflakes then?

Or lots of folk with little trowels working away, all together.

That’s how you actual drain a swamp.

Assuming draining the swamp is a good idea.

And by the way. If you do hit someone or throw something at them, don’t complain if they return the action. Those who start something don’t always get to be the ones to write the final script.

And to repeat; because some folk just don’t get it. Nothing is easy. And for those completely shorn of sense. Not everything that happens in this world is the result of a conspiracy.

Do something positive, help someone in some way. 

It’s a start.

Look at the above. We have to start, somewhere.

9th August 1945 Nagasaki. A Place Where War Can Take You.

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WAR & CONFLICT BOOKERA: WORLD WAR II/WAR IN THE EAST/JAPAN

The remains of a temple overlooking Nagasaki August 1945

There was a time in the USA when if anyone outside of the various Strategic Command units had heard of Nagasaki it would have probably been in relation to a novelty jazz song written by Warren & Dixon in 1928 (and still performed):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagasaki_(song)

After the 9th August 1945 the city would be forever linked to Hiroshima. You may look around the internet and get the impression it has been fated to be an add-on to Hiroshima. A kind of tragic PS when discussing the only (thus far) use of nuclear weapons in a strategic setting. In fact if it had not been for the weather that day Kokura would have been the target. Thus there is always unpredictability in War.

The discussion on the use of the two atomic weapons still generates passion and acrimony. In a grim parallel, debate on the topic carries its own fall out. This comes from all angles and direction, from the Humanitarian to the downright shallow racism of Only America Could Be So Evil. Even some of the historical accounts of the military actions take on a certain subtext of attacking the opponents for being naïve, declaring there was no other option. Actually, there are always other options. Options always come with qualifiers, and your acceptance of those depends on the inherent complexity of your own personal views.

Now does that read as if I am dodging the question? Am I trying to skirt around matters and maybe make a subtle play for a certain point of view? Well, I might be.

Except the intention of this post is to discuss not just one war and to argue the merits or motivations of one side or another in that war. This post is about- The Logic of War.

And there it is. The Logic of War. Yes WAR has its own logic. Not one which works in civilian life and those who try and meld its mores, norms and conventions onto business practices are being very foolish indeed because they are missing out those aspects polite society does not care to dwell on.

The Killing. The plain simple fact that in the overwhelming number of wars the basic intention is to destroy the will or capability of the opposition and that is done by killing. Either in battle, raids on civilians and destruction of capacity, which involves famine by the way and more death. That however is not the first step.

The first step is the strong urge to deliver violence to another. This arises from a myriad of reasons. Acquisition of resources. Differences which come in various guises and have boiled over. Some twisted idea of a destiny. Suspicion of the other and be the first to get the punch in. And all sorts of combinations. The response is normally a violent one. One side might win the first few rounds, but WAR is a long business, even if structurally one side is overwhelmed resistance will continue at lower levels. Even Peace Treaties are but truces, sometimes between once- allies. Often though one side rides the initial blows and begins to dig in deep. By then The Logic of War has taken over, instincts for Survival, of Hatred,  of Anger and Determination take hold. The professionals trained for so long naturally have reacted as trained, the part of the population urging war, come forth, others will get swept up in this, some may try and flee, but WAR will seek them out either physically or mentally or spiritually. Death and ruination are powerful emotional actors and WAR has a long reach and it tracks folk down the years.

Amongst its myriad of horrors come the elements of locations, resources and level of industrialisation, herein lie some of the most frightening of factors which will be brought to the field.

If the war is one in which the nations are not neighbours, then to proceed it is likely they will both have strong industrial bases. Thus, the capacities and need to degrade and destroy are ramped up exponentially, as The Logic of War is now in full flow replacing anything which the ordinary day to day societies consider acceptable. After all, the nations say; this is for survival and at this stage to be effective means take to on bigger degrees of scale. Under the remorseless logic, the battlefield expands beyond the places where soldiers fight and draws in the civilians be they producers or within the community of the producers. This is actually nothing new, but the scale to cause harm and the area in which harm can be caused has increased. The Logic dictates The Whole Population are potential targets.

Depending on the structure of the society of one or more of the combatants for wars will include allies (willing or otherwise) there may well be concerns raised about the harm being meted out to the civilians. It may surprise some to read these will be raised by elements of the military, particularly those concerned with the politics of the war and the possible degradation of the moral of the fighting units. These concerns are more likely in nations with a democratic structure; although it should be born in mind that a mistake made by all totalitarian states is that democracies are weak and will fold, this they learn is an error, democracies will be fearfully ruthless in defence of their structures.

As the war moves along, the degradation of the enemy takes on a greater and greater priority, spurred on by the wish to end the war before resources are used up. By now the maintenance of The Will to continue has become a paramount. In democracies the administration is forever looking over its shoulder, in totalitarian states the imposition of The Will is ruthless, even should defeat be obvious. The larger the states at war the greater the pressures across the entire spectrum, military, economic, structural, social and so forth. The Logic again dictates Focus. The Focus is to break The Will of the other side. This will be measured not just on the traditionally measured battlefields. The nations are the battlefields; physically, mental and spiritual.

These therefore are all the dread factors of WAR laid out bare. This is what is entered into. Within the Industrialised Nations since WWII Wars have been in the form of military actions born out of politics and policy, the survival of the nations only take the form of National Prestige. This is a fragile factor. The physical survival of the nation is not at stake. The full potentials have not been called upon or tested. The Blood and Treasure costs may well have been high, but failure is an acceptable risk because the Nation itself is not the issue, only its domestic politics.

The full capacity has not been released.

When that is, one or other parties will suffer fearfully. Because the war will be prosecuted to the fullest extent. By both sides one for victory, one for survival, the roles shifting and changing. WAR is also feeding on the brutal excesses of one side or another against vulnerable non-combatant civilian in unstrategic areas. Those taking part are made to represent the entire population from whence they came. Everyone is demonised. Vengeance and retribution are required by the other side to be meted out.

And very, very few will think they have the right to stop that.

That is how it is.

To return to the opening. Today is the anniversary of the second use of a nuclear weapon. Upon this period this issue much has been written. Two works are leaving impression upon me, because they cover the subject matter of this The Logic of War

The Prompt and Utter Destruction by J Samuel Walker – This deals essentially with the decision making processes in Washington and the issues facing Truman. I respect this book because it unsettle my previous held belief that use of the Nuclear Weapon was inevitable. Remember I mentioned ‘Options’, yes there could have been ‘Options’.

140 Days to Hiroshima by David Dean Barrett  – Actually goes beyond the first use of Nuclear Weaponry and into Nagasaki’s bombing and the events following. I admit have not yet finished this book those have reached the post bombing section. It’s themes also cover the Japanese Government’s processes and insights into the rationales of the component groups within. It also deals in chilling detail with the discussions on both sides for preparation for conventional warfare. Those ‘Options’ .And opens with the description of the  horrific mass firebombing of Tokyo on the night of the 9-10 March 1945.

These books offer views into the fearful processes which are birthed in The Logic of War. They are to be read with caution because to repeat an earlier point, the ordinary patterns and conventions of Civilian Life as you know are discarded. Frankly they have taken a second place, if considered at all.

You could go deeper into the topic and chose to read from the vast number of works on WWII or simply the wars Japan felt it necessary to start, a large collection in itself. Although some would say you have to go further back into the 19th century to get a better grasp.

One simple summary. A nation felt inclined to use War as a policy. Other nations reacted. From there the whole remorseless business began. The Avalanche if you like, a force of Nature which has a small beginning but then is unstoppable. But a War is stoppable you say? I would say, no. Not when that path has been chosen. Avoidable, yes. Wars are always avoidable. The art of the task is to ensure one side does not feel there is any point in using WAR.

And the seed? The seed is The Extreme. Beware The Extreme. It is not to be dismissed, not laughed at like in Doctor Strangelove. Walk wary of The Extreme. It leads to ruins, where bodies lie, ripped, torn, burnt, twisted, where the survivors sit screaming, dying, some walking as they do.

What is done is done. The evidence of where The Logic of War drags us. There is enough of it. The Extreme though would have you believe there is always a simple and glorious solution. The Extreme always lies. Therein lie The Crimes.

In comparison WAR is a simple being. What You See Is What You Get.