A Churchillian Premonition
Dateline: Pre-war Britain 1936
If one can imagine standing on a rooftop on the outskirts of London after the Battle of Britain during the summer and fall of 1940, it may be possible to envision the devastation left by German Luftwaffe. It would take a much closer view to see the real devastation left in the lives of thousands of Britons. How did the politicians who failed to act in 1935, 36, 37, 38, and 39 console themselves when they looked at the carnage they could have, perhaps, prevented? Let us trust that it was more than a ‘shift the blame game.’ If politicians in the United States cannot learn from Mr. Churchill’s remarks in 1935, perhaps they can find the key to self-consolation used by latter British Parliamentarians who heeded not his warnings then; for the day, now, when Iran unleashes its nuclear wrath on civilian Israel or perhaps, the United States.“Two things, I confess, have staggered me, after a long Parliamentary experience, in these Debates. The first has been the dangers that have so swiftly come upon us in a few years, and have been transforming our position and the whole outlook of the world. Secondly, I have been staggered by the failure of the House of Commons to react effectively against these dangers. That, I am bound to say, I never expected. I would never have believed that we should have been allowed to go on getting into this plight, month by month and year by year, and that even the Government’s own confessions of error would have produced no concentration of Parliamentary opinion and force capable of lifting our efforts to the level of emergency.”[i]
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| Air Observer over London |
I applaud with great enthusiasm those who have raised the banner of alarm and have declared the urgency of these days. I overwhelmingly support our military men and women.
Look back to the world in 1936 when Winston Churchill understood the nature of the time. Here is a brief timeline provided by Holocaust Encyclopedia[ii]:
September 18, 1931
Japan invades Manchuria.
October 2, 1935–May 1936
Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia.
October 25–November 1, 1936
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25; on November 1, the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced.
November 25, 1936
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
Only two ‘shooting wars’ had erupted briefly; one in Manchuria the other in Ethiopia. Fast forward to 2012 and compare it to the timeline NPR provides of the “Arab Spring”[iii]
December 2010 January 2011
Tunisian President toppled after violent demonstrations.
Dissent begins in Egypt (January 2011)
February 2011
Mass protests in Yemen – President promised to step down at the end of his term
Mubarak steps down as Egyptian President
Violence in Bahrain quelled by military intervention from Saudi Arabia
Libya ignites in violence
March 2011
Libya rebels in control –
Syrians rise up against violent Assad regime – Assad begins program of mass murder against civilian dissidents and innocents
NATO and US authorize airstrikes in Libya in attempt to force Gadhafi out
June 2011
Yemeni President Saleh is badly injured in explosion at presidential compound – leaves the country
August 2011
Mubarak on trial
Rebels in Libya enter Tripoli
October 2011
Gadhafi killed
Tunisian elections – Islamic party Ennahda wins
November 2011
Bahrain report shows government tortured dissidents
Muslim Brotherhood – extreme Islamic party takes lead in Egyptian elections
December 2011
5000 Syrians believed murdered by Assad regime since ‘Spring’ began.
June 2012
Mohamed Morsy, of the Egyptian Brotherhood declared the next president of Egypt after receiving 51% of the vote.[iv]
21,435 Syrians believed murdered by Assad regime since ‘Spring’ began.[v]
Currently, Russia is providing tanks and military helicopters to Assad in Syria for “self-defense” according to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.[vi] Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State under Richard Nixon) described the Syrian civil war as an unfortunate event, a human catastrophe. Russia and Iran have ensconced themselves in the Syrian Civil War backing Assad and leveraging Hamas and the Palestinians to increase their strangle hold on the region, particularly isolating Israel.
Thomas Donnelly writes,
“Obama has insisted that the ‘tide of war’ in the Middle East is ‘receding.’ It’s not just that American troops have been withdrawn from Iraq, are being more rapidly withdrawn from Afghanistan, or were not employed on the ground in Libya. It’s the President’s belief that they need not – should not – be used again. This is an unrealistic belief.”[vii](Emphasis added)
June 23, 2012 Syrian forces shot down a Turkish jet that was in international air space and some NATO countries are meeting at the request of Turkey to prepare a response to the unprovoked attack. Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi declared the attack to be “unacceptable” and announced that Italy would be part of the NATO meeting with Turkey.[viii]
Twenty-three Hamas rockets were fired into Israel just yesterday (June 23, 2012) bringing the total since Monday to 150 not including the armed incursions and the fire fights between IDF and Hamas forces.
The Russian proffered ‘talks’ for nuclear weapon pull-back with Iran have had no success and Tehran remains recalcitrant about their desire to ‘wipe Israel off the map’ as well as attack and destroy ‘the big Satan’ the United States.
What will it take? A Blitzkrieg across Poland and the opening of camps like Chelmno (Kulmhof) and Auschwitz? A public commitment to “the Final Solution”? (No, wait, we have that already!) Another 9/11?
Oh, but to find in our leaders both in Washington, the states and in each home and family good leaders. There are some. They must associate or they will, as Edmund Burke warns, ‘fall one by one.’ Who will hear Mr. Churchill’s admonition? Who will answer the call? My prayer is that when the events of history record this time, I will be known to have taken my stand together with other good citizens and drawn that line against which evil must not be allowed to cross.“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.“[ix]
[Dr. Ross L. Riggs Global Security Consulting a subsidiary of Security Consulting Investigations, LLC www.homelandsecuritynet.com/HSN/ www.globalsecurityconsulting.us]
[i]
Churchill, Winston remarks to the House of Commons, November 1936 as
recorded by William Kristol and Jamie Fly in “No Iranian Nukes” The Weekly Standard June 25, 2012
[ii] http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007306
[iii] http://www.npr.org/2012/01/02/144489844/timeline-the-major-events-of-the-arab-spring
[iv] Jerusalem Post on-line June 26, 2012 jpost.com/headlines
[v] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Civil_War_%282011%E2%80%93present%29
[vi] Donnelly, Thomas “Obama Fiddles” The Weekly Standard June 25, 2012
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] Jerusalem Post on-line June 26, 2012 jpost.com/headlines
[ix] Burke, Edmond Thoughts on the Cause of the Current Discontents (1770)
