Good morning world, welcome to Mt Gambier, South Australia, Australia, Southern Hemisphere, Third Rock from the Sun, in the unfashionable part of the Milky Way...and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space because there's bugger-all down here on earth...(is there any other quote you want to steal from Monty Python, 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe', or anyone else?-Ed)...
Well actually, yes...'we shall fight them on the beaches'...(I suppose that's your asylum Seeker/Refugee policy-Ed)...well yes, but hey, stop spoiling my punchlines...and actually I was also referring to Gallipoli, El Alamein, Singapore, and Afghanistan....(you're gonna' have to explain that one-Ed)...with displeasure...
As possibly mentioned in a previous post re ANZAC Day, Winston "We'll fight them on the beaches" Churchill, British Prime Minister during the Second World War, was also the 'lead' architect of the Dardenelles campaign during the First World War...and this included Gallipoli where Australian, New Zealand, and other 'Commonwealth' countries' soldiers were sent to die so as to distract the Turkish army whilst British troops landed elsewhere...and didn't that work out a treat.
And now we are encouraged as a nation to 'Commemorate' these atrocious losses sustained and caused as we invaded another country..."Dulce et Decorum Est, Pro Patria Mori"...was it Rupert Brookes?...(geez, I don't know-Ed)...check your WWI poets, but I'm fairly sure it was Rupert, "Dulce et Decorum Est"...
"It is Good and Glorious to Die for King and Country", or so the story goes.
Many hold Winston Churchill up to be a 'saviour' of the British Empire, but it must be acknowledged that his involvement in the Colonial aspirations of the British were exactly the mentality and behaviours that set the foundations for the Second World War, and any number of modern conflicts.
Parts of the Middle East and North Africa have been repeatedly ploughed through by various 'Empires', over millenia, before Germany, Italy, and Britain tore it all up in the 1940s...European Empires brawling over global interests in 'Occupied' countries, often whilst running the line that they are saving the locals from the bad guys...but who are the bad guys?...and who will save us from the saviours?...
And the same strategies and attitudes prevailed in the North African theatre, namely, Colonial troops, and that's my Grandpa, were used to distract enemy forces, so that 'British' troops could achieve proposed outcomes with minimal losses...(please explain-Ed)...sure...at El Alamein, Australian foot soldiers were used as bait to draw German tank units out of a strong defensive line and allow 'British' forces to attack elsewhere with greatly reduced resistance...(oh-Ed)...yes, oh...
Australians were sent directly from other battles, without respite, and ordered literally under the tracks of Panzer units as part of a 'Master Plan'...mind you, the Aussies had already spent plenty of time literally under Panzers at Tobruk and elsewhere, where forward spotters in narrow trenches would call in artillery, etc, on German units, and would be then literally ducking for cover as the German tanks rolled across those same trenches...brave doesn't begin to describe it...
The British have been flogging around Afghanistan for centuries without any definable success, and the current conflict that we call the War in Afghanistan is internally viewed as the latest attempt to occupy the country by a foreign power...and again Australian troops are involved...and why?...why the shrek are Australians dying and/or killing in a foreign country on the other side of the globe?...(rhetorical question?-Ed)...rhetorical question...
These same Colonial loyalties and manipulations continue to dominate the decision processes of our politicians...it's absolutely pathetic...and yes I'm looking at you former Prime Minister John Howard...our involvement in Afghanistan is about fulfilling allegiance requirements and broadening the 'moral base' of the invasion/intervention.
(The Moral base?...please explain-Ed)...sure...the more countries involved the better, because it allows statements about the 'Global' agreement that action must be taken, blah, blah, blah...
Granted, those allegiances are currently as much with the USofA as with Britain, but the conditions and motivations are the same...and these modern parameters of allegiance have seen Australians in Korea, Vietnam, etc, as we support our 'Allies'...
And again, in Vietnam for example, what we call 'The Vietnam War' is referred to as 'The American War', and followed on from 'The French War' and various other conflicts involving European occupiers...the culture of self defence (that we often describe as 'resistance') is deeply ingrained in countries like Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, and not least of all because of what we as 'Westerners' have done.
It is this exact structure of allegiances that, coupled with the 'Empire building mentality', dragged countries into World War One...again, check your history books...(although it is also said that the winners write history, so fact is sometimes viewed through a lens of ideology and/or to be politically expedient-Ed)...indeed...
For example, much is made of what a monster Adolf Hitler was (albeit true), but very little is said of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin because he was our ally, and we won, and so we tend not to mention the 10s of millions of people Stalin murdered, many of them his own citizens...
And allegations that these Colonial attitudes and behaviours are repeatedly re-surfacing in conflicts in Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, Egypt, etc, are completely understandable.
But these are discussions/debates well away from the point of this post..(which is...?-Ed)...which is...that when the Japanese surged across Asia in 1940/41, they completely outflanked and outmanouvered British forces in Singapore, and the British surrendered en masse.
But they didn't just surrender Singapore, they officially 'wrote-off' Australia...(wrote-off?-Ed)...yes, wrote-off, abandoned, betrayed, call it what you will...the British conceded that Australia was a lost cause and cut us loose...and it was the Americans, requiring a base in the South Pacific, whom came to our aid.
This does not detract from the fact that Australian troops in New Guinea were the first to defeat Japanese forces in WWII.
And this 'abandonement' didn't stop the British using Australian troops repeatedly as cannon fodder to pursue/defend their Imperial agenda...
And what of the Aboriginal soldiers who were considered good enough to die for a King who didn't legally recognise them as actual human beings in the Country we stole from them...(geez, it just gets better and better-Ed)....indeed...
I am at least half British...a bit of Scot, a bit Irish, a bit English, etc...and my ancestors have repeatedly gone the hard yards in these conflicts on foreign shores...and so I have no reservations in both taking responsibility and de-crying the truth...
So don't tell me that this latest manifestation of the above attitude that is called baby prince George is my King to rule over me...no offence little fella, but you ain't no King of mine...not now, not ever...
And even as we speak, Queen Elizabeth is leaning on the English parliament to legislate permanently the 'Continuance of the Monarchy' along lines of birth...Chuck, Eddy, and George...as opposed to the current multi-nation forum style arrangement for choosing the Monarch...I was surprised to learn that this 'voting' set-up even existed, but there you go...Lizzy'll fix it...fix it for good.
Tomorrow: That Housekeeping I Promised
Council gets a serve, along with Forestry, Fishery, and the hilarious tomfoolery of the DeBelle Inquiry...and probably just enough time left over for covering the latest slaughter in Syria, Egypt, and the Western Caucuses (Europe)...(oh, yay, yes hopefully there's enough time for that-Ed)...
I am Nick Fletcher and for all my whinging, I'd still rather be writing this here my blog here in Australia than any other country on earth...no offence world, but this is my home and I love it...
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