Category Archives: Cultural

The first day on the Somme – July 1, 1916

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FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME

The 1st July 1916 was the opening day of the Anglo-French offensive that became known as the Battle of the Somme. It was the middle day of the middle year of the First World War and is principally remembered as the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army. On the first day of the Somme 57,470 British soldiers became casualties of which 19,240 were either killed or died of their wounds. It has for many come to represent the futility and sacrifice of the First World War, with lines of infantry walking across No-Man’s-Land into the machine guns of the enemy.

The most terrible battle of the most momentous war in European history began a century ago today. As a pure coincidence, I am reading John Buchan’s Greenmantle, published itself in 1916. From Buchan’s biographical details at the start of the edition I have there is this:

During the First World War he worked as a war correspondent for The Times, before joining the British Army Intelligence Corps and writing speeches for Sir Douglas Haig. His experience of war left him vehemently opposed to armed conflict. He wrote many novels, poems, biographies, histories and works of social interest but is most famous for his Richard Hannay novels, The Thirty-Nine Steps and Greenmantle.

In its own way a story that has a modern veneer but you will see why the BBC began and then abandoned a dramatisation of the book in 2007 from this para from the summary of the book on the back cover of my edition of the novel.

The Germans with their Turkish allies are planning to stir up a revolt in the Muslim world that could leave Egypt, India and North Africa in disarray.

The EU was intended to bring such conflicts to an end. History, however, remains open ended as it will and must always be.

UPDATE: The Daily Mail commemorative gallery marking the day in England.Here is how the battle is described:

Synonymous for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of men, the Battle of the Somme was one of the most controversial conflicts of the First World War.

The battle took place North of the River Somme in France from July 1 to November 13, 1916.

On the first day alone British forces suffered casualties of 40,000 and deaths of 20,000, with 60 per cent of all of those killed being officers.

Designed to relieve pressure on French forces at Verdun, the Battle was the mastermind of General Douglas Haig and involved 750,000 British soldiers across 27 divisions.

By the end of the bloody and brutal battle Allied forces had managed to capture only six miles of land. The British suffered 429,000 casualties, the French suffered 195,000 and the Germans 650,000.

Prior to the battle the British bombarded German lines with 1.6 million shells in an effort to weaken their resolve, but the Germans were heavily fortified and many of the shells did not go off.

Haig, unaware of his bombardment’s failure, was so confident in his tactics that he ordered his men to walk across the battlefield. As a result many were tragically mowed down by machine gun fire as soon as they left their trench.

The general’s tactics remain controversial to this day with military historians, soldiers and biographers conflicted over whether his decisions were necessary or foolhardy.

If ever there was a war to end all wars, this was it. We now know no such war exists. Those who would live in peace must therefore always prepare for war.

Is it possible to be too cynical in politics?

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We shall see what Brexit means to this modern generation even among those who supported it. When it comes to politics one can never be too cynical. See below.

From John Derbyshire:

@hen Britain is at last out of the EU, will her leaders finally get control over Third World immigration? It’s by no means certain.

Following the announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron that he will resign, there is speculation that he’ll be replaced by Boris Johnson, the former Mayor of London, who campaigned for Brexit.

Well, it’s nice that Johnson helped to make Brexit happen. But on immigration in general, he apparently favors open borders. When Mayor of London he made gushing speeches about what a gorgeous ethnic tapestry the city has become. [Boris Johnson’s acceptance speech after being declared mayor of London, The Guardian, May 3, 2008]

We must now wait upon events.

The deeper meaning of Brexit

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Brexit feels like a genuine turning point for the better of some significance. Not just unexpected in the sense of not forecast, but unexpected because we social conservatives expect the world to blunder from one low point to the next. Perhaps a false dawn, but at least it has the look of a brighter possible future. It is why those of us on the Brexit side are as happy as we are, since nothing like this has been on anyone’s radar for quite some time.

And if the young really think that this is for them to decide and not for anyone who will not share their glorious future in the latter half of the century, then their shallowness is all the more profound, since they are not counting in all of the generations past who have made England what it is. This is from James Delingpole who said it better than anyone on the day before the vote was taken.

My American friends asked me the other day what exactly I meant by Britishness. For me, though, all it means is a heartfelt sympathy with our island story – 1066; Magna Carta; the Civil War; the Glorious Revolution; Waterloo; 1940 “Our Finest Hour”; and so on; and an appreciation of the achievements of the heroes and heroines who made it possible, from Alfred the Great through to Queen Elizabeth I, from Shakespeare to Elgar, from Florence Nightingale and Isambard Kingdom Brunel to Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

My grandparents had been born in Poland and I grew up in Canada. But when I went to Agincourt and Crécy in 2014, I was celebrating battles that WE had won, just as I felt as I travelled along the Western Front towards Paris, visiting Fromelles and Vimy Ridge where WE – this time an Australian and Canadian WE – had fought. The great tragedy for our young is that they do not have any of this tradition made part of them. But some of them do and some of it is left and some of it will continue. We speak English and still read Shakespeare in Australia for a reason. Sydney and Melbourne are named after two peers of the realm. I live in Victoria. We have a heritage and a tradition that goes back a thousand years to the British Isles which is, of course, married to an indigenous tradition as well. Brexit has salvaged some of that for the future. It will now be up to others either to throw it away for no possible gain I can see, or preserve our past and our history for themselves and for those who come long after.

See EU later – they’re out

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brexit headlines

The papers of the left – the Mirror and Guardian – clearly wanted to stay while The Times stayed neutral. The rest wanted to leave. A definite left-right split.

And on the morning after? Listening to the BBC commentary, it is Labour and the Greens who are most downcast while it is the UKIP and the Tories who are obviously pleased beyond measure, although David Cameron might be in a spot of bother. Listenting to the grizzling on the BBC, the left even admits how hard it is to get medical services or to buy housing but just think they ought to increase medical service and have built more houses without a thought to the migration that had been a big part of the problem. And, of course, Obama wanted the UK to remain, so add that to the total.

And while they are different parts of the Anglosphere, the results do have a bearing on the American presidential election, and even on our own. National sovereignty still matters.

No comments here, but continue on the main Brexit thread.

“It’s been a long time since the media in this country told the truth about anything”

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From Stacy McCain: [Redacted] Is a Religion of Peace.

The Obama administration and the liberal media have decided that when a radical Islamic terrorist kills Americans, the one thing the narrative cannot be about is radical Islamic terrorism. It’s OK to talk about the Orlando massacre in terms of homophobia, gun control or “toxic masculinity,” but don’t you dare mention Islam. Don’t mention that Omar Mateen was a registered Democrat, or that he’s the son of an immigrant from Afghanistan or that his father supports the Taliban.

This obvious pro-Muslim bias has become increasingly blatant:

Justice Department Replaces ‘Allah’ With ‘God’ in Censored Orlando Terrorist Transcript
— Katie Pavlich, Townhall

FBI Omitted ISIS From Orlando 911 Transcript
— Mary Chastain, Legal Insurrection

FBI releases 911 transcripts of Omar Mateen — with references to ISIS omitted
— Allahpundit, Hot Air

The media would have you believe that this sensitivity is necessary because, if radical Islamic terrorism were identified as the cause of a gruesome mass murder, Americans would be seized by irrational “Islamophobia” and commit hate crimes against random brown people. In fact, the reason that the administration and the media are so intent on downplaying the role of Islam is because they are afraid that if they told the truth, people might vote Republican in November.

Therefore, the media won’t tell the truth. Then again, it’s been a long time since the media in this country told the truth about anything.

The Israeli left is insane

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Does anyone have an explanation for this? It is one thing if you think there are votes in it so you make it part of your platform. It’s insane, but if you thought voters would like it, then you do it. But how does this make any kind of sense as a secret deal? This is the full story at the link: Secret Deal Exposed Between Israeli Opposition Leader Yitzhak Herzog and Abbas.

Link to original story

Isaac Herzog, opposition leader in the Knesset and head of the Zionist Union, held secret meetings with a representative of Palestinian Authority President Abbas last year that yielded a shocking agreement that would have turned the Middle East upside down.

A paper of understanding that was exposed Sunday night by Channel 10 News shows that MK Isaac Herzog, chairman of the Zionist Camp, who conducted extensive meetings with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas before the March 2015 elections, agreed to hand over all of Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem to a Palestinian State, and reached a deal on letting Arab refugees come back to live inside 1967 Israel. The negotiations with Abbas were conducted in secret between retired Brigadier General and former MK and Minister Ephraim Sneh and a senior PA official. It should be noted that during the weeks just before the March 17 elections, the polls showed the Zionist Camp edging out Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party, and the plan back then was seen as the shape of things to come in the most realistic way.

On the issue of the borders between Israel and Palestine, Herzog agreed to giving up 100% of the post 1967 territories, with an allowance for a mere 4% of Israeli settlements staying put in exchange for comparable land in pre-1967 Israel to be handed to the Palestinians. Eastern Jerusalem was going to become the capital of Palestine, but the two halves of the city would share municipal responsibilities. Temple Mount would be turned over to an international monitoring force, but Israel would have retained its hold on the Western Wall.

The Arab refugees were going to be taken care of based on UN resolution 194, with some being allowed back into Israel and the rest receiving financial compensation for the lands they left behind.

Israel was going to maintain a symbolic presence in the Jordan Valley, including two armored bases, and terrorism would be handled by a combined force made up of Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis.

In response to the revelation, MK Herzog’s office released a statement saying, “In my contacts with the Palestinian Authority Chairman in 2014 I made an effort to reach understandings that would have prevented the wave of terror which I predicted, just as I am working now to prevent a situation where the abandoning of a regional conference on the part of the extreme right-wing government won’t bring on us the next war. After the rounds of the almost annual wars and funerals of the past decade I am no longer prepared to listen to the mantra that says we can defeat every threat with only military force.”

The Western left is on a suicide mission and will take us all down with them if we let them. We are dealing with the insane. All of their dreams and beliefs have been shattered by reality and it seems to me they are looking for an Armageddon to end it all. And more bizarrely than anything, Herzog does not deny it:

In response to the revelation, MK Herzog’s office released a statement saying, “In my contacts with the Palestinian Authority Chairman in 2014 I made an effort to reach understandings that would have prevented the wave of terror which I predicted, just as I am working now to prevent a situation where the abandoning of a regional conference on the part of the extreme right-wing government won’t bring on us the next war. After the rounds of the almost annual wars and funerals of the past decade I am no longer prepared to listen to the mantra that says we can defeat every threat with only military force.”

These people are crazier than anyone I have ever come across in my life. He did it because this would get Obama to endorse the Israeli Labor Party at the election. He would thus have sold out his country for short-term political advantage. That Obama would be willing to sell Israel down the river is, of course, old news.