A clear way to understand the RUS-UKR war: actions (ignore words) to date indicate the Germans particularly see Russia as the status quo power (esp for cheap & reliable energy) and view the Anglo-Poland bloc’s support for Ukraine as the stuff of revolutionary powers #RealPolitik
Before everyone reading this piles on the Germans, they are the human shields for much of the European Union’s quiet thinking – who are very unenthusiastic about a long war over Ukraine in the east that produces nothing for the EU but refugees and rebuilding costs.
Statesmen have a duty to pursue their national interests & protect their people. What is in the interests of the Anglo-Americans and the Poles, may not be seen in the same way from Paris and Berlin. There is no shame and only wisdom in recognising this #RealPolitik
Even the United States, with all its immense power, must deal with the reality that Israel and Saudi Arabia not to mention India, all see no reason why they should have to be anti-Russia. I have not yet got to Turkey, with whom Russia will want an understanding over the Black Sea
I am often criticised here for posting old maps & going on about historical issues but, perhaps, there is a reason that older, and wiser, men considered these places to be so important - and would have seen surrendering any influence in the Hellespont and Black Sea as insane?
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
My deepest take on Boris - apart from the fact he is what he has always been, for good or ill - is that every guy who went to a private school knew someone like Boris, who, no matter what he did, always survived by dint of persona & he almost enjoyed a series of near expulsions.
I will not be adding further to this obviously deep and reflective analysis.
Boris was not in the Chapel or Cadet unit at school & was probably the hooker in the Rugby team who lost the ball when taking a tap restart ... what probably makes Boris a very good politician, though, is his anti-David Cameron aspects, albeit David Cameron is the much better guy
Good morning all & OTD in 1944, Operation OVERLORD commences with a massive naval and air bombardment of German positions, concurrent with Allied paratrooper and glider landings in occupied France, as well as Allied landings on the beaches and cliffs of Normandy. #DDay
Captain "Mad Jack" Churchill wades ashore on #DDay with his 'Claymore' sword in hand, ready to face the Hun!
The Canadians played an invaluable role on #DDay which is, in a very Canadian way, modestly never mentioned - but the Canadians survived Dieppe & without the lessons learned there, likely D-Day has terrible casualties and/or fails.
Good morning all & OTD in 1916, the Battle of Jutland commenced in the North Sea between the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet & the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet. It would end indecisively albeit the German fleet would not challenge the Royal Navy's command of the sea again.
The hero of Jutland was Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, RN (1859-1935), later the 1st Earl Jellicoe, the hero of Jutland & a methodical, quiet but determined - and very popular with his sailors - leader by his good example
Commend this excerpt from Andrew Gordon's "Rules of the Game" on Jellicoe as an unpretentious fighting admiral versus the showboating David Beatty who would succeed Jellicoe. Jellicoe was also 'by the book' and safe, unlike Beatty who madly risked the lives of his men for speed.
“In parallel, some of the existing coal capacities might also be used longer than initially expected, with a role for nuclear power and domestic gas resources too,” the Commission said.
Australia's black coal (very clean coal btw) trading at a near/record high. As Australia is an energy & resources superpower, we would squander our resources inheritance at great cost to ourselves and imperil our Allies who we help power in these very dangerous times.
Have been reading Heinrich Albert Rommen's "The State in Catholic Thought" - Rommen was a German lawyer who practised in the Weimar Republic, fled the Nazis in 1938, and then originally published this book as World War II was ending.
Rommen's chapter on the State and the Common Good is very interesting and deals with many issues now in the news in terms of what the State should be doing, why, and to what end.
"The ideal of youth is not the statesman, the pater patriae, but the successful money-maker or the corrupt politician, without social responsibility, as also the business executive without responsibility but to the impersonal capital interests"