Click on pic - original instigator is Tom Paine
Sunday, November 11, 2007
[technorati] don't fix what ain't broke
Ordovicius is quite rightly seriously annoyed about Technorati's act of ritual suicide:
Earlier this year Technorati adopted a new system, whereby a blog's authority would no longer reflect how many all time links it has, but only those of the last six months. The overwhelming response to this from bloggers has been a "Screw you, technorati", and the removal of links to technorati itself.
Technorati don't give a toss for what blogs are trying to do and I hope they [Technorati] either see the light and amend their ways or else go down in a screamng heap with Facebook.
Not everyone agrees. Ian Kallen says:
Technorati authority is not a monotonically ascending value, it has a time component. Since Summer of 2006 Technorati authority has been based on a rolling 180 day window counting unique blogs linking to a blog. That hasn't changed. Authority drops when links age out and new ones aren't coming in to replace them or when there are data corrections (for instance, spam blogs or data duplication removals). There was a post on the Technorati blog about the various count metrics last year, see Making Sense of Link Counts.I have other gripes with Technorati. My profile is all wrong, they persist in saying I am hugh jensen or might be so, when I am neither and I've written e-mail after e-mail about it, all ignored. This blogger, vis a vis Technorati, is not a happy chappy.
[monday, november 11th, 1918] pray for humanity
Armistice Day, Veteran's Day, Remembrance Day
Hawks, backed and abetted by the finance, have always prearranged wars long before the opening salvos.
Nowhere was this more glaringly obvious than in The Great War, a term which already had currency in the corridors of power long before the due date. Even Buchan admitted as much in The Thirty Nine Steps [available online].
The Schieffen Plan
For complicated reasons you can read yourselves, the Germans were long harbouring a desire to punish France and for what? Because France had punished them for a wrong which they had perpetrated on France and so on.
This is the eternal cycle of war so beloved of two classes – the aristocracy and the old money of Europe.
Some speculate that if Helmuth von Moltke the Younger has not lost his nerve, Germany might have shortened the war but I think not. Historians almost always fail to take into account the invisible factor in all public life – the Old Finance.
So the long drawn out and extremely lucrative conflict and devastation of the common man was very much anticipated.
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger
French Plan XVII
It is erroneous to suppose that the French were the poor victims in this.
Almost immediately following her defeat by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, together with the humiliating annexation by the newly unified Germany of the coal-rich territories of Alsace and Lorraine, the French government and military alike were united in thirsting for revenge.
To this end the French devised a strategy for a vengeful war upon Germany, Plan XVII, whose chief aim was the defeat of Germany and the restoration of Alsace and Lorraine. The plan was fatally flawed, and relied to an untenable extent upon the "élan" which was believed to form an integral part of the French army - an irresistible force that would sweep over its enemies.
Like Caesar's Soothsayer
It wasn't that no one spoke out:
A few dissident intellectuals in Europe had been trying to warn their nations about how different a war among the great industrial powers of Europe would be from wars of the previous century.
This has always been the way and even now the kudos of this very blog has suffered and jokes are made about the “conspiracy theorist” proprietor - why? Because this blog tries to warn the sphere of the impending war - Merkel's War – but that's another story.
And so to Compiègne
This photograph was taken in the forest of Compiègne after reaching an agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. This railcar was given to Ferdinand Foch for military use by the manufacturer, Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Foch is second from the right.
I sometimes imagine that meeting in the forest of Compiegne after all the trench warfare, the slaughter and massive dislocation imposed on a bewildered and yet highly patriotic people.
It was 4.30 in the morning of Monday, November 11th in France and perhaps they'd travelled from Paris via Foch's special train, rugged up for the occasion.
Think for a moment what it would have looked like and felt like that morning.
The German delegation crossed the front line in five cars and was escorted for ten hours across the devastated warzone of Northern France (perhaps, they speculated, to focus their minds on the lack of sympathy they could expect[citation needed]). They were then entrained and taken to the secret destination, Foch's railway siding in the forest of Compiègne.
Telegrams were passed to and from the German team:
Erzberger apparently attempted to take negotiations to the limit of the 72 hours Foch had offered Hindenburg, but an open telegram from Berlin imploring him to sign immediately somewhat undermined his team's credibility.
Ebert was desperate, facing imminent insurrection in many large German cities. Signatures were made between 5:12 AM and 5:20 AM, Paris time.
How it affected some people
Colonel Percy Dobson wrote:
Penultimate
At 11:00 a.m. this day, we put down whatever we're doing and remember long-suffering humanity who have had to endure these things and especially the brave men and women who gave their lives to defend their homes and families from totally unnecessary and indefensible aggression.
Hawks, backed and abetted by the finance, have always prearranged wars long before the opening salvos.
Nowhere was this more glaringly obvious than in The Great War, a term which already had currency in the corridors of power long before the due date. Even Buchan admitted as much in The Thirty Nine Steps [available online].
The Schieffen Plan
For complicated reasons you can read yourselves, the Germans were long harbouring a desire to punish France and for what? Because France had punished them for a wrong which they had perpetrated on France and so on.
This is the eternal cycle of war so beloved of two classes – the aristocracy and the old money of Europe.
Some speculate that if Helmuth von Moltke the Younger has not lost his nerve, Germany might have shortened the war but I think not. Historians almost always fail to take into account the invisible factor in all public life – the Old Finance.
So the long drawn out and extremely lucrative conflict and devastation of the common man was very much anticipated.
Helmuth von Moltke the YoungerFrench Plan XVII
It is erroneous to suppose that the French were the poor victims in this.
Almost immediately following her defeat by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, together with the humiliating annexation by the newly unified Germany of the coal-rich territories of Alsace and Lorraine, the French government and military alike were united in thirsting for revenge.
To this end the French devised a strategy for a vengeful war upon Germany, Plan XVII, whose chief aim was the defeat of Germany and the restoration of Alsace and Lorraine. The plan was fatally flawed, and relied to an untenable extent upon the "élan" which was believed to form an integral part of the French army - an irresistible force that would sweep over its enemies.
Like Caesar's Soothsayer
It wasn't that no one spoke out:
A few dissident intellectuals in Europe had been trying to warn their nations about how different a war among the great industrial powers of Europe would be from wars of the previous century.
This has always been the way and even now the kudos of this very blog has suffered and jokes are made about the “conspiracy theorist” proprietor - why? Because this blog tries to warn the sphere of the impending war - Merkel's War – but that's another story.
And so to Compiègne
This photograph was taken in the forest of Compiègne after reaching an agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. This railcar was given to Ferdinand Foch for military use by the manufacturer, Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Foch is second from the right.I sometimes imagine that meeting in the forest of Compiegne after all the trench warfare, the slaughter and massive dislocation imposed on a bewildered and yet highly patriotic people.
It was 4.30 in the morning of Monday, November 11th in France and perhaps they'd travelled from Paris via Foch's special train, rugged up for the occasion.
Think for a moment what it would have looked like and felt like that morning.
The German delegation crossed the front line in five cars and was escorted for ten hours across the devastated warzone of Northern France (perhaps, they speculated, to focus their minds on the lack of sympathy they could expect[citation needed]). They were then entrained and taken to the secret destination, Foch's railway siding in the forest of Compiègne.
Telegrams were passed to and from the German team:
Matthias Erzberger, a civilian politician;... to both the German Army Chief of Staff Paul von Hindenburg in Spa and the hastily assembled civilian government of Friedrich Ebert in Berlin.
Count Alfred von Oberndorff, from the Foreign Ministry;
Major General Detlev von Winterfeldt, the army; and
Captain Ernst Vanselow, the navy.
[General Weygand and General von Gruennel are not mentioned in the French document]
Erzberger apparently attempted to take negotiations to the limit of the 72 hours Foch had offered Hindenburg, but an open telegram from Berlin imploring him to sign immediately somewhat undermined his team's credibility.
Ebert was desperate, facing imminent insurrection in many large German cities. Signatures were made between 5:12 AM and 5:20 AM, Paris time.
How it affected some peopleColonel Percy Dobson wrote:
It was hard to believe the war was over. Everything was just the same, tired troops everywhere and cold drizzly winter weather- just the same as if the war were still on.Stephen Longstreet, in the Canvas Falcons (1970), wrote:
On that November 11, 1918, morning, another flier, Capitaine Jacques Leps, commander of the French 18th Squadron, sat in his Spad. He was about to take off with his fliers and their planes, all marked with the insignia of a leaping hare chased by a greyhound. The engines were turning over, the props spinning silver.
It was time to get into the air, to escort a major bombing raid on Metz. As Leps raised his arm to signal the take-off, someone came running from the airdrome's communication room, running agitatedly, arms waving.
"La guerre!! C'est finie, la guerre!"
Jaques Leps took in the heart-bursting news. He switched off the Spad's engine. The engines of the rest of his fliers went silent, one by one, as the cry "C'est finie, la guerre!" spread throughout the field. Capitaine Leps unfastened his safety belt and slowly got out of his cockpit.
PenultimateAt 11:00 a.m. this day, we put down whatever we're doing and remember long-suffering humanity who have had to endure these things and especially the brave men and women who gave their lives to defend their homes and families from totally unnecessary and indefensible aggression.
Lovely piece on the issue from the Domestik Goddess who writes of singer-songwriter Terry Kelly, who witnessed an act of philistinism:
On the stroke of 11:00, all the store fell silent.All, that is, except for one man, who was accompanied by his little daughter. Oblivious of the example he was setting for the child, the man continued to try to talk to the sales clerk all through the respectful silence.
Terry Kelly did what artists have always done, in the grip of the strongest emotions — he channelled his anger into his music.
I have a copy of the Last Post and will play it during that time. What I love about this day is that it brings all of us together - American, Canadian, Britain, Commonwealth and many others.
Finally
Do not forget the modern German either - he is as much against this madness as any of us. He is not to be excluded from this remembrance day. Many of the British recognize this new reality and it seems to me to be a good step towards the ultimate exclusion of war as a means of resolving disputes.
Late update - check Juliet's post - it really brings it home. Also, a series from Jams, of which this is the last.
Finally
Do not forget the modern German either - he is as much against this madness as any of us. He is not to be excluded from this remembrance day. Many of the British recognize this new reality and it seems to me to be a good step towards the ultimate exclusion of war as a means of resolving disputes.
Late update - check Juliet's post - it really brings it home. Also, a series from Jams, of which this is the last.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
[armistice day] the story behind it
We all know about poppies, the day is celebrated around the world and yet do you know the actual story? The aim of this post, a collation of about ten articles, is to bring together the story in one package.It was prepared for Russian students and thus repeats many things you yourselves know full well so please forgive that. It is also one of the primary reasons I see no justification for wars being declared. This is not to say we shouldn't be prepared - we should and with the best equipment.
I'm referring to the ruling donkeys deciding that a jolly good war is in order and to hell with the lives of countless young people. Sorry if this makes me hot under the collar.
June 28th, 1914
The events of July and early August 1914 are a classic case of "one thing led to another".
The explosive which was World War One had been long in the stockpiling; the spark was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, at Sarajevo's Town Hall on 28 June 1914.
Ferdinand's death at the hands of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, set in train a mindlessly mechanical series of events that culminated in the world's first global war.
One Thing Led to AnotherSo then, we have the following remarkable sequence of events that led inexorably to the 'Great War' - a name that had been touted even before the coming of the conflict.
Austria-Hungary, dissatisfied with Serbia's placatory response to her ultimatum declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.
Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia, announced mobilisation of its vast army in her defence, a slow process that would take around six weeks to complete.
Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty, viewed the Russian mobilisation as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and after scant warning declared war on Russia on 1 August.
France, bound by treaty to Russia, responded by announcing war against Germany and, by extension, on Austria-Hungary on 3 August.
Germany promptly responded by invading neutral Belgium so as to reach Paris by the shortest possible route.Britain, allied to France by a more loosely worded treaty which placed a "moral obligation" upon her to defend France, declared war against Germany on 4 August.
Her reason for entering the conflict lay in another direction: she was obligated to defend neutral Belgium by the terms of a 75-year old treaty.
With Germany's invasion of Belgium on 4 August, and the Belgian King's appeal to Britain for assistance, Britain committed herself to Belgium's defence later that day. Like France, she was by extension also at war with Austria-Hungary.
With Britain's entry into the war, her colonies and dominions abroad variously offered military and financial assistance, and included Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.
United States President Woodrow Wilson declared a U.S. policy of absolute neutrality, until 1917 when Germany's submarine warfare seriously threatened America's shipping and forced the U.S. to finally enter the war on 6 April 1917.Japan, honouring a military agreement with Britain, declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914. Two days later Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Japan.
Italy, although allied to both Germany and Austria-Hungary, was able to avoid entering the fray by citing a clause enabling it to evade its obligations to both.
In short, Italy was committed to defend Germany and Austria-Hungary only in the event of a 'defensive' war; arguing that their actions were 'offensive' she declared instead a policy of neutrality.
The following year, in May 1915, she finally joined the conflict by siding with the Allies against her two former allies.
The Tangle of AlliancesSuch were the mechanics that brought the world's major nations into the war at one time or another.
What was a strictly limited and brief war - between Austria-Hungary and Serbia - rapidly escalated into something that was beyond the expectations of even the most warlike ministers in Berlin and Vienna.
Four years later, with the dead bodies of millions of young people lying in the earth and the royal houses of Europe and the generals thinking that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all, the war ended.
November 11th, 1918, at 11 a.m.
The term "armistice" means a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to peace negotiations and is always remembered in the context of the end of the First World War – the armistice was signed at 5 a.m. on November 11th, 1918, and came into effect six hours later at 11 a.m. (hence the 'eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month').
RethondesOn 8 November a German delegation met with Allied Supreme Commander Ferdinand Foch - who was to lead the military negotiations - in the forest of Compiegne, some 65 km north-east of Paris. The armistice was formally signed in Foch's railway carriage on 11 November.
The armistice initially ran for 30 days but was regularly renewed until the formal peace treaty was signed at Versailles the following year. Should the Germans have deviated in any way from the terms of the armistice the Allies would have started fighting again within 48 hours.
The French saw the terms of the Armistice and the Versailles peace treaty that followed in 1919 as too soft and tried to take everything they could from Germany. The Germans saw the terms as ‘vindictive’ and ‘humiliating’. The country however was in no condition to fight again and so reluctantly accepted these conditions.
In 1940, Hitler exacted the German revenge by forcing the French to sign an armistice - on German terms - in that exact same railway carriage.
World War 2What is Remembrance Day?
Remembrance Day is a special day, November 11th, set aside to remember all those men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and in all other conflicts around the world.
At one time the day was known as Armistice Day and was renamed Remembrance Day after the Second World War.
In America and in Britain, Remembrance Sunday is held on the second Sunday in November. Special services are held at war memorials and churches all over the world. Americans celebrate the day as Veterans Day.
Rupert Brooke - famous for his war sonnetsBut why a poppy?
Throughout the world the poppy is associated with the remembrance of those who died in order that mankind may be free, but how many of us are aware of the real reason for it?
Flanders is the name of the whole western part of Belgium. It saw some of the most concentrated and bloodiest fighting of the First World War. There was complete devastation.
Buildings, roads, trees and natural life simply disappeared. Where once there were homes and farms there was now a sea of mud - a grave for the dead where men still lived and fought.
Only one other living thing survived the million or so bodies lying dead on those fields. The poppy flowered in 1918 and kept flowering each year with the coming of the warm weather. It brought life, hope, colour and reassurance to those still fighting.
Poppies only flower in turned over soil. Their seeds can lie in the ground for years without germinating, and only grow after the ground has been disturbed.
World War 2John McCrae, a doctor serving with the Canadian Armed Forces, was so deeply moved by what he saw that he scribbled down the poem "In Flanders Fields".
Excerpt from In Flanders Fields
We are the Dead.The day before he wrote "In Flanders Fields", one of his closest friends was killed and wild poppies were already blooming between the graves where he was buried.
Short days ago we lived, felt the dawn,
Saw sunset glow, loved, and were loved
And now we lie in Flanders fields.
If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep,
Though poppies grow in Flanders Fields.
Here is a fragment of another poem by Englishman Laurence Binyon, from 1914, which is read out at most of today’s services around the world:
‘They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old:Poppy Day
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.’
The first actual Poppy Day was held in Britain on November 11th, 1921, was a national success and so has continued every November since.
Two Minutes SilenceThe first Two Minutes Silence was held in London in 1919. The Manchester Guardian reported:
'The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect. The tram cars glided into stillness, motors stopped dead, and the mighty horses stopped also. Someone took off his hat, and the rest of the people bowed their heads also.
An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still ... The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city. It was a silence which was almost pain ... and the spirit of memory brooded over it all.'
This two minutes silence still continues today and though not everyone stops, most do and it is still a very impressive sight.
World War 2Last Post
The army has always played a ‘bugle call’ at Reveille in the morning and at Last Post in the evening. This latter signal traditionally ends the two minute silence and is a moving experience for most people.
Today
As the old soldiers die and the young people grow up who never knew of these things, surely this ceremony has lost it’s personal meaning?
Here we come to a moot point, especially poignant in Russia. Here so many of the young have let May 9th slip away and yet more than a few of the new generation fiercely hold onto the memories of those sad individuals and families who were slaughtered.
Not with hatred for the enemy of bygone years but with determination, as distinct from lip service, that the people themselves can prevent it happening again.Would that it could be so.
[blogfocus saturday] top blogging
Who is this man?1. How's this for classic blogging:
Why?!
2. Or this:
2007 Prophecies
Remember this post?3. Or this:
Rubbish plans are "flawed", apparently.
Aren't policies which are rubbish usually flawed as well?
Bye.
[snow falls] and all is at peace - except for skidding cars crashing
Coming home earlier today, some Russian folk music was being played in the car and the snow started falling lightly outside - a very Russian scene indeed.There's no doubt that the slightest amount of snow transforms not only the viewable scene but the atmosphere becomes hushed too and a surreal effect replaces the usual city noises - people appear silently through the whiteness and pass, one's feet can't be heard and it's a strange feeling.
Unfortunately, birds become disoriented and hit windows as well, there is general mayhem on the roads and it's best to be either on foot or on the tram.
I could spend hours gazing down on it all from this warm flat but alas, there isn't time. I have to blog about it to you.
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