Writings on History, Science, Reason, Classical Liberalism, the Alternative Future and the Philosophy of Life. Enjoy!!
Most of the posts here will largely focus on my Quora Answers as well as the Western History posts that I am working through in sequential fashion.
Please feel free to comment.
There is a very similar story from Norse mythology. It involves the archer Egil who is forced by the king Nidung to shoot at an apple placed on head of the archer’s son. The story is outlined in the Thidreks saga.
A similar tale centers around the 10th century Dane Paintoke. In this case the hero, Palnatoke (aka as Toko) is forced into the situation by the King Harald. The Paintoke saga was given more publicity in the 19th century by the famed Danish poet/playwright Adam Oehlenschläger.
A third William Tell story centers on the English archer Adam Bell who was believed to be the inspiration for Robin Hood.
Captain Joseph C. McConnell Jr. (1922–1954) of the 39th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. He had won more victory than second place James Jabara. Unfortunately for Captain McConnell (who was also a navigator in WWII) he was killed in a training accident in 1954. He is to this day the top scoring American jet fighter ace.
His accomplishments are portrayed in the 1955 movie the McConnell story staring Alan Ladd.
Source: Joseph C. McConnell Jr source: This Day in Aviation
Well to begin with the Soviet Juggernaut in the East was instrumental to winning the land battle and if it weren’t for the overwhelming production capabilities of the United States (which were impacting events even before official US entry into the war) the outcome may have been different. Cash-and-Carry and Lend-Lease were vital.
One also has to give much credit to the legion of British code breakers who not only expedited the computer revolution but also allowed the Allied brass to remain one step ahead of their German counterparts in key battle theatres (although at times the Germans did compromise Allied activities as well).
Britain did rely very heavily on the Commonwealth of Nations that framed her resource basis (in both material and man power) but what needs to be said is that one of the key factors in the wars eventual resolution was the poor decisions made by Herr Hitler at the Apex of the German command.
These include the let off at Dunkirk, key tactical errors at the Battle of Britain, the opening up of two fronts with Operation Barbarossa, the genocide campaign or Holocaust launched against Jews and other groups that drained the Reich of resources (human and otherwise), the decision to declare War against the US very soon after Pearl Harbor, the over reliance on submarine warfare on the seas (this had its successes initially) and the inability of Germany to exploit its own phenomenal prowess in the field of Jet aviation. He also failed to realize the potential the Middle Eastern/North Africa underbelly option that would have supplied the Reich with the oil resources, whose lack thereof eventually paralyzed the Wehrmacht.
It also didn’t help the German cause that Mussolini’s Italy was a poor ally and that Japan was not willing to offer Hitler a second front in the East versus the Soviet Union.
Oh yes I forgot…Britain had Churchill who was determined to win at all costs. Leadership matters.
Napoleon certainly represented a high mark in French military history and Joan of Arc deserves kudos for helping to turn the Hundred Years war in France’s favour (after a litany of French defeats - Agincourt being the most noteworthy) however France did enjoy military victories elsewhere.
The Gauls (Proto-French) sacked Rome in 387 BC and despite finally succumbing to the might of Julius Caesar enjoyed a notable victory against Rome at the Battle of Gergovia (52 BC).
Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, turned back Arab forces in 732 AD thus saving Western Europe from the seemingly unstoppable advance of Islam.
In the post Roman Era one can also point to the military success of Charlemagne (Martel’s grandson) and his Frankish Empire although there was a strong Germanic component to his polyglot kingdom (in a way he was the first European).
French Knights were largely responsible for the success of the First Crusade (that was for all intent of purpose the only positive Holy Land Crusade in terms of meeting its intentions). French King Philips II (aka Philip Augustus) was largely successful against John I ‘Lackland’ of England (Anglo-French War of 1213–1214).
During the Thirty Years War the French defeated the Spanish at Rocroi and in an alliance with Sweden won the Battle of Battle of Zusmarshausen. France would ultimately would win territory in Alsace that was extended to include Artois, Roussilon and Perpigan following the Treaty of the Pyrenees that ended the Franco-Spanish war (1635–1659).
Louis XIV enjoyed mixed success in a series of wars (War of the Devolution, Franco-Dutch War, the Nine Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession) that did serve to expand French territorial conquests on the continents and secure Bourbon control of the Spanish throne.
The Battle of Valmy (1792) highlights French success in the time period just before Napoleon. The Republic was born two days later in the aftermath of a French win over Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire.
France celebrated several wins in her colonial wars in the 19th and 20th centuries that greatly expanded Gallic controlled territory in Northern and Western Africa, South-East Asia, Madagascar, French Guyana and several locales in the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
One should also not underestimate the way the French bravely held the Germans at the First Battle of the Marne (albeit with British support) that ultimately ground the ambitious Schlieffen plan in the mud in the early days of World War I.
The French also fought with determination at Verdun to hold the line against German advances from February to October 1916. It was here that generals Joffre, Pétain and Nivelle earned their spurs. Although Pétain would tarnish his record later through his involvement with Vichy France.
French efforts in the Battle of Amiens (1918) would help bring about the end of the Great war ought to be noted. for it was here that French general Ferdinand Foch would inscribe his name in the annals of French historiography.
If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black' Joe Biden
To the contrary other than the right-of-center bandwidth of the political spectrum they don’t get nearly the attention they deserve elsewhere. They are in many ways the voice of reason. This of course is a reality of our times and is reflective of the fact that their views fly in the face of the groupthink that dominates the discourse in mainstream circles.
The problem is that these conservative and libertarian thinkers highlight uncomfortable truths - truths that would collapse the delicate plywood narratives that progressive orthodoxy sits on.
Thomas Sowell: Source: KPBS
When you want to help people, you tell them the truth.. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear. Thomas Sowell
Indeed Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder, Shelby Steele, Carol Swain and the late Walter Williams represent some of the most articulate voices in contemporary political thought. To this I would add Justice Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerly. All of them pick up from the writings of Frederick Douglass in the way that champions the authentic liberal values of the constitution and the freedom and liberty of its ideals.
Black Conservatives and Libertarians (BCLs) , with little exception, emphasize self-sufficiency, personal agency and traditional cultural/social values. They eschew the cult of victimhood that dominates progressive thought and they see solutions arising from the sovereignty of the individual, radiating outward, as opposed to the top down big government approach favored by Progressives. They want African-Americans to find answers to community woes from within. In this they echo the words of Malcolm X when he said “our problems will never be solved by the white man.”
Walter Williams Source: WSJ
They have no need for the patronizing white savior and resent being used as a minority voting bloc by Progressives to advance a social agenda that BCLs know from empirical evidence harms the African-American community. They are all too weary of the history of eugenics and the racism of low expectations that has framed and continues to frame Progressive thought. They want none of this. They are also willing to take on sacred idols – one of which is the legacy of Great Society as Walter Williams outlines here in the Times News (2019)
According to the 1938 Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, that year only 11 percent of black children were born to unwed mothers. As late as 1950, female-headed households constituted only 18 percent of the black population. Today it’s close to 70 percent. In much earlier times, during the late 1800s, there were only slight differences between the black family structure and those of other ethnic groups. In New York City in 1925, 85 percent of kin-related black households were two-parent households. Welfare has encouraged young women to have children out of wedlock. The social stigma once associated with unwed pregnancy is all but gone. Plus, “shotgun” weddings are a thing of the past. That was when male members of a girl’s family made the boy who got her pregnant live up to his responsibilities.
Personal responsibility and a re-emphasis of fatherhood is key to the conservative ethos and BCLS take issue with the notion that this vital trait that has historic and survival value in African-American communities has been pushed aside by the visceral response of blaming ill on the all too common bogeyman of racism. Critical Race Theory is anathema to BCL thinking.
William suffers no fools when he says:
The high crime rates in so many black communities impose huge personal costs and have turned once-thriving communities into economic wastelands. The Ku Klux Klan couldn’t sabotage chances for black academic excellence more effectively than the public school system in most cities.
Opponents all too often resort to the noxious labeling of BCLs as Uncle Toms for daring to repudiate accepted thought. The hypocrisy of the charge is all the more nauseating when it emanates for white progressives who place themselves at the forefront of the anti-racist fight. However these Conservative and Liberal voices matter. They ask the tough questions from the grassroots and are willing to challenge a failing orthodoxy. 'White Guilt' and the End of the Civil Rights Era
Larry Elder Source: YouTube on his Documentary Uncle Tom.
Those who truthful in their aspiration to reduce problems negatively impacting black communities in the US (and elsewhere in the Western world) would do well to listen to these BCL thinkers who offer good reason to dissent from failed progressive initiatives.
WWI was largely a war between Imperial powers bifurcated into two opposing camps. It was driven by four factors - the continental balance of power, localized nationalism, concerns for empire/colonies and various historical grievances and insecurities.
While it was true that indirectly some of these aspects impacted the United States none of them were significant enough in their own right for the United States to enter the war on the side of either the Allies or the Central Powers for the greater timeline of WWI. American popular opinion also favored neutrality.
It was only after American shipping was challenged and the obvious spillover effects became more apparent that the United States was drawn into the bloodbath.
Remember war is brutal. It can be costly on many levels as retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler opined in his 1935 “War is a racket speech
The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC) lists a total of 364 battles that were fought during the American Civil War. These battles are classified on a scale of A-D for significance (A being the most significant and D the least).
Putting aside Inconclusive battles it looks as though there are well about 120 battle won by the Confederacy of which Fort Sumter, First Battle of Bull Run, First Battle of Winchester, Gaines’ Mill, Second Battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Chickamauga, Mansfield, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Crater are the most significant.
Ironically the last battle of the war , Palmito Ranch, a level D skirmish, was won by the Confederates.
Well he used a combination of diplomacy/war and an usurpation of the policies of his rivals to isolate and defeat his opponents. German unification proceeded in three stages. all of which were punctuated by war.
Otto Von Bismarck source: Tons of Facts
Stage 1 involved the Second Schleswig War (1864) that saw Prussia in alliance with Austria win over control of Schlewsig, Holstein and Lauenberg from the Danes.
Stage 2 witnessed the Prussian German Confederation defeat Austria and her allies in the Austro-Prussian War (1866). Prussia would then annex Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, Frankfurt and several smaller regions. Austria was pushed to the side.
Stage 3 involved Bismarck duping the French (Napoleon III) into the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) via the Ems Telegram/Dispatch He then set up an alliance with Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt that culminated in the siege of Metz, the defeat of the French at the Battle of Sedan and the greater siege of Paris.
The vanquished French who were no match for Prussia’s military might and organizational prowess were then forced to recognize in an embarrassing session at Versailles (specifically the Hall of Mirrors) German unification under the banner of the Prussian monarch Wilhelm I.
Opposition in Germany from the left and working class was neutralized by Bismarck’s adoption and re branding of the Social Democrat’s Gotha Program (drafted in 1875). This established the modern German welfare state in 1883. In doing so he pulled the rug from underneath the legs of his opponents.
The better question is why has it taken this long? According to the latest figures over 3.7 million people worldwide have died as a a result of the pathogen which in addition to its mortality impact has has caused tremendous damage to the world economy.
Yet we appear to be no closer to identifying its ‘wild’ origin than we were 18 months ago (this wasn’t the case with SARS or MERS) . What we do know is that the virus originated in China in a city well known for housing a center for disease research. The CCP also has a poor reputation for honesty and has not been forthright as the disease has progressed. This line of questioning may or may not bring fruit but only a pure apologist for Beijing will admit that it is not worth following.
The Soviet Union played a pivotal role in the defeat of Nazi Germany of that there is no doubt however they were more an ally of convenience than anything else.
Winston Churchill said it well here: ‘If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons’.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Don’t forget that until Operation Barbarossa (June 22nd, 1941) the Soviets had a Non-Aggression Pact with Nazi Germany that was signed on the 23rd August 1939, one week prior to the Invasion of Poland by Germany.
This Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact allowed the Germans and Soviets to partition Poland between the two countries and by extension essentially divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence (the Soviets would use this to extend their control into the Baltic States and Bessarabia).
This was not a formal alliance but the sordid details were revealed during the Nuremberg trials.
Stalin for one, went out of his way to avoid war with Germany and for the period from the 1st September 1939 until Barbarossa actually supplied the Germans with raw material that they would use in their war effort.
In fact even as reports from various sources (especially Richard Sorge in Tokyo) warned of an impending invasion Stalin refused to believe this line of thought. He felt that he had done enough to placate the Nazis.
The massacre at of the Polish army officers at Katyn (April/May 1940) and the harsh treatment of the Poles following the Soviet Invasion of Poland on the 17th of September 1939 do much to dispel the Soviet good guy image.
Having said that the Soviet achievements in rolling back the Germans in Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk and Bagration should not be understated. They broke the power of the Wehrmacht (albeit with considerable resource support from the Western Allies via the convoy system). It was also the Soviets who liberated such death camps as Auschwitz-Birkenau.
So what we have is a lot of grey. Good guys on one side. Tainted on the other. The Iron Curtain that descended over areas of Soviet controlled Eastern Europe following the World War Two reinforced the darker side of what once a marriage of convenience.
What is
the most frustrating part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to debate?
One of the many
frustrating aspects of the Israel-Palestinian question that one routinely
experiences as a supporter of Israel and a peaceful resolution, is that many of
those who you are arguing with aren’t doing so in good faith. This is all too
obvious. The well is poisoned from the get go rendering a great deal of
dialogue meaningless.
These voices
realize fully well that Israel has nothing to gain by strikes against civilian
targets but will continue to insist that this is the ‘real’ rationale for the
strikes. Hamas or Islamic Jihad on the other hand benefits by maximizing civilian
casualties on both sides and therefore fires rocket indiscriminately at Israeli
targets (Jewish and non-Jewish). It is in no way demonstrating a moral equivalency
to the Israeli response that is directed at the Hamas’s military apparatus with
incidental civilian casualties.
