Showing posts with label Ethiopia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ethiopia. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Tuesday, March 5, 1974. Portugal decides to stay.

Portugese troops in Mozambique.  By Joaquim Coelho, author from Espaço Etéreo, a compilation of texts and pictures from people involved in the war. Permission is granted here, and personal e-mails between me (Nuno) and Joaquim (backed up for reference). - The copyright holder of this work allows anyone to use it for any purpose including unrestricted redistribution, commercial use, and modification.Please check the source to verify that this is correct. In particular, note that publication on the Internet, like publication by any other means, does not in itself imply permission to redistribute. Files without valid permission should be tagged with {{subst:npd}}.Usage notes:If the work requires attribution, use {{Attribution}} instead.If this is your own work, please use {{Cc-zero}} instead., Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=685173

Portuguese Prime Minister Marcello Caetano informed the Portuguese National Assembly that Portuguese Guinea, Angola and Mozambique would retain their colonial status in spite of ongoing guerilla wars.  He stated that elections "would be inappropriate for the African mentality."

Ethiopian Emperor and absolute monarch Haile Selassie pledged democratic reforms in an unprecedented national address on radio and television.

Eva Mendes was born in Miami.

Last prior:

Monday, March 4, 1974. Suez.

Friday, January 12, 2024

Saturday, January 12, 1974. How revolutions begin.

The Ethiopian Revolution began with the mutiny of the Negele Borana garrison over bad food and a lack of water.

They sized Lt. Gen. Deresse Dubale, Emperor Haile Selassie's envoy, and forced him to survive on the same fare they had for a week.

Gasoline rationing commenced in the Netherlands.

Television started operation in Tanzania.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Thursday, October 25, 1973. Ramping up to and backing down from war.

The US military was alerted that the Soviet Union was "planning to send a very substantial force" to intervene in the Yom Kippur War.  On the same day, perhaps ironically, Egypt and Israel accepted United Nations Security Council Resolution 340 creating a peacekeeping force between them that would omit US and Soviet troops.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1973 was given royal assent.

Lebanon, which was not in a good place in relation to petroleum bans, provided that cars with even-numbered plates could only drive on even-numbered days, those with odd-numbered plates only on odd-numbered day.


Abebe Bikila (Amharic: ሻምበል አበበ ቢቂላ), Olympic marathon runner who won the1960 Summer Olympics in Rome marathon while running barefoot and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics marathon died as a result of an automobile accident sustained in 1969

Both his 60 and 64 runs were world records.

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Friday, September 28, 1923. The terrible news.


The news of the prior day was in the paper, much of it horrific locally.

Abyssinia, known better as Ethiopia, was admitted to the League of Nations.

The Giants took the National League pennant, beating the Brooklyn Robins 3 to 0.

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Friday, September 14, 1973. Winds of change.

It what was a sign of things to come, the Laotian government agreed to allow the Pathet Lao to become part of a coalition government.

Selassie in 1970.

Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was held at gunpoint by his grandson, Iskinder Desta, deputy commander of the Ethiopian Navy.  Ultimately, the coup attempt would be abandoned when Desta's mother, Princess Tenague, backed him off of it.  A towering figure of Ethiopia in the 20th Century, this too was a sign of things to come.  Things would not work out well, in the end, for Desta either.

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Monday, August 9, 1943. Blessed Franz Jägerstätter

 


Franz Jägerstätter, 36, Austrian farmer and conscientious objector, was executed by the Germans.

Born into poverty and illegitimacy, he was the son of a farmer and chambermaid who could not afford to marry.  He was initially raised by his grandmother, the pious Elisabeth Huber.  His father was killed in World War One and his mother latter married Heinrich Jägerstätter, who adopted him and who gave him his farm upon his marriage.

Irreligious in his youth, he underwent a sudden religious conversion after fathering an illegitimate child and spending a period of time in community exile, during which he worked for several years in iron mines.  Upon returning he became profoundly religions and in turn married a deeply religious spouse.  Upon the German invasion of Austria he openly opposed the Nazis and while he did serve in the German Army in 1940 he refused to take the Hitler oath.  Called back into service in 1943 he refused combat duty, although he did offer to serve as a medic, which was ignored.  He was ultimately died and executed on this day.

He was beatified in 2007.

From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—August 9, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Aug. 9, 1943: On New Georgia in the Solomon Islands, US northern and southern landing forces link.

The US signed a military assistance treaty with Ethiopia.

Life Magazine hit the stands with an article on female steelworkers.

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Thursday, April 15, 1943. V-Mail.

 

The first Victory Mail station established overseas, in this case in Casablanca.

The technology involve microfilming mail for more efficient transmission.


From Sarah Sundin's blog:

Today in World War II History—April 15, 1943: Maj. Gen. Omar Bradley takes command of US II Corps in Tunisia; George Patton is relieved to prepare for the invasion of Sicily.

All in all, Patton had been in command of II Corps for a mere matter of weeks.

On the same day, Gen. Eisenhower toured the front in North Africa.

The State Bank of Ethiopia was established.

The Sino-American Cooperative Organization was established as an intelligence gathering cooperative between Nationalist China and the United States.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand was issued. I haven't read it, and I'm not going to, as Ayn Randites don't impress me.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Monday, December 14, 1942. Buna taken by the Allies, the USS Nevada at sea, Ethiopia declares war.


Today in World War II History—December 14, 1942: US and Australian troops occupy Buna, New Guinea. On sub USS Grayback in the Bismarck Islands, an appendectomy is performed by a pharmacist's mate.
Reports Sarah Sundin.

Ethiopia declared war on Germany, Italy and Japan.  

The country had lost a bitter war against the Italians prior to World War Two, the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, but then was liberated by the British Army in 1941, after which the remaining Italian forces launched a forgotten guerilla war that continued on into 1943, ending with the Italian surrender to the Allies.

Ethiopian head of state, Emperor Haile Selassie I at Jubilee Palace in 1942.

Royal Navy cruiser Argonaut was torpedoed and heavily damaged in the Mediterranean by Italian submarine Mocenigo.

Thursday, May 27, 2021

May 27, 1941. An Unrestricted Emergency.

President Roosevelt delivering a fireside chat.  His address of May 27, 1941, obtained the largest share of a radio audience, 65%, of all time.

President Franklin Roosevelt, in his 17th Fireside Chat, declared an unlimited national emergency on this day in 1941.

I am speaking tonight from the White House in the presence of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, the Canadian Minister, and their families. The members of this Board are the Ambassadors and Ministers of the American Republics in Washington. It is appropriate that I do this for now, as never before, the unity of the American Republics is of supreme importance to each and every one of us and to the cause of freedom throughout the world. Our future independence is bound up with the future independence of all of our sister Republics. 
The pressing problems that confront us are military and naval problems. We cannot afford to approach them from the point of view of wishful thinkers or sentimentalists. What we face is cold, hard fact. 
The first and fundamental fact is that what started as a European war has developed, as the Nazis always intended it should develop, into a world war for world domination. 
Adolf Hitler never considered the domination of Europe as an end in itself. European conquest was but a step toward ultimate goals in all the other continents. It is unmistakably apparent to all of us that, unless the advance of Hitlerism is forcibly checked now, the Western Hemisphere will be within range of the Nazi weapons of destruction. 
For our own defense we have accordingly undertaken certain obviously necessary measures: 
First, we have joined in concluding a series of agreements with all the other American Republics. This further solidified our hemisphere against the common danger. 
And then, a year ago, we launched, and are successfully carrying out, the largest armament production program we have ever undertaken. 
We have added substantially to our splendid Navy, and we have mustered our manpower to build up a new Army which is already worthy of the highest traditions of our military service. 
We instituted a policy of aid for the democracies -- the Nations which have fought for the continuation of human liberties. 
This policy had its origin in the first month of the war, when I urged upon the Congress repeal of the arms embargo provisions in the old Neutrality Law, and in that message of September 3, 1939, I said, "I should like to be able to offer the hope that the shadow over the world might swiftly pass. I cannot. The facts compel my stating, with candor, that darker periods may lie ahead." 
In the subsequent months, the shadows deepened and lengthened. And the night spread over Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. 
In June, 1940, Britain stood alone, faced by the same machine of terror which had overwhelmed her allies. Our Government rushed arms to meet her desperate needs. 
In September, 1940, an agreement was completed with Great Britain for the trade of fifty destroyers for eight important offshore bases. 
And in March, 1941, the Congress passed the Lend-Lease Bill and an appropriation of seven billion dollars to implement it. This law realistically provided for material aid "for the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States." 
Our whole program of aid for the democracies has been based on hard-headed concern for our own security and for the kind of safe and civilized world in which we wish to live. Every dollar of material that we send helps to keep the dictators away from our own hemisphere, and every day that they are held off gives us time to build more guns and tanks and planes and ships. 
We have made no pretense about our own self-interest in this aid. Great Britain understands it -- and so does Nazi Germany. 
And now -- after a year -- Britain still fights gallantly, on a "far-flung battle line." We have doubled and redoubled our vast production, increasing, month by month, our material supply of the tools of war for ourselves and for Britain and for China- and eventually for all the democracies. 
The supply of these tools will not fail -- it will increase. 
With greatly augmented strength, the United States and the other American Republics now chart their course in the situation of today. 
Your Government knows what terms Hitler, if victorious, would impose. They are, indeed, the only terms on which he would accept a so-called "negotiated" peace. 
And, under those terms, Germany would literally parcel out the world -- hoisting the swastika itself over vast territories and populations, and setting up puppet governments of its own choosing, wholly subject to the will and the policy of a conqueror. 
To the people of the Americas, a triumphant Hitler would say, as he said after the seizure of Austria, and as he said after Munich, and as he said after the seizure of Czechoslovakia: "I am now completely satisfied. This is the last territorial readjustment I will seek." And he would of course add: "All we want is peace, friendship, and profitable trade relations with you in the New World." 
Were any of us in the Americas so incredibly simple and forgetful as to accept those honeyed words, what would then happen? 
Those in the New World who were seeking profits would be urging that all that the dictatorships desired was "peace." They would oppose toil and taxes for more American armament. And meanwhile, the dictatorships would be forcing the enslaved peoples of their Old World conquests into a system they are even now organizing to build a naval and air force intended to gain and hold and be master of the Atlantic and the Pacific as well. 
They would fasten an economic stranglehold upon our several Nations. Quislings would be found to subvert the governments in our Republics; and the Nazis would back their fifth columns with invasion, if necessary. 
No, I am not speculating about all this. I merely repeat what is already in the Nazi book of world conquest. They plan to treat the Latin American Nations as they are now treating the Balkans. They plan then to strangle the United States of America and the Dominion of Canada. 
The American laborer would have to compete with slave labor in the rest of the world. Minimum wages, maximum hours? Nonsense! Wages and hours would be fixed by Hitler. The dignity and power and standard of living of the American worker and farmer would be gone. Trade unions would become historical relics, and collective bargaining a joke. 
Farm income? What happens to all farm surpluses without any foreign trade? The American farmer would get for his products exactly what Hitler wanted to give. The farmer would face obvious disaster and complete regimentation. 
Tariff walls -- Chinese walls of isolation -- would be futile. Freedom to trade is essential to our economic life. We do not eat all the food we can produce; and we do not burn all the oil we can pump; we do not use all the goods we can manufacture. It would not be an American wall to keep Nazi goods out; it would be a Nazi wall to keep us in. 
The whole fabric of working life as we know it -- business and manufacturing, mining and agriculture -- all would be mangled and crippled under such a system. Yet to maintain even that crippled independence would require permanent conscription of our manpower; it would curtail the funds we could spend on education, on housing, on public works, on flood control, on health and, instead, we should be permanently pouring our resources into armaments; and, year in and year out, standing day and night watch against the destruction of our cities. 
Yes, even our right of worship would be threatened. The Nazi world does not recognize any God except Hitler; for the Nazis are as ruthless as the Communists in the denial of God. What place has religion which preaches the dignity of the human being, the majesty of the human soul, in a world where moral standards are measured by treachery and bribery and fifth columnists? Will our children, too, wander off, goose-stepping in search of new gods?
We do not accept, we will not permit, this Nazi "shape of things to come." It will never be forced upon us, if we act in this present crisis with the wisdom and the courage which have distinguished our country in all the crises of the past. 
Today, the Nazis have taken military possession of the greater part of Europe. In Africa they have occupied Tripoli and Libya, and they are threatening Egypt, the Suez Canal, and the Near East. But their plans do not stop there, for the Indian Ocean is the gateway to the farther East. 
They also have the armed power at any moment to occupy Spain and Portugal; and that threat extends not only to French North Africa and the western end of the Mediterranean but it extends also to the Atlantic fortress of Dakar, and to the island outposts of the New World -- the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. 
The Cape Verde Islands are only seven hours' distance from Brazil by bomber or troop -- carrying planes. They dominate shipping routes to and from the South Atlantic. 
The war is approaching the brink of the Western Hemisphere itself. It is coming very close to home. 
Control or occupation by Nazi forces of any of the islands of the Atlantic would jeopardize the immediate safety of portions of North and South America, and of the island possessions of the United States, and, therefore, the ultimate safety of the continental United States itself. 
Hitler's plan of world domination would be near its accomplishment today, were it not for two factors: One is the epic resistance of Britain, her colonies, and the great Dominions, fighting not only to maintain the existence of the Island of Britain, but also to hold the Near East and Africa. The other is the magnificent defense of China, which will, I have reason to believe, increase in strength. All of these, together, are preventing the Axis from winning control of the seas by ships and aircraft. 
The Axis Powers can never achieve their objective of world domination unless they first obtain control of the seas. That is their supreme purpose today; and to achieve it, they must capture Great Britain. 
They could then have the power to dictate to the Western Hemisphere. No spurious argument, no appeal to sentiment, no false pledges like those given by Hitler at Munich, can deceive the American people into believing that he and his Axis partners would not, with Britain defeated, close in relentlessly on this hemisphere of ours. 
But if the Axis Powers fail to gain control of the seas, then they are certainly defeated. Their dreams of world domination will then go by the board; and the criminal leaders who started this war will suffer inevitable disaster. 
Both they and their people know this- and they and their people are afraid. That is why they are risking everything they have, conducting desperate attempts to break through to the command of the ocean. Once they are limited to a continuing land war, their cruel forces of occupation will be unable to keep their heel on the necks of the millions of innocent, oppressed peoples on the continent of Europe; and in the end, their whole structure will break into little pieces. And let us remember, the wider the Nazi land effort, the greater is their ultimate danger. 
We do not forget the silenced peoples. The masters of Germany have marked these silenced peoples and their children's children for slavery- those, at least, who have not been assassinated or escaped to free soil. But those people -- spiritually unconquered: Austrians, Czechs, Poles, Norwegians, Dutch, Belgians, Frenchmen, Greeks, Southern Slavs -- yes, even those Italians and Germans who themselves have been enslaved -- will prove to be a powerful force in the final disruption of the Nazi system. 
All freedom- meaning freedom to live, and not freedom to conquer and subjugate other peoples-depends on freedom of the seas. All of American history—North, Central, and South American history -- has been inevitably tied up with those words, "freedom of the seas." 
Since 1799, 142 years ago, when our infant Navy made the West Indies and the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico safe for American ships; since 1804 and 1805 when we made all peaceful commerce safe from the depredations of the Barbary pirates; since the War of 1812, which was fought for the preservation of sailors' rights; since 1867, when our sea power made it possible for the Mexicans to expel the French Army of Louis Napoleon, we have striven and fought in defense of freedom of the seas for our own shipping, for the commerce of our sister Republics, for the right of all Nations to use the highways of world trade -- and for our own safety. 
During the first World War we were able to escort merchant ships by the use of small cruisers, gunboats, and destroyers; and that type, called a convoy, was effective against submarines. In this second World War, however, the problem is greater. It is different because the attack on the freedom of the seas is now fourfold: first -- the improved submarine; second -- the much greater use of the heavily armed raiding cruiser or the hit-and-run battleship; third -- the bombing airplane, which is capable of destroying merchant ships seven or eight hundred miles from its nearest base; and fourth -- the destruction of merchant ships in those ports of the world that are accessible to bombing attack. 
The Battle of the Atlantic now extends from the icy waters of the North Pole to the frozen continent of the Antarctic. Throughout this huge area, there have been sinkings of merchant ships in alarming and increasing numbers by Nazi raiders or submarines. There have been sinkings even of ships carrying neutral flags. There have been sinkings in the South Atlantic, off West Africa and the Cape Verde Islands; between the Azores and the islands off the American coast; and between Greenland and Iceland. Great numbers of these sinkings have been actually within the waters of the Western Hemisphere itself. 
The blunt truth is this -- and I reveal this with the full knowledge of the British Government: the present rate of Nazi sinkings of merchant ships is more than three times as high as the capacity of British shipyards to replace them; it is more than twice the combined British and American output of merchant ships today. 
We can answer this peril by two simultaneous measures: first, by speeding up and increasing our own great shipbuilding program; and second, by helping to cut down the losses on the high seas. 
Attacks on shipping off the very shores of land which we are determined to protect, present an actual military danger to the Americas. And that danger has recently been heavily underlined by the presence in Western Hemisphere waters of a Nazi battleship of great striking power. 
You remember that most of the supplies for Britain go by a northerly route, which comes close to Greenland and the nearby island of Iceland. Germany's heaviest attack is on that route. Nazi occupation of Iceland or bases in Greenland would bring the war close to our own continental shores, because those places are stepping-stones to Labrador and Newfoundland, to Nova Scotia, yes, to the northern United States itself, including the great industrial centers of the North, the East, and the Middle West. 
Equally, the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands, if occupied or controlled by Germany, would directly endanger the freedom of the Atlantic and our own American physical safety. Under German domination those islands would become bases for submarines, warships, and airplanes raiding the waters that lie immediately off our own coasts and attacking the shipping in the South Atlantic. They would provide a springboard for actual attack against the integrity and the independence of Brazil and her neighboring Republics. 
I have said on many occasions that the United States is mustering its men and its resources only for purposes of defense- only to repel attack. I repeat that statement now. But we must be realistic when we use the word "attack"; we have to relate it to the lightning speed of modern warfare. 
Some people seem to think that we are not attacked until bombs actually drop in the streets of New York or San Francisco or New Orleans or Chicago. But they are simply shutting their eyes to the lesson that we must learn from the fate of every Nation that the Nazis have conquered. 
The attack on Czechoslovakia began with the conquest of Austria. The attack on Norway began with the occupation of Denmark. The attack on Greece began with occupation of Albania and Bulgaria. The attack on the Suez Canal began with the invasion of the Balkans and North Africa, and the attack on the United States can begin with the domination of any base which menaces our security—north or south. 
Nobody can foretell tonight just when the acts of the dictators will ripen into attack on this hemisphere and us. But we know enough by now to realize that it would be suicide to wait until they are in our front yard. 
When your enemy comes at you in a tank or a bombing plane, if you hold your fire until you see the whites of his eyes, you will never know what hit you. Our Bunker Hill of tomorrow may be several thousand miles from Boston. 
Anyone with an atlas, anyone with a reasonable knowledge of the sudden striking force of modern war, knows that it is stupid to wait until a probable enemy has gained a foothold from which to attack. Old-fashioned common sense calls for the use of a strategy that will prevent such an enemy from gaining a foothold in the first place. 
We have, accordingly, extended our patrol in North and South Atlantic waters. We are steadily adding more and more ships and planes to that patrol. It is well known that the strength of the Atlantic Fleet has been greatly increased during the past year, and that it is constantly being built up. 
These ships and planes warn of the presence of attacking raiders, on the sea, under the sea, and above the sea. The danger from these raiders is, of course, greatly lessened if their location is definitely known. We are thus being forewarned. We shall be on our guard against efforts to establish Nazi bases closer to our hemisphere. 
The deadly facts of war compel Nations, for simple self-preservation, to make stern choices. It does not make sense, for instance, to say, "I believe in the defense of all the Western Hemisphere," and in the next breath to say, "I will not fight for that defense until the enemy has landed on our shores." If we believe in the independence and the integrity of the Americas, we must be willing to fight, to fight to defend them just as much as we would to fight for the safety of our own homes. 
It is time for us to realize that the safety of American homes even in the center of this our own country has a very definite relationship to the continued safety of homes in Nova Scotia or Trinidad or Brazil. 
Our national policy today, therefore, is this: 
First, we shall actively resist wherever necessary, and with all our resources, every attempt by Hitler to extend his Nazi domination to the Western Hemisphere, or to threaten it. We shall actively resist his every attempt to gain control of the seas. We insist upon the vital importance of keeping Hitlerism away from any point in the world which could be used or would be used as a base of attack against the Americas. 
Second, from the point of view of strict naval and military necessity, we shall give every possible assistance to Britain and to all who, with Britain, are resisting Hitlerism or its equivalent with force of arms. Our patrols are helping now to insure delivery of the needed supplies to Britain. All additional measures necessary to deliver the goods will be taken. Any and all further methods or combination of methods, which can or should be utilized, are being devised by our military and naval technicians, who, with me, will work out and put into effect such new and additional safeguards as may be needed. 
I say that the delivery of needed supplies to Britain is imperative. I say that this can be done; it must be done; and it will be done. 
To the other American Nations- twenty Republics and the Dominion of Canada—I say this: the United States does not merely propose these purposes, but is actively engaged today in carrying them out. 
I say to them further: you may disregard those few citizens of the United States who contend that we are disunited and cannot act. 
There are some timid ones among us who say that we must preserve peace at any price- lest we lose our liberties forever. 
To them I say this: never in the history of the world has a Nation lost its democracy by a successful struggle to defend its democracy. We must not be defeated by the fear of the very danger which we are preparing to resist. Our freedom has shown its ability to survive war, but our freedom would never survive surrender. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." 
There is, of course, a small group of sincere, patriotic men and women whose real passion for peace has shut their eyes to the ugly realities of international banditry and to the need to resist it at all costs. I am sure they are embarrassed by the sinister support they are receiving from the enemies of democracy in our midst the Bundists, the Fascists, and Communists, and every group devoted to bigotry and racial and religious intolerance. It is no mere coincidence that all the arguments put forward by these enemies of democracy -- all their attempts to confuse and divide our people and to destroy public confidence in our Government -- all their defeatist forebodings that Britain and democracy are already beaten -- all their selfish promises that we can "do business" with Hitler -- all of these are but echoes of the words that have been poured out from the Axis bureaus of propaganda. Those same words have been used before in other countries -- to scare them, to divide them, to soften them up. Invariably, those same words have formed the advance guard of physical attack. 
Your Government has the right to expect of all citizens that they take part in the common work of our common defense take loyal part from this moment forward. 
I have recently set up the machinery for civilian defense. It will rapidly organize, locality by locality. It will depend on the organized effort of men and women everywhere. All will have opportunities and responsibilities to fulfill. 
Defense today means more than merely fighting. It means morale, civilian as well as military; it means using every available resource; it means enlarging every useful plant. It means the use of a greater American common sense in discarding rumor and distorted statement. It means recognizing, for what they are, racketeers and fifth columnists, who are the incendiary bombs in this country of the moment. 
All of us know that we have made very great social progress in recent years. We propose to maintain that progress and strengthen it. When the Nation is threatened from without, however, as it is today, the actual production and transportation of the machinery of defense must not be interrupted by disputes between capital and capital, labor and labor, or capital and labor. The future of all free enterprise -- of capital and labor alike -- is at stake.
This is no time for capital to make, or be allowed to retain, excess profits. Articles of defense must have undisputed right of way in every industrial plant in the country. 
A Nation-wide machinery for conciliation and mediation of industrial disputes has been set up. That machinery must be used promptly -- and without stoppage of work. Collective bargaining will be retained, but the American people expect that impartial recommendations of our Government conciliation and mediation services will be followed both by capital and by labor. 
The overwhelming majority of our citizens expect their Government to see that the tools of defense are built; and for the very purpose of preserving the democratic safeguards of both labor and management, this Government is determined to use all of its power to express the will of its people, and to prevent interference with the production of materials essential to our Nation's security. 
Today the whole world is divided between human slavery and human freedom—between pagan brutality and the Christian ideal. 
We choose human freedom—which is the Christian ideal. 
No one of us can waver for a moment in his courage or his faith. 
We will not accept a Hitler-dominated world. And we will not accept a world, like the postwar world of the 1920's, in which the seeds of Hitlerism can again be planted and allowed to grow. 
We will accept only a world consecrated to freedom of speech and expression—freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—freedom from want—and freedom from terror. 
Is such a world impossible of attainment? 
Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Emancipation Proclamation, and every other milestone in human progress -- all were ideals which seemed impossible of attainment -- and yet they were attained. 
As a military force, we were weak when we established our independence, but we successfully stood off tyrants, powerful in their day, tyrants who are now lost in the dust of history. 
Odds meant nothing to us then. Shall we now, with all our potential strength, hesitate to take every single measure necessary to maintain our American liberties? 
Our people and our Government will not hesitate to meet that challenge. 
As the President of a united and determined people, I say solemnly: 
We reassert the ancient American doctrine of freedom of the seas. 
We reassert the solidarity of the twenty-one American Republics and the Dominion of Canada in the preservation of the independence of the hemisphere. 
We have pledged material support to the other democracies of the world -- and we will fulfill that pledge. 
We in the Americas will decide for ourselves whether, and when, and where, our American interests are attacked or our security is threatened.
We are placing our armed forces in strategic military position. 
We will not hesitate to use our armed forces to repel attack. 
We reassert our abiding faith in the vitality of our constitutional Republic as a perpetual home of freedom, of tolerance, and of devotion to the word of God. 
Therefore, with profound consciousness of my responsibilities to my countrymen and to my country's cause, I have tonight issued a proclamation that an unlimited national emergency exists and requires the strengthening of our defense to the extreme limit of our national power and authority. 
The Nation will expect all individuals and all groups to play their full parts, without stint, and without selfishness, and without doubt that our democracy will triumphantly survive. 
I repeat the words of the signers of the Declaration of Independence -- that little band of patriots, fighting long ago against overwhelming odds, but certain, as we are now, of ultimate victory: "With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

The US was now really rapidly rolling towards war with the Germans having issued what amounted to a warning only days prior that US escort actions were an act of war.  German restraint, oddly enough, was keeping a full declared war from breaking out as at this point the Germans were still afraid of what that would mean, and moreover, were getting ready to attack the Soviet Union.  Hitler had officially taken the position that Germany would not enter into a war with the US until the Soviet Union was defeated, something he was confident would shortly occur.

On this day in 1941 the Bismarck was sunk by the Royal Navy off of Ireland.

Today in World War II History—May 27, 1941

The end of the Bismarck

The story is literally famous in story and song, and has been made into movies as well.  It was a real victory for the Royal Navy.

It was also an airborne victory as British torpedo bombers, haplessly obsolete biplanes at the time, had damages the ships rudder the day prior, and the day prior to that its location had been spotted by a Catalina flying out of Northern Ireland, with the spotting done by a U.S. Navy officer on a training assignment to the Royal Navy.

The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen had broken out into the North Atlantic to act as surface raiders, a threat the British took seriously, as they needed to, but which was frankly an odd use for the small battleship.  Indeed, the enter episode was an anachronistic.

Surface raiding had been done extensively in World War One and would be done in World War Two as well, in much the same fashion.  But advances in radar and the development of long range aircraft, and indeed aircraft alone, we're rapidly making it a thing of the past.  The engagement that brought the Bismarck to its end in some ways closed the episode out, showing that the ship could not run from a concentrated air and sea search.  As the entire event was mere months away from Pearl Harbor, the obvious final dominance of aircraft was about to occur.

Indeed, sometimes missed by those who look back on the Battle of the Atlantic, the British were about to deploy the first Escort Carrier, a class of ship that would make submarine attacks much riskier.

While the battle was a victory for the British, on the same day the British Army reported Crete lost and recommended evacuation. The British would temporarily halt German advances on the island in the Battle of 42nd Street, fought this day, but the obvious end was in sight.

The British took the last Italian position in Ethiopia, thereby conclusively ending the Italian presence in that region.  They lost, however, Halfaya Pass in Libya to the Germans. They were advancing on Baghdad.

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

May 19, 1941. Allied Victory In Ethiopia

Italian forces in Ethiopia surrendered.

Today in World War II History—May 19, 1941

This would stand as the first major Allied victor of World War Two.   Amazingly, Italian bitter enders carried on a guerilla campaign against the British until 1943, something which is little remembered, particularly in the context of general Italian ineffectiveness during the war.

The British took Fallujah in Iraq. 

On the same day, anticipating what was coming, the RAF withdrew from Crete.

In Japanese occupied Indochina, Vietnamese nationalist and communists formed the Viet Minh.  The movement was Communist dominated, although at this point it did include some other nationalist elements.  In some ways it was a revival of an organization that had been formed in the mid 1930s, in China, to oppose the French, but Japanese occupation sparked its immediate renewal.

The organization would go on to oppose the French after the war and would become solidly Communist by that time.

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

April 7, 1971. Withdrawals and Accessions.

President Nixon announced on television that he was withdrawing a further 100,000 U.S. troops from Vietnam, with the withdrawals to take place at a rate slightly over 14,000 per month. There were currently 284,000 US troops in the country, down from approximately 500,000.

Nixon had been withdrawing troops for most of his Presidency, while at the same time occasionally intensifying the air operations.  It was a twin strategy of brining the troops home from an unpopular war while simultaneously punishing the North Vietnamese for their actions. The strategy was termed "Vietnamization" and was claimed to be based on the evolution of the war to the point where the south could take over the fighting on its own.

Indeed, North Vietnamese forces had been so depleted during the Tet Offensive of 1968 that they were in fact more ineffectual in the field against the U.S. Army and the U.S. supported ARVN, something that has lead some to claim that Nixon was withdrawing troops as the war was effectively won.  In retrospect, based upon what we now know of Nixon's thoughts, Nixon was looking for a way out of the war that afforded some sort of cover that the U.S. hadn't abandoned the south, even though that is exactly what he was effectively doing.  As a practical matter, however, by this point in the war, and partially due to the obvious withdrawal policy, the morale of U.S. forces in Vietnam was collapsing and there were serious concerns about the extent to which that was impacting the Army as a whole.

Most of the American forces in Vietnam were always support troops, although there were certainly many combat soldiers. While there were still combat forces in Vietnam in 1971, by this point the scale was heavily weighted towards support troops.

On the say day, the U.S. abandoned Khe Sanh for the second time.  It had been earlier reactivated that year in support of ARVN operations in Laos.  In that country, the Royal Laotian Army commenced a defensive counter strike against Laotian communist troops in Operation Xieng Dong which would result in a successful defense of the country's capitol against them.

Meliktu Jenbere was elected as the second Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church, a branch of Oriental Orthodoxy, and indeed its largest branch. 

Saint Mary's Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Denver Colorado



This is Saint Mary's Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Denver Colorado. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is a non-Chalcedonian (Oriental Orthodox) church. This church is located in north eastern Denver.

He was the second Patriarch of the church, reflecting the fact that the church became autocephalous in 1948, at which time it was accorded that status by the Coptic Church.  He became the acting Patriarch in 1970 at the time of his predecessor's death.

He was imprisoned by the Marxist government of Ethiopia in 1974 which attempted to depose him while he was in prison, an act that the Coptic Church refused to recognize.  He was treated cruelly while a prisoner and executed by strangulation on August 14, 1979.  The Church in general was heavily persecuted during it's Communist era, which ran from 1974 until 1991, and the largest political party in the country today remains a reformed Communist party.

Baseball opened with a double header, the A's v. the White Sox, for the last time. 

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

April 6, 1941. A Wider War.

On this day in 1941 Germany invaded Greece, in order to bail out its failing ally Italy, and also invaded Yugoslavia as part of that overall effort.  As part of that latter event, the Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade.

More on that here.

Today in World War II History—April 6, 1941

Yugoslavia entered a treaty of friendship with the USSR, which was backdated to April 5 at the suggestion of the Soviets thus giving the appearance that the Soviet Union was not entering an alliance with a nation at war.

The U.S. Secretary of State, on Yugoslavia, issued this statement:

The barbaric invasion of Yugoslavia and the attempt to annihilate that country by brute force is but another chapter in the present planned movement of attempted world conquest and domination. 
Another small nation has been assaulted by the forces of aggression and is further proof that there are no geographical limitations or bounds of any kind to their movement for world conquest. 
The American people have the greatest sympathy for the nation which has been thus so outrageously attacked and we follow closely the valiant. struggle the Yugoslav people are making to protect their homes and preserve their liberty. 
This Government with its policy of helping those who are defending themselves against would be conquerors is now proceeding as speedily as possible to send military and other supplies to Yugoslavia.

The German advances, here and in North Africa, reinforced the image that German ground forces were unbeatable.  It also gave rise to the the second example of a pattern in the early and mid war of German forces advancing during the Spring. But by taking Yugoslavia, as Germany was about to do, it was about to take the first nation in which the civilian population would never accept their presence and therefore Germany would find itself for the first time in a guerilla war against resistance forces.

The British took Addis Ababa, the capitol of Ethiopia, as the Italian effort there collapsed, which is also noted in the above.  British Commonwealth forces had advanced 120 miles in two days to take the city, which was unoccupied.

Northwest of there, however, by quite some margin, Commonwealth forces were retreating in panic towards Tobruk.

The Gneisenau was damaged by British aircraft while undergoing repairs in France, which you can read about here:

Kenneth Campbell attacks the Gneisenau

Monday, March 22, 2021

March 22, 1941. British advances in Africa, frustrations on the Atlantic, and Vichy French complicity in murder.

Things continued, on this day in 1941, to go downhill for the Italians as the British overran them in Ethiopia at the Babille Pass.  By this point it was pretty obvious that the Italian army wasn't up to. . .well about much of anything.  Italian fortunes were flagging.

Having said that, the Italians did put up a fight at Keren in Eritrea where they launched a massive counterattack at Ft. Dologorodoc.  It failed, but it was fiercely fought.

In spite of the Italian misfortunes, Vichy France signed a bill to construct a trans Saharan railway, which admittedly didn't directly involve Italy, but given that Italy was losing badly to the British, should at least have signaled that North African construction projects were rather unlikely to be successful constructed.  To make matters worse, the French government conceived of the project being built by POWs, which made them a quasi belligerent, and Jewish slave labor, which additionally made them racist criminals. So already, by this point in 1941, Vichy France was complicit in one of the greatest crimes of all time.

By some accounts the 99th Pursuit Squadron was activated on this day and Jimmy Stewart, who would go on to long service in the Air Corps and Air Force, was inducted, which demonstrates how even relatively recent dates can become confused. We've covered both of these events, attributed to earlier dates, within the last week.

More on the 99th Pursuit Squadron on this entry here, which also discusses the Grand Coulee Dam.

Today in World War II History—March 22, 1941

In the early morning hours, the German near battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were met by German Kreigsmarine destroyers operating out of Brest and were escorted into port.  Their 60 day sortie had resulted in 22 merchant ships being destroyed. The Royal Navy attempted to intercept them, but was too late to do so.  On the same day, the German armed merchant ship Kormoran stopped the British tanker Agnita and sank it.

Saturday, March 20, 2021

March 20, 1941. Forced Allies, Weak Allies, and Future Allies.

The Yugoslavian parliament, facing demands from Nazi Germany, voted to join the Tripartite Pact 16 to 3.  The result of the vote would soon prove not to work out they way it had been planned.

Yugoslavia was, on this day, a reluctant ally of the Germans at best.  And the Germans should have given some thought to what having reluctant allies meant.  Nazi Germany based its ideology on a radical concept of racism, and yet already, at this early stage of the war, it found itself entering into alliances with nations populated by peoples it otherwise claimed to despise.  And some of those people despised them right back.

Added to that, while they were enlisting Balkan states for the war, they were also enlisting states whose armies were not necessarily up to the same quality as theirs, and which had exhibited no strong desire to get into the war on any side.  Germany already had one ally that had entered the war voluntarily, Italy, which was proving to be a net drain on its efforts.

Indeed, on this day Indian troops advanced 100 miles and took Hargeisa in Somaliland, which exposed Italian Ethiopia.  

On the same day, U.S. Under Secretary of State Sumner Wells warned the Soviet Ambassador that the United States had picked up intelligence indicating that Germany intended to attack the Soviet Union.  This was by far not the only warning the Soviets would receive, but Stalin would not take action on any of them.

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Wars and Rumors of Wars


 A new series, cataloging current conflicts.

In posting this, I realize this could lead to a misimpression that the whole world is aflame.  Not so. We live in the most peaceful period in human history, bar none.

Still, some fighting is going on here and there.  We'll attempt to list conflicts as they come up. And by that, we mean conflicts.  Wars and near wars, as well as some pretty serious international shoving matches.

We're only going to try to catch these, fwiw, as they come up.  I'm not going to try to list every pending conflict, near conflict and the like.

September 29, 2020

Azerbaijan v Armenia.



Azerbaijan and Armenia are fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, which has long been a bone of contention between them.  Turkey is pledging support for Azerbaijan, with that country being a Turkic one culturally.

This outbreak of fighting comes just about one century after the Turkish Armenian War, which we mentioned just the other day.

What it's about:  Essentially this is a long running ethnic war.  And by long running, we mean really long running, dating back 700 or more years and involving the expansion of the Turkic Muslim population into the Christian lands to their West.  Armenia lost lands in that struggle and is substantially smaller than it was 700 years ago, but it managed to not disappear, as opposed to what occured in Anatolia.  Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous Armenian ethnic enclave inside of Azerbaijan.

Who else is involved:  Turkey, predictably, in support of Azerbaijan.  Russia is attempting to broker a peace.

What are the combatants like: I don't really know, but given the locality, both are heirs to Soviet arms and tactics.  Azerbaijan may have some backdoor military aid and advice from Turkey.

Good guys and bad guys?:  This one really depends on your prospective.

China v. India



China and India have been engaging in border skirmishes over their border in the Himalayas. The skirmishes have been unique as they've been hand to hand.  Both countries have adopted the policy of not arming their soldiers on their border out of the fear it will lead to shooting incidents.  The fighting has been severe enough, however, that lives have been lost.  In response China was going to arm their troops with poles, butthe Indians indicated they'd reciprocate by issuing firearms to their troops, so the Chinese did not carry their threat out.

What it's about:  The Indian border with its northern neighbors has never been well defined as the region is largely inaccessible and it largely didn't matter until recent times.  Part of what makes it matter is Chinese aggression, which made China a neighbor of India after its 1950s invasion of Tibet.

Who else is involved:  Nobody, but India has similar problems in regard to its border with Pakistan

What are the combatants like: Both countries have large and modern militaries.

Good guys and bad guys?:  The Chinese are behaving like a 19th Century imperial power and have become international bullies.  Additionally, China shouldn't even be in the area and only is due to illegally occupying Tibet.

North Korea v. South Korea



This entry would seem to violate my comment above about not cataloging every conflict going on in the world, as this one has been going on for seventy years.

But for sixty six of those years its smoldered under an armistice that brought an end to the open fighting but didn't completely stop the hostilities.  From time to time, there's violence, and there was some last week with North Korean soldiers shot and killed a South Korean man who was making a deluded attempt to defect to North Korea.  North Korea is a disaster so why that individual, a South Korean official, would attempt that is beyond me, but he did.

Apparently the North Koreans shot the man as a Coronavirus precaution and then burned his body.  The North Korean government then took the unusual step of apologizing for the incident, and then the South took the unnecessary one of also apologizing for failing to look after its own citizen better, although seeing a real South Korean failure here is hard to do.

What it's about:  As a result of the end of World War Two the US occupied the southern part of the Korean peninsula and the USSR the northern half.  The two halves were supposed to unite under a democratically elected government but didn't, leaving the northern half a Stalinist state that attempted to unite the country by force by way of a 1950 invasion of the south.  That failed, and the subsequent United Nations intervention nearly united the country under the southern government until the Chinese intervened. Ultimately an armistice placed the two halves nearly back where they had started, but left them with a lingering state of conflict which has never resolved.

Who else is involved:  For years following the Korean Conflict the United States remained as a deterrent to northern invasion.  The US still remains in the country today but with the southern government having evolved into being a full democratic one and the south a modern country.

The  north is propped up by China and receives assistance, to a lesser degree, from Russia.

What are the combatants like: South Korea's military is highly modern.  North Korea's is less so, but its  military is large and has some modern weapons.  As an Army of conscripts inside a controlled state, it's really hard to judge the loyalty of North Korea's soldiers.

Good guys and bad guys?: North Korea is run by Stalinist bullies who should step down in the interest of their country and humanity.

October 4, 2020

Azerbaijan v Armenia Update

Protests broke out in Hollywood, California yesterday as Armenian Americans, of which California has the largest number, gathered in front of news outlets to demand coverage of the fighting between the two countries. Protestors also blocked California state highway 101.

At this point, I guess I'll give my opinion on this conflict.

Armenians have occupied the region they are in since time immemorial. The Armenian kingdom was the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, with adoption of Christianity as the Armenian religion coming in the year 301.  Christianity itself was present in the country as early as 40AD, which isn't too surprising as Christianity spread miraculously fast after the Resurrection.  That would mean, that Christianity arrived in Armenia just seven years after that event.

Armenia, in the ancient, and modern, world has often been part of somebody else's empire. The Armenians are victims of their geographic location in that their land lies between the Caspian and Black Seas, so its the pathway to the Middle East for invaders. They became autonomous, if not fully independent, in 451.  The region fell to Islamic conquerors early in the Islamic armed expansion, but the region itself resisted Islam enormously and retained its Christian identity.  Following that it was briefly part of the Byzantine Empire, and then fell to the Seljuk Turks, who were driven out in the 1100s.  It fell to the Mongols in 1230, and and endless string of invaders from the east therefore.  It's unfortunate association with the Turks returned in 16th Century, following the Ottoman invasion of Anatolia.  As the Ottoman Empire began to collapse in the early 20th Century, Armenians became a victim of Turkish atrocities.

Armenia was supposed to be given independence following the fall of Ottoman Empire and its entering into a peace treaty with the Allies.  It's borders were drawn by Woodrow Wilson, even though the United States had never entered the war against the Ottomans.  The Allies proved, however, to tired to carry on what seemed to them to be a sideshow with the Turks, and abandoned the country allowing the Young Turks to form a new Turkish nation.  One of the first things that country did was to invade Armenia in a border dispute.

This story was complicated by the fact that the Russian Empire also had expanded into Armenian territory so, by the 20th Century, Armenians were split between two empires, and two empires that did not get along.  World War One, therefore, not only brought terrible atrocities to Armenia, but opportunity as well. The Armenians did not get a state with the border promised to them in the peace treaty, but they did get a state briefly.  Turkish armed action against them combined with Communist subterfuge and Soviet invasion brought that to an end in 1921.  

A small Armenia regained its independence with the fall of the Soviet Union.

Azerbaijan is a country populated by the Azerbaijani Turks.  They came into the area during the period of time of the Muslim armed expansion.  The region itself, in vast antiquity, was populated by Albanians, something that's difficult to imagine given the tiny region occupied by Albania, quite some distance away, today.  Historical evidence indicates that they originally occupied a region in Iran, and are culturally related to the Turks (obviously) but they share the odd invaders history such as other invading people's, such as the English, in that modern genetic evidence suggests that modern Azerbaijanis may have a culture, and religion, derived from the invaders, but most of their DNA is from the invaded.  I.e., they're pretty closely related, genetically, to Armenians and Georgians.

During the rise of modern Turkey the Turks briefly dreamed of uniting Azerbaijan, and other Turkic people to Turkeys' north and east, to a greater Turkey, but British intervention, and the ultimate success of the USSR in that region, put an end to that, at least for the time.  

When the Soviet Union collapsed it left opportunities for all of these people to regain statehood, or acquire it for the first time.  Most ethnic boundaries in the Soviet Union were a mess anyhow, as the Soviets were heirs to the Russian Empire in that fashion, which never had neat ethnological boundaries and which further had no need of them.  Compounding that, the Soviets had encouraged Russian immigration everywhere in its territory as a bulwark against ethnic movements.  This left a situation in regard to Armenia and Azerbaijan in which there exists Nagorno-Karabakh.  Azerbaijan may be over 90% Azerbaijani in ethnicity, but Nagorno-Karabakh is overwhelmingly Armenian.

It ought to belong to Armenia.

In a brief war after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Armenians took it against all odds.  And they deserve to keep it.  They occupy a rump state in comparison to their former domains and didn't receive what they were promised and deserved after World War One. They have no reason to trust the Turks at all, and at this point the Islamist government of Turkey can't be depended upon not to hold old imperial expansionist dreams from the Turkish revolutionary period. The fact, moreover, that Turkey is allowing Syrian mercenaries to enter the fray is a bad sign.

My prediction is, however, that the Armenians will be abandoned once again.

Part of this is compounded, we'd note, by the fact that Armenia is completely landlocked.  It's receiving some aid from Iran, which is ironic but Iran doesn't get along well with Turkey, which is also ironic.  It also receives assistance from Russia, which views the country as part of its old empire as it also does Azerbaijan, but as Russia also views itself as the defender of Christian Orthodoxy, its sympathies are with Armenia. All that assistance, however, is fairly minor  It would take the introduction of very significant weaponry, particularly antiaircraft weapons, to really put Azerbaijan and Turkey on their heels.  Azerbaijan, for its part, receives aid, as previously noted, from Turkey, but it also receives it to some degree from Israel.  There's no good excuse for that whatsoever, although we'd note that Israel and Turkey have traditionally had close relations and the realpolitik element of keeping the Turks away from the Iranians, which ancient antipathy plays into anyway, may serve that as much as anything else.

Western powers could do something but it would mostly be something economic.  No western power would want to send a military mission to Armenia in a time of war, and for that matter, it'd have to cross a neighboring power that wouldn't allow for it.  Economic sanctions against Turkey are in order.  Russia, for its part, probably won't let Armenia lose, but it won't guaranty that it wins in Nagorno-Karabakh either.

October 6, 2020

Azerbaijan v Armenia Update

NATO called  upon NATO member ally to work to mediate the dispute, a thing which is ironic in some ways as Turkey is Azerbaijan's ally in the conflict.  NATO, in doing so, noted Turkey's "regional influence".  Iran stated it is working to mediate the conflict.

October 9, 2020

Azerbaijan v Armenia Update

Armenia called upon NATO to investigate Turkey's role in the conflict. The US, Iran, and France, called upon the warring sides to stop fighting.

Armenians from Lebanon's large Armenian community have been leaving Lebanon to volunteer for the Armenian forces.

Mali v. Mali

Mali is one of France's unstable former colonies in which she retains an interest.  Intertribal strife that breaks out in open fighting has been going on in the country for some time.  Additionally, Islamic extremist are present in the country.

The country recently experienced a coup in which the army seized control of the country and deposed its elected leadership, claiming it did it due to alleged election irregularities.  It was the second coup in eight years.

Members of the military committee formed to rule Mali following the August coup.

This week Islamist extremist released a French aid worker who had been held for nearly four years and a politician.

France has a military mission to Mali, like it does to many of its former colonies.  It's mission to that country is designed to fight offshoots of Al Qaeda in the country.   France has announced that it has no intention to withdraw.

October 10, 2020

Mali v. Mali, update

Islamic terrorist announced that they had killed a Swiss prisoner a month ago.

October 12, 2020

Azerbaijan v Armenia Update

Kim Kardashian West pledged $1,000,000 for Armenian relief.

A ceasefire between the warring parties does not appear to be holding.

October 27, 2020

Israel v Hamas


Earlier this week Israeli aircraft struck targets in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas balloon bomb strikes.

Hamas is a Sunni Islamist fundamentalist Palestinian nationalist organization with a military wing basically dedicated to the destruction of Israel.  The timing of its attack, perhaps purely coincidentally, comes at the same time that a selection of regional states have been entering into peace treaties with Israel and recognizing its legitimacy.

Israel's struggle against Hamas has been long term, and this is only the most recent expression of it.

Syria v Syria




Russia broke a truce that it is one of the parties monitoring, along with Turkey, by launching airstrikes against the Islamist fundamentalist militia Faylaq al-Sham.

This is one of those regional conflict stories that can rapidly get hopelessly confusing.  Basically, Putin's Russia, for reasons of realpolitik, old Soviet ties, and opportunity, are supporters of the Baathist Syrian regime along with Iran.  Ideologically this makes no sense whatsoever, but it's not about ideals. 

Syria is now in year nine of a civil war which pit various forces, many of them hard corps Islamist, against their secular, and facistic, regime.  The noted group attacked by Russian aircraft the other day is an amalgamation of nineteen different Islamist groups.

Russia and Turkey brokered a cease fire in the region, but obviously Russia doesn't mind making use of opportunities when they present themselves.  The targets it hit were training grounds for the noted group.

The Baath regime in the country has effectively won the war, which it was obvious that it was going to do. The more surprising fact is that some militia groups have hung on for the time being.  Russia is working towards ending that in at least some ways.

November 7, 2020

Ethiopia v. the Ethiopian region of Tigray



Ethiopia is slipping into civil war as the central government seeks to control an increasingly independently acting Tigray, a large region in the country which is maintaining its own military structure.  Yesterday the Ethiopian government hit Tigray's military infrastructure with air strikes.

Ethiopia has struggled to be stable ever since the fall of its ancient monarchy to Communism in 1974. The nation has emerged from that episode but it has not been stable.  The current government started with promise and the backing of the political forces in Tigray its now fighting, so obviously a new period of unrest is starting.

What it's about:  The main political party in Tigray has been the dominant party in post Communist Ethiopia and feels threatened by the current government which it views as trying to built a more unitary state. Tigray is a powerful and large area of Ethiopia and doesn't want its power diminished. Also, the current government removed members of the party last year which it resents.

The region held an election in defiance of the central government, which ordered national elections postponed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Who else is involved:  Nobody.

What are the combatants like: Ethiopia has a small military and Tigray's militia, which is likely comprised of local units of the central military, won't be large either. They'll be roughly equally armed and equipped, but the central government will have an advantage in a conventional war.

Good guys and bad guys?:  Hard to say, but it's hard to argue that a separatist movement that's upset in these conditions has the high side of the argument.

November 10, 2020

Azerbaijan v Armenia Update

Russia has brokered a new ceasefire.

Cont:

And as details of the deal emerge, it's clear that Armenia lost the conflict.

Azerbaijan will keep the territory it acquired in the war.  Armenia will quickly withdraw from more of it.  In the center, a Russian peacekeeping force of 2,000 men will operate to secure the area from further Azerbaijani aggression, as they won't wish to enter into a war with Russia, but the deal could hardly be described as a great one for Armenia which is losing over 50% of the territory it held in the disputed region before the war commenced.

November 12, 2020

United States v. Peoples Republic of China.



This one really doesn't belong here, as there's no shooting war (um, yet?), but China presents a problem for the world and this thread given its aggressive bullying nature that puts it in the category of something resembling a 19th Century imperial power.

The United States just banned Americans from investing in companies that are involved in PRC Chinese military technology.  This move is long overdue.

It's worth noting that the Department of Defense is flat out now preparing for war with China, regarding the strategic risk as fairly high.  The Marine Corps is specifically restructuring itself to revive its 1900 to 1960 type role featuring amphibious assault.  It never abandoned it, but its now the focus once again.

What it's about:  China is an aggressive, and brutal, imperial power that is bent on expanding its influence in any fashion possible.  It's military was primitive until the First Gulf War, at which time its observation of the conflict lead it to the conclusion that it could no longer just rely on a massive military alone.  Additionally, it's become increasingly aggressive as a naval power in recent years.

Who else is involved:  Most of the nations that border China, either by land or sea, are concerned about it, and some have fairly hostile relations with China, creating some ironic situations.  For example, the United States has in recent years started to favor Vietnam, which has a very hostile relationship with its northern neighbor.  Taiwan, which of course is technically part of China but not under the Chinese government as it was the last refuge of the Chinese Nationalist government, is effectively an independent state but has been increasingly threatened by the PRC.  Hong Kong is part of China but the former British Colony has effectively had its "special relationship" which allowed it to have its own government for a prolonged anticipated period of time following reunification with the PRC has seen that massively erode leading to a huge amount of strife there.

It should be noted that Taiwan and the PRC are sometimes claimed to be "technically at war", but they are not, as they were never at war.  Taiwan is the surviving political entity of the Republic of China, with there being some irony in that in that the island itself is not one native to the Chinese but rather its own ethnic groups, although the Chinese have had a presence there for centuries. The island was ruled by the Chinese periodically and then by the Japanese from 1895 to 1945.  It reverted to the Republic of China in 1945 and then was the last refuge of the Nationalist Chinese government following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War.  As a civil war is, technically, not a legal war, the Chinese Communist and the Chinese Nationalist were not therefore in a legal war.  The Republic of China was recognized as the legal Chinese government for some time thereafter, with that definitely changing when the United States recognized the Communist government in 1971, after which the Nationalist government lost its seat at the United Nations.  Following that, and the death of Chiang Kai Shek, the Taiwanese government has taken the position of de facto independence from China and is governed currently by a political party that takes that position, without formerly declaring it.  Taiwan some time ago unilaterally declared hostilities to be over.

Flag of Vietnam.

Flag of Taiwan, the former flag of Nationalist China, or the current one, depending upon how you view it.  Taiwan still styles itself the Republic of China.

Flag of Hong Kong.

What are the combatants like: The United States has the most advanced military in the world.  Taiwan's is advanced but small. Vietnam's is good.  China's is good and getting better, but probably not as adept at sea as military commentators might sometimes suggest.

Good guys and bad guys?:  Everyone but China.

Morocco v Polisario Front



Fighting has broken out in Morocco resulting in at least a temporary end to a thirty year truce with the Polisario Front..  The cause of the fighting was the opening of a highway to Mauritania that runs through territory occupied by the Polisario Front, a group that seeks independence from Morocco in the Western Morocco region of Morocco.  The people living in the eastern portion of the Western Morocco are the Sahrawi and they are ethnically distinct from Moroccans.  The effect of the truce was to effectively make their region a state and it has acquired some recognition and quasi recognition from the United Nations.

As a result of Morocco's action, the Polisario Front declared war upon Morocco.

What it's about:  The immediate cause of the fighting was the opening of a road that had been blocked by the Sahrawi forces which was a source of complaints in the region. The bigger issue is whether the eastern Moroccan desert region of Western Morocco should be its own state.

The area was not part of the the Kingdom of Morocco until 1975 and remained a province of Spain up until that time.  The Kingdom, on the other hand, had been French Morocco.  In 1975, after a civilian unarmed invasion, the Kingdom of Morocco invaded the country in a move that Spain did not oppose.

Who else is involved:  Algeria supplies weapons to the Polisario Front even though Algeria has its own internal problems that have resulted in fighting in the past.

What are the combatants like: Morocco has a good modern army.  The Polisario Front has an army that even includes armor, but it can't be compared to Morocco's.  Having said that, Morocco was not able to defeat it prior to the truce.

Good guys and bad guys?:  Hard to say. The United Nations takes the position that the Sahrawi are entitled to self determination, which is hard to argue with.  And Morocco took the region without weighing in the views of all of the people living there.

Iraq v ISIL


We don't hear much about this war anymore, even though we have approximately 3,000 troops still committed to Iraq.

Generally, the story here is that not much of a war remains, but the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the terrorist group that at one time appeared on the verge of establishing a radical Islamic state in Iraq, does remain as a guerilla combatant.  Much reduced due to earlier fighting, they are not on the verge of anything right now, but they have not completely disappeared.

What it's about:  ISIL is a radical offshoot of Al Qaeda, which says something, which sought to impose an Islamic caliphate starting in Iraq that would rule according to the strictest Sunni interpretations of the Koran.  Iraq's government is Shiia dominated and parliamentarian in nature and it seeks to preserve itself.

Who else is involved:  The United States created the current Iraqi government following its defeat of the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein but, over time, the Iraqi government, dominated by Shiia's, has become an Iranian ally.  This puts us at odds with the government even while supporting it.

To the north, regions of the country are the sole bastions of Kurdish independence, something the Iraqi government opposes.

What are the combatants like: ISIL is a guerilla and terrorist force at this point.  Iraq has a well equipped modern army but internal strife make its overall fighting qualities doubtful.

Good guys and bad guys?:  None of this has turned out the way the UW would have wanted when it first went to war with Iraq, but suffice it to say an ISIL victory, which is now unlikely, would be a disaster.  A totally Iranian dominated Iraq would be as well.

Afghanistan v The Taliban

The long Afghani war brought about by the destabilization of the country under Communism in the 1970s continues on.

The country fell to the Taliban, a radical Islamic group, following the departure of the Soviet Union.  That lead to a civil war in which the United States intervened following the September 11, 2001 attacks as the Taliban was harboring Al Qaeda.  Massive strategic blunders caused by the tactical blundering of Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld meant that a war that could have been rapidly won was not, allowing the war to devolve into a long guerilla war.  A US focus on Iraq also diverted much needed attention from the region.  Under President Barack Obama a "surge" recaptured much lost ground, but since then a gradual draw down of American forces, now only 5,000 in number, leave the situation in the country uncertain.

What it's about:  The root of the war is found in a 1970s Communist take over in the country which lead to a guerilla war that ultimately expelled the Soviets but which did not leave a government in place.  The Taliban filled the gap and imposed a brutal theocratic regime.  It in turn harbored Al Qaeda which ultimately lead to American intervention.  The destruction of the political culture in the country has made restoring a civil government extremely difficult.

Who else is involved:  The United States remains involved.  NATO had a significant military mission but presently its remaining non US contingent is largely committed to training.

What are the combatants like: Afghanistan has a western trained and equipped army, but its internal problems make its fighting qualities doubtful.  Al Qaeda is a guerilla force.

Good guys and bad guys?:  The Afghan government is undoubtedly the "good guys" in this fight and if it falls it will be a Western disaster.

November 30, 2020

Ethiopia v. the Ethiopian region of Tigray Update

Ethiopian forces appear to have taken the capitol of the Tigray region.

The conflict seems to have spilled over into neighboring Eritrea which claims to have sent troops into Tigray at the invitation of Ethiopia, which the Ethiopian government denies.  Tigray admitted targeting Eritrea's capitol in rocket attacks recently and explosions were heard in the city yesterday.

Flag of Eritrea.

Eritrea has been independent from Ethiopia since 1993.  By getting involved in the Ethiopian war its drawing itself closer to the government of a country that's presently not tolerating regional dissent which may prove to be a dangerous move.

Morocco v Polisario Front Update.

The United States has recognized Moroccan claims to the Western Sahara.

This comes, oddly enough, as a byproduct of Moocco agreeing to normalize its relations with Israel, which were announced this past Thursday. Recognition of the Moroccan territorial claim was part of the negotiated deal.

December 20, 2020

Russia v. United States (amongst others), Cyber Warfare



It may seem odd, or not, to see this listed here.  The United States and the Russian Federation are not in a shooting war, but for years and years Russia has been engaged in a cyber campaign against the west.

This past week news developed of a huge cyber attack on U.S. agencies which it is believed it will take years to address.  The attack is truly in the nature of a disaster for the United States.  Earlier this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attributed the attack to Russia.  In response, so far, the US has closed some consulates in Russia.

President Trump, in news that's almost become blasé, later discounted the source of the attacks, Russia, and blamed it on China, and then went on to proclaim that the "fake news industry" was making the attacks out to be much worse than they really are.  At this point in his waning days as President the purpose of the President taking such steps is hard to discern but it adds to the speculation that Russia has something on him.  Indeed, it's so odd that, outside of perhaps just his clear admiration for Boris Putin, it's very difficult to grasp.

What it's about:  What Russia's goals are remain difficult to discern. After the fall of the Soviet Union there was real hope that Russia would join the Western family of nations but its clear that under Putin it will not, even though its in its economic and political advantage to do so.  Putin has created an autocratic government in his country that has echoes of earlier Russian autocratic regimes in numerous ways and this seems to be generally part of it.  At any rate, Russia is clearly hostile to the West.

Who else is involved:  Nearly every Western nation is similarly situated to the United States in this matter.

What are the combatants like: This category doesn't really fit here in the conventional sense as the parties aren't real combatants.

Having said that, it's highly obvious that the Russians have excellent resources in this area.  The West does as well, but has restrained itself from using them and is likely to continue to do so.  It's extremely difficult to tell where this is going.

One thing to remember, however, is that Russia is in the position of going its own on these matters.  That may be part of its basis for attacking other countries in this fashion.  The nation has economic problems and a modern economy tied to petroleum, which is proving problematic as a future economic base. Attacks of this type keep its neighbors who do not engage in them off balance.  Having said that, however, the economies of the western nations are much more advanced than the Russian one and the populations of those nations dwarf Russia.  Even the US alone has a population twice the size of Russia's.

There seems to be low risk that the western nations will reciprocate, but the Russian strategy is risky as the potential cost benefit ratio to it are poor should they start to.

Good guys and bad guys?:  These actions are essentially unprovoked and only serve Russian short term interest.  They're ultimately risky to Russia itself.