....and pass the ammunition...
(The following item is not the usual blog. That will appear on June 18 with regular blog. This one, dated June 17, is not at all a regular blog. It's an extra.)
"praise the Lord and pass the ammunition...."
That was a popular song right after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, a song about 3 pastors who joined the soldiers at the guns during the attack by Japanese bombers.
You think that was a suitable activity for Chistian clergy? Care to pick out the section of The Bible that would recommend this? And why was Japan doing this in the first place?
In 1942, Japanese troops were stomping all over British and Chinese in China. This concerned the U.S. But not for the reasons you might think.
For well over a century, British invaders had been plundering China, India and other countries. These were valuable parts of the British Empire. The Chinese and India had suffered brutal working conditions for low and even non-existent pay. In many cases, the British even starved millions to death, though food was available. The British people didn't get much out of this but, oh, the upper class was smothered in money. (In that respect, it was much like the behaviour of U.S. billionaires today in places like Latin America where the U.S. billionaires murder and plunder - which the American lower classes get little of.)
But by 1940, the British hold on China had been replaced by a massive Japanese invasion. Britain was helpless. However, the American upper class slavered at the possibility of stealing China from Britain. (In the same way, American capitalists were eager to join the war against Germany in Africa. There again was there British wealth to be stolen - as in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia which the British had got hold of in World War One.)
But there was no way the American people were going to be interested in war whether in Africa or China. And this was a question for President Roosevelt. How could be set up a war? The answer was to make the Japanese strike first. That would rouse American support for a war.
And that is why, in 1941, the U.S. cut off oil to Japan. It controlled virtually all of Japan's oil supply. Americans wouldn't go to war? Well, if Japan's oil supply was cut off, it would have to attack the U.S.
The weakness of Roosevelt's plan? He had no idea where Japan might strike. Certainly, nobody expected it would be an attack by aircraft carriers on the heavily armed base of Pearl Harbour. Of all the attacks in World War 2, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour was probably the most brilliant.
But who started the Japanese/U.S. war in Asia? It was the U.S. And it certainly wasn't a U.S. attempt to help the Chinese or anybody else. It was the desire of US capitalists to help themselves. And if it had done so, it would have been as brutal as Brutish capitalists - and Japanese ones - would have been. (The U.S. had always been brutal and dictatorial with The Phillipines for over forty years.)
N.B. our news media then and to this day have never, ever referred to the American actions as anything but noble.
_________________________________________________________________
And who set off World War 1 in Europe? Actually, it wasn't Hitler.
At the end of World War 1, it was generally agreed that Germany had NOT started that war. It was much, much more complicated than that. The war happened because the countries in the region had all prepared for years for a war. And anything could trigger that war because, since they were all prepared and since the preparations would be difficult to disentangle a war would be hard to stop.
A young man murdered an archduke. Every country is terrified this could mean war. So every country pushed itself into war fearing that any delay could be fatal. One of the last to enter was - Germany.
Of course, in the press on our side, any country that entered the war on the other side was evil. And so Germany was evil.
When Germany surrendered in 1918, most of the other countries agreed that Germany had not started the war, and so should not be penalized for it.
But the British refused, saying that Germany had to be heavily penalized financially. Did even the British believe that? Probably not. But heavy penalties on Germany would pretty much destroy Germany as an economic rival to British capitalists. And the British won.
Germany was shattered by that decision. Conditions in the German economy got so bad that its paper money became worthless - so worthless, it was common to burn sacks full of it. The Germans were devastated, a whole nation virtually paralyzed, destroyed.
And this created the atmosphere in Germany of fear, suffering, anger of a frightened and hopeless people.
It was exactly the atmosphere for the angry speeches of a young Adolph Hitler who, choosing his scapegoat much as Donald Trump has chosen Latin American migrants, whipped the German people into fury at Jews.
Who caused World War Two? Who turned a Hitler loose on the world?
There was a strong case to be made that Britain did. But our headlines never mentioned Britain as evil.
(The following item is not the usual blog. That will appear on June 18 with regular blog. This one, dated June 17, is not at all a regular blog. It's an extra.)
"praise the Lord and pass the ammunition...."
That was a popular song right after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, a song about 3 pastors who joined the soldiers at the guns during the attack by Japanese bombers.
You think that was a suitable activity for Chistian clergy? Care to pick out the section of The Bible that would recommend this? And why was Japan doing this in the first place?
In 1942, Japanese troops were stomping all over British and Chinese in China. This concerned the U.S. But not for the reasons you might think.
For well over a century, British invaders had been plundering China, India and other countries. These were valuable parts of the British Empire. The Chinese and India had suffered brutal working conditions for low and even non-existent pay. In many cases, the British even starved millions to death, though food was available. The British people didn't get much out of this but, oh, the upper class was smothered in money. (In that respect, it was much like the behaviour of U.S. billionaires today in places like Latin America where the U.S. billionaires murder and plunder - which the American lower classes get little of.)
But by 1940, the British hold on China had been replaced by a massive Japanese invasion. Britain was helpless. However, the American upper class slavered at the possibility of stealing China from Britain. (In the same way, American capitalists were eager to join the war against Germany in Africa. There again was there British wealth to be stolen - as in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia which the British had got hold of in World War One.)
But there was no way the American people were going to be interested in war whether in Africa or China. And this was a question for President Roosevelt. How could be set up a war? The answer was to make the Japanese strike first. That would rouse American support for a war.
And that is why, in 1941, the U.S. cut off oil to Japan. It controlled virtually all of Japan's oil supply. Americans wouldn't go to war? Well, if Japan's oil supply was cut off, it would have to attack the U.S.
The weakness of Roosevelt's plan? He had no idea where Japan might strike. Certainly, nobody expected it would be an attack by aircraft carriers on the heavily armed base of Pearl Harbour. Of all the attacks in World War 2, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour was probably the most brilliant.
But who started the Japanese/U.S. war in Asia? It was the U.S. And it certainly wasn't a U.S. attempt to help the Chinese or anybody else. It was the desire of US capitalists to help themselves. And if it had done so, it would have been as brutal as Brutish capitalists - and Japanese ones - would have been. (The U.S. had always been brutal and dictatorial with The Phillipines for over forty years.)
N.B. our news media then and to this day have never, ever referred to the American actions as anything but noble.
_________________________________________________________________
And who set off World War 1 in Europe? Actually, it wasn't Hitler.
At the end of World War 1, it was generally agreed that Germany had NOT started that war. It was much, much more complicated than that. The war happened because the countries in the region had all prepared for years for a war. And anything could trigger that war because, since they were all prepared and since the preparations would be difficult to disentangle a war would be hard to stop.
A young man murdered an archduke. Every country is terrified this could mean war. So every country pushed itself into war fearing that any delay could be fatal. One of the last to enter was - Germany.
Of course, in the press on our side, any country that entered the war on the other side was evil. And so Germany was evil.
When Germany surrendered in 1918, most of the other countries agreed that Germany had not started the war, and so should not be penalized for it.
But the British refused, saying that Germany had to be heavily penalized financially. Did even the British believe that? Probably not. But heavy penalties on Germany would pretty much destroy Germany as an economic rival to British capitalists. And the British won.
Germany was shattered by that decision. Conditions in the German economy got so bad that its paper money became worthless - so worthless, it was common to burn sacks full of it. The Germans were devastated, a whole nation virtually paralyzed, destroyed.
And this created the atmosphere in Germany of fear, suffering, anger of a frightened and hopeless people.
It was exactly the atmosphere for the angry speeches of a young Adolph Hitler who, choosing his scapegoat much as Donald Trump has chosen Latin American migrants, whipped the German people into fury at Jews.
Who caused World War Two? Who turned a Hitler loose on the world?
There was a strong case to be made that Britain did. But our headlines never mentioned Britain as evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment