More thoughts on the Gaza War

I am someone who sympathizes with Israel. In their position I probably would have reacted to continuous Hamas rocket fire and provocations the same way. No one other than the most genocidal maniac can be happy about the Gaza situation. Troops have moved into the strip, which is densely populated. No matter how careful Israeli soldiers are, civilians are dying. Young Israelis are dying.


What bothers me most is the "rah rahing" I see from supporters of both sides. No matter what you think of Hamas, you cannot be happy with the increasing civilian casualties and the humanitarian disaster. Israel has proved its point. Unfortunately, I fear Hamas will not stop. So in a year or two we will again see the recurring spectacle of Palestinian rockets followed by Israeli bombs and more war, death and destruction.

The Byzantines had I think the best view of war. To them, war was tragic, but some times necessary. They were surrounded by enemies on all sides and rarely knew peace. But while they hailed the victors and honored their heroes, they did not see anything particularly heroic about war itself. Soldiers who killed the enemy in battle were expected to do penance.

War was avoided by a combination of nuanced diplomacy, bribes and brute force. The Byzantines would make a cost benefit analysis but always had the power of a strong army to back up negotiations. Every now and then, a barbarian who asked for too much would suffer the consequences of Byzantine power, to make an example for the others. In this way, the Byzantines were able to 1000 years to fend off enemies from all sides.

So let's cut out the rah rah -- war is not a football game,. Many people have died, and I fear many more will in the coming days.

Operation Unthinkable -- The British Plan for War with the USSR

I came across this document this evening when looking at The Corner. It is Operation Unthinkable -- the British review for war with Stalin's USSR following World War Two.

The topic of Western Betrayal is still a hot topic in eastern Europe. Many Eastern Europeans feel that the Western powers sold them out to the Soviet Union following World War Two, replacing Nazism with Bolshevism. This feeling is especially strong in Poland, for whom the Western powers ostensibly went to war to defend in 1939. The Poles suffered heavily during World War II, initially suffering German invasion. Later, much of the Polish intelligentsia was wiped out when 23,000 Polish officers were executed by the Soviets at Katyn. Warsaw rose in revolt twice. First, the Jews revolted in 1943. Then, as the Soviet armies neared the city, the Polish Home Army turned on the Germans. The Soviet advance was halted, while the Poles died in large numbers fighting the Germans. The Soviets not only refused to militarily assist the Poles, but they forbid Western assistance.

In the end, Poland found itself at the feet of Stalin.

The problem with Western Betrayal is that in reality there was little the Western allies could do. The British Empire was bankrupt and exhausted. The United States still had to defeat Japan, and in any event, there was no will to turn on our Russian "allies" in the hour of victory. FDR and Churchill were able to get Stalin to agree to free elections -- of course that turned out to be a farce.

Short of the Western Allies going to war with Russia, Poland's fate, and the fate of all of Eastern Europe, was sealed.