David Wood (LLB)
Son of a returned Middle East soldier, ex RSA president and dedicated researcher who has taken successful cases to the Privy Council and Supreme Court.
As a result of Goff accusing Trump of dishonour, Peters has dumped him as High
Commissioner in London. This arose out of Goff’s take on the Zelensky interview with Trump in the White House recently.
Is this 1938 again and a re-run of political gaffes that led to the conflagration of World War II?
The old and severely ill prime minister of the UK Neville Chamberlain decided that England should declare war on Germany (he died in the middle of the Battle of Britain, 9 November 1940). History records that this was a useless declaration as by the end of this war Poland was lost to the West as it ended up in the eastern bloc. A quick read of history will show that Prussia was entwined with the German nation, and it was inevitable that Hitler would try to rejoin old Prussia up with Germany and absorb Poland in the middle together with the free port of Danzig, which was largely German. England should have stayed aloof from the belligerent and diplomatic moves by Hitler as it is very clear that Hitler had no intention of
conquering the British Empire and probably would have been quite happy for the return of all the German colonies which had been confiscated after the First World War.
By way of the books and movies produced regarding the leadership of Churchill, one falls into the view that Lord Halifax (read Trump) who wanted peace talks in 1938 was a defeatist in proposing peace and a understanding with the Nazis, but instead the belligerent Churchill, who took over in May 1940, decided to join up with the completely unworthy French nation to try and stop Hitler from becoming the Lord of Europe. Hitler’s second in command Rudolph Hess flew to Scotland to try and talk peace in May 1940. Hess was ignored and turned into a mystery which has never been unravelled. Hess was probably an embarrassment as he wanted to talk terms with Britain, which by this time had convinced itself it had to go to war against the Nazis. We eventually had to fight the French as well in Lebanon, Syria and Algeria and had to sink their naval fleet as they refused to hand it over to
Britain.
WSC dismissed all the extensive efforts of the Italians and the very honourable efforts of Lord Halifax whose suggestions of negotiating with Hitler is publicised as defeatism by a media who was by 1940 now carried away with the gung-ho attitude of WSC.
Isn’t this looking like Zelensky and Trump?
Let’s not forget that Macron has threatened use of his atom bombs and the UK is pledging troops on the ground in the Ukraine. Doesn’t this sound just a little like the steps everyone was taking from 1938 to 1941?
In 1940 President Roosevelt (read Trump again) came to the aid of Britain with a few old obsolete destroyers. FDR was president of a country that kicked the Poms out in 1776 and ever since has been inclined towards an isolationist policy, which was very politically popular in the USA in 1914 and again in 1940.
Was Phil Goff advocating we send New Zealand troops to the eastern Euro conflict? Are we dishonourable in refusing to do so? We couldn’t get to Europe quick enough in 1914 and 1939 to fight the Pommy war. Are we ready to go this week?
The Ukraine is a conflicted country, never knowing whether it lives in the East or the West. In the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean Peninsula the “brave 600” rode into Russian canons not Ukrainian canons.
Trump is trying to effect a deal rather than throwing petrol on another European fire. The Europeans are not good at working out their own affairs without the US but Trump is trying like hell to get them to work it out themselves before he gets involved.
Next time you hear people scoff at Trump and his knowledge (or lack of it) on Europe just reflect on how different the outcome may have been if Britain had stayed aloof and watched Hitler and Stalin bash each other to death.
Regretfully we finished the war propping up Stalin: the worst tyrant the world has ever seen and for the last 78 years have had to put up with the communist nonsense our 1945 friends have caused us.
