Sebastian P. Breit's Blog, page 6

Blood on the Sun


With every week I live I realize more and more how little I actually do know and how limited the horizon of my experiences has been so far. Not a day goes by without me finding out about potentially interesting things that I've never heard of before. Blood on the Sun is one of them.



It's a film starring James Cagney and Sylvia Sidney. The film is based on a fictional history behind the Tanaka Memorial document.
The film even won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for a Black & White film in 1945. Despite the topic it's less of a war movie and more of a thriller/Film Noir about a journalist getting drawn into a plot around the discovery of the Tanaka Memorial.



You can even download the movie without getting a bad conscience. It's been in the public domain since 1973.

Source: Geopolitical Monitor.


As the eyes of the world were riveted to the ongoing battle between Syrian rebels and government forces in Syria’s largest city of Aleppo, the government of Tajikistan decided to carry out a military operation against its own rebels in the country’s south. This operation was launched in the wake of a mysterious murder: the head of a local office of the National Security Committee (the KGB’s successor in Tajikistan), General Abdullo Nazarov, 56, was stabbed to death by unidentified armed men. All of his four companions, including three personal bodyguards, were reported to be wounded, but survived the attack and even refused hospitalization, claiming that their lives were out of danger.

In response to the killing, Tajikistan’s government accused Tolib Ayembekov, a local leader, of smuggling drugs, precious stones, and tobacco across the border with Afghanistan. The murder of Nazarov, whose responsibility was to fight organized crime in the country’s most unstable and poorest province, was judged as a vendetta for his resistance to Ayembekov’s illegal trade. On July 24, three days after Nazarov was killed when crossing the region in a heavily guarded vehicle, the outskirts of Khorog, which is the administrative center of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province (GBAO), were bombed by the Tajik military. Local media reported that the operation on the ground was conducted not only by the National Security Committee and the Interior Ministry, but also by several detachments of the presidential guard.

From the first hours of airstrikes resounding across the mountainous areas of southern Tajikistan, several experts, both in the country and abroad, expressed serious doubts concerning the validity of the official version of events. Tajik officials working in such remote areas are generally considered to be relatively independent from central authorities in Dushanbe and have been frequently accused of practicing corruption and providing cover-ups for illegal businesses. Locals living in Khorog spoke about Abdullo Nazarov’s direct involvement in large-scale transfers of tobacco across the border. He had purportedly provided protection for most shipments of tobacco products imported without compulsory customs clearing, and was killed as a result of an altercation with his “business partners” over a shipment he had previously refused to accept.
Whatever the real causes of this incident, the situation in the GBAO region of Tajikistan has always remained very strained. In 2008, popular protests were sparked by widespread indignation over the government’s relentless hunting down of “annoying” persons amongst former rebels. Today, Tajikistan is Central Asia’s poorest country, with its GDP per capita rate hardly exceeding $800. Yet, the situation in the country’s south, on the border with Afghanistan, remains particularly difficult. Numerous ethnic groups populating these areas consider themselves to be mercilessly oppressed by Tajiks, while social and economic development is hampered by irresponsible actions on behalf of the central government’s representatives.

One of the explanations behind Dushanbe’s decision to launch a military operation against locally operating criminal groups could be the desire of President Emomalii Rahmon to eliminate potential adversaries from the ranks of former rebels, given their high popularity in poverty-ridden towns and villages. Between 1992 and 1997, Tajikistan was in a state of civil war, with southern groups overtly affiliated with Islamist elements opposing the central government. Following a truce which concluded years-long hostilities, most of the rebels decided to lay down arms and retain full liberty in exchange for their acceptance of the civilian authorities in Dushanbe. As the domestic situation in Tajikistan has been deteriorating against the backdrop of a severe economic crisis and worsening security conditions in neighboring Afghanistan, those rebels who once fought the current president and his supporters have rapidly become popular with Tajikistan’s southerners.

Earlier in June, serious concerns about the security situation in Tajikistan were expressed by the commander-in-chief of Russia’s ground forces, General Vladimir Chirkin. Speaking before the Committee on defense and security of the Federation Council (Senate), he particularly stressed the probability of armed conflicts in Central Asia on energy and water-sharing grounds. In this regard, it should be noted that Tajikistan’s relations with Uzbekistan have been traditionally complicated because of unresolved disputes related to the projected construction of several dams on Tajik territory. First proposed in 1959, when both countries were still part of the USSR, the Rogun dam, which is the largest of all those ever planned by Dushanbe, has been blocked for decades by Uzbek authorities, fearful of its potential impact on the availability of irrigation water supply for Uzbekistan’s vast cotton fields. Energy is also a factor of friction between the two capitals: Tashkent already resorted to unilateral halts in gas supply to neighboring Tajikistan in order to convince this “brotherly nation” of the necessity to reconsider its ambitious construction projects.

Interestingly, General Chirkin whose comments had previously attracted criticism from several Central Asian republics is currently negotiating the extension of Russia’s lease for its military facility in Tajikistan. Opened in 2004, the 201st military base of the Russian Federation became the largest in personnel across the whole CIS space. At the time, Russia promised to assist Tajik border authorities in ensuring security in the vicinity of Afghanistan, exempting itself from any payments for the use of Tajik territory. While the initially agreed lease term will expire in 2014, Russia is trying to extend its presence in Central Asia by renewing the historic conditions of a bilateral agreement between Moscow and Dushanbe. In its turn, Tajikistan has recently demanded several modifications in Russia’s obligations, expecting it to pay around $250 million per year. It also insists on the reduction of the next lease term from 49 years, as was requested by Russian counterparts, to 10 years until 2024. Therefore, Mr. Chirkin’s comments should be interpreted as a warning to Tajikistan’s government that Russia’s departure from Central Asia could leave the region without necessary military guarantees.

However, Tajikistan’s role in Central Asian geopolitics is not limited to its relations with the Kremlin. As ISAF forces are already scheduling their withdrawal from Afghanistan (the 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago decided that more than 130,000 troops would leave Afghanistan by the end of December 2014), the US Government is already seeking new partnerships in Central Asia. While Kyrgyzstan has maintained its decision to close down the Manas Transit Center, which now serves as a main logistical base for coalition troops in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan remains too unreliable after it already drove US soldiers out of its own military base in 2005. Thus, with Turkmenistan staying permanently neutral and Kazakhstan engaged in an active military cooperation with Russia, Tajikistan seems to be the only plausible option. As a proof of Washington’s nascent reorientation towards Dushanbe, the White House has recently submitted to Congress a request to double military aid to Tajik armed forces (from $800,000 to $1,500,000) for the 2013 financial year. A delegation of US Congressmen visiting Tajikistan in early July also promised to raise the question of establishing a military base on Tajik soil after 2014, when US troops will definitely leave the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan.

While Tajikistan’s actions in its southern province have already led to accusations of “genocide” against the local Pamir ethnic groups and are also interpreted as President Rahmon’s attempt to get rid of political opposition to his rule, the country’s role in Central Asian security should also be highlighted. Rampant corruption, social tensions, poor economic conditions and unstable relations with neighbors make Tajikistan a particularly problematic partner, especially in terms of military cooperation. As Tajikistan is negotiating with Russia over the latter’s presence on its territory, Moscow’s unwillingness to satisfy several of Dushanbe’s demands could lead to the withdrawal of remaining Russian troops on the border with Afghanistan and further jeopardize the country’s security. Meanwhile, despite its plans to stay engaged in regional affairs, Washington would be unable to cope with security challenges on its own, without using the help of both Russia and China, whose interest in overall stability across Central Asia is well-known. Therefore, the White House’s and the Pentagon’s reliance on individual Central Asian partners could prove to be a dangerous strategy, risking additional security burdens for an already crisis-stricken US economy.

originally posted at Geopolitical Monitor by Georgiy Voloshin.

Doug Mataconis of Outside the Beltway brings us this hypothetical about what could've happened had JFK not been assassinated.



* * *


Ann Althouse posed a hypothetical for her readers:

Assume JFK was not assassinated. Now, beginning with the 1964 election and continuing up to 2012, name the candidates for President and Vice President in both parties and who would have won. Fill in with reasons why this happened.

As with Lincoln, the assassination of JFK has always been a favorite turning point for “alt history” fans and authors. Indeed, Stephen King wrote a book on the subject that was published last year which I recommend to anyone interested in that kind of fiction. With the vast social changes that began to occur just years after he died that day in Dallas, and the Vietnam War and all of its consequences, the question of what Kennedy might have done differently is a rich, rich ground for “what if?” questions. Several years ago, a group of former Kennedy (and Johnson) advisers got together and tried to speculate how Kennedy might have handled the situations that Johnson faced with regard to Vietnam. It resulted in a book called Virtual JFK that is both a brutal reassessment of the Johnson Administration’s policies and a warning for future interventions in foreign lands. The general conclusion always has been that, had JFK lived, we would not have had the Vietnam War, a conclusion that (as I note below) may be based more on the myth of Camelot than reality.



Nonetheless, it’s no doubt clear that many things would have been different had Kennedy lived, so lets speculate what the world would’ve been based, at least in part, on Althouse’s hypothetical.



The 1964 Election — I don’t think that there would have been many differences here from the way things actually turned out. Kennedy would have obviously run for re-election and, while there might have been some discussion inside the closed circle of his close advisers about dumping picking a different Vice-Presidential running mate, Johnson would’ve been in the Veep slot. On the Republican side, virtually nothing would’ve been different. Goldwater was already talking about running in 1963 and the organization that would get him the Republican nomination was already being formed. There may have been some discussion among Republican insiders about setting up a Kennedy/Nixon rematch, but the Goldwater wave was too powerful resist in our 1964 and it would’ve been too powerful to resist then. In his later years, Goldwater used to talk a lot about him and Kennedy campaigning together Lincoln-Douglas style, but I doubt that would’ve happened. It would’ve been a tough campaign, although I don’t think JFK would’ve done something like the Daisy ad. In the end, Kennedy would’ve won re-election, perhaps by as wide a margin as Johnson did over Goldwater. However, the first signs of the Republican takeover of the South would be put in place for the future.



A Vietnam Interlude — The biggest question here is what Kennedy would’ve done with regard to Vietnam. Virtual JFK posits one theory which, while plausible on some points, seems to leave out the consideration of several crucial facts. It cannot be forgotten that Kennedy continued the policies that had started in the Eisenhower Administration. Additionally, just weeks before his own assassination, he authorized the coup that resulted in the arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, the President of South Vietnam. There are many historians who argue that, form that point forward, the United States had committed itself irrevocably to the political future of South Vietnam, for better or worse. While Kennedy might not have gone all-in as quickly and eagerly as Johnson did, there are really no credible signs that he was inclined to decrease the nation’s commitments in Southeast Asia (although many assassination conspiracy theories claim that he was) or that he would have not responded to increased pressure from the Communist regime in North Vietnam. So, while we may not have had an LBJ style war in Vietnam (or maybe we would have), there seems to e to be no question that America would have had some kind of military commitment in South Vietnam in the mid-to-late 1960s. Whether it would have been sufficient enough to inspire the anti-war movement and the other cultural changes of the 1960s is a far more complicated question.



A Civil Rights Interlude — The other major question post-1964 is the Civil Rights Movement. As many historians have noted, Kennedy sometimes kept the Civil Rights Movement at arms length. For example, there was no official Presidential recognition of the 1963 March on Washington. So, we have to ask ourselves. How aggressive would he have been in pushing for things like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Voting Rights Act? As a Southern Democrat, Lyndon Johnson had a certain amount of freedom in taking on the Southern Democrats who were opposed to legislation like this, and perhaps as Vice-President he would have been able to run damage control for Kennedy during these battles. I think the legislation still would’ve passed, but it would’ve been a very different fight.



The 1968 Election — This is where things get interesting, of course. Kennedy can’t run for re-election thanks to the 22nd Amendment. Johnson would’ve been 60 at this point and likely would be the favorite for the nomination depending on the state of the economy and, of course, what actually happened in Vietnam. Absent a massive anti-war movement, McCarthy and McGovern would’ve had no base at all inside the party. Hubert Humphrey likely would be a candidate, but it seems unlikely that Bobby Kennedy would have challenged a sitting Vice-President, especially if he had stayed on as Attorney General for the full eight years of the Kennedy Administration. So, most likely, the nomination would’ve been Johnson’s almost by default. On the Republican side, Nixon would still seem to be a front-runner if he chose to run but, absent the fully Vietnam disaster, it’s possible that George Romney might have had a far more successful campaign. Ronald Reagan ran that year as well, but I don’t see him winning mostly because the GOP would still be feeling burned by the Goldwater defeat. So, in the end, I think Nixon gets the nomination. A Nixon-Johnson race? That would’ve been epic, and the outcome would depend on too many variables to speculate on. However, let’s assume that the final year of the Kennedy Administration would’ve found America in better shape than the final year of the Johnson Administration did and give this one to LBJ and his Vice-Presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey. Nixon’s VP pick? That’s a wild guess because I don’t think it would’ve been Agnew under this scenario.



The 1972 Election — Lyndon Johnson died on January 22, 1973 and was in poor health long before then. In fact, he had experienced a massive heart attack in April 1972 after which it was determined that his heart and coronary arteries were far too damaged for surgery. If he hadn’t been incapacitated under the provisions of the 25th Amendment, I doubt he would’ve been physically capable of running for re-election in any event. That pretty much would’ve handed the nomination to Vice-President (or perhaps Acting President) Hubert Humphrey. (Yes I know it’s possible that he might not have gotten in to poor health like he did after 1968, but LBJ had already had one heart attack in 1955 and was on track for another) On the Republican side, Ronald Reagan would be making a comeback after his 1968 bid and would win the nomination. For his running mate, he’d be looking at moderate. Nelson Rockefeller, William Scranton, George Romney, and one of these could’ve been an appropriate pick for him under this scenario. Reagan v. Humphrey would’ve been the most ideological election since 1964, but I think it would’ve turned out differently this time. The oil shocks of the early 70s still would’ve happened, and would have sent the economy into a tailspin, and the incumbent party would’ve been blamed for that. Reagan/Romney defeats Humphrey/(Bobby) Kennedy.



After this, we’re a decade past our “what if” moment and things start to become a little murky because it’s hard to decide how history might have gone differently. There may have been political actors who took the stage that we’ve never really considered. The Cold War could’ve gone much worse, or much better. Any number of things could’ve happened. Nonetheless. here are a few quick guesses:


1976 — Republican ticket of Reagan/Romney wins re-election over a Democratic ticket of Bobby Kennedy/Edmund Muskie
1980 — Republican ticket of Romney/Laxalt wins over a Democratic ticket of Henry Jackson/Jimmy Carter
1984 — Republican ticket of Romney/Laxalt wins re-election over a Democratic ticket of John Glenn/Walter Mondale
1988 — Democratic ticket of John Glenn/Sam Nunn wins over a Republican ticket of Jack Kemp/Tom Kean

I’m going to stop there. By 1992 we’re 30 years past the “what if” date and any speculation on candidates and victors would be pure speculation even less based in fact than the guesses I made for 1976 through 1988.



In any event, feel free to speculate on your own. Because until we figure out how to travel to alternate realities, there’s no such thing as a wrong guess here.

Grade: F



Review - Alfheim by J.A. Schultz

It was a dark time. With the start of the second World War Elven-kind
once again found themselves in the middle of a human conflict. With
their glory days behind them the Huldufolk must either flee or fight to
survive in the clash of nations. But can the elves do more than just
survive? Or can Alfheim rise again?

How about history where WW2 happened - and a race of Elves lived in the same world as we did? Sounds interesting, I'd say. Unfortunately, Alfheim is a decidedly weak novel squandering a potentially interesting concept. Be it certain problems with German names - never a good thing if half you story takes place in Germany - or the glaringly obvious fact that the novel did not even receive the most basic editing Alfheim is sadly ripe with problems. Let's not mince words here: Alfheim isn't a good book. I didn't even make it fully through it. What you're getting in this review is just what put me off in the part I did read.

One jarring problem the novel has that jumps right out is its formatting. There are no breaks between paragraphs within a chapter dedicated to different locations and characters. One paragraph may deal with a character in a refugee camp in the USA, the next line will deal with an elf in the woods in Germany. No story will get brownie points from me for having me bash me head against my keyboard in a futile attempt to figure out what's going on! This isn't a small issue: it's damn annoying, and it could've been easily avoided!

If you start a new POV or switch locations hit ENTER twice in your writing program.

Or divide the sections with a set of centered asterisks, like this:

* * *

Or give it a location header: dau'Beljaw Clanhouse, near Nordlichstadt, Germany

You see, that's really not that hard and is mighty convenient for the people reading your book. Combined with the already existing massive editing problems and other issues of Alfheim this is a game breaker for me.

Secondly: a map of the world as the Elves see it would've been a nice touch to actually make sense of what Alfheim and all the other countries (?) were supposed to be. Because all the human countries are there and apparently evolved just as they did IRL: socially, territorially, technologically.

And yet the Germany Schultz sets his story in is a comparably deserted area filled with houses emptied by Nazis who are about as incompetent as the ones in Hogan's Heroes. There's also absolutely no distinction between the different branches of the German security apparatus he's talking about. They're just Nazis. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching about that label. My gripe is that there's zero consitentcy.

Which is unwittingly amusing once one tries to piece it all together. The guy tasked with rounding up and killing the Elves is obviously part of the SS. The men he uses for his work inside Germany are first described as experienced soldiers, so it's likely they are Waffen-SS. The convoy etc. that are being attacked must be Wehrmacht. And right before he gets the order to round all the Elves up he was contemplating asking to be transferred to Afrika to Rommel... which would mean he's Army? Wouldn't rounding up Elves in Germany be something the Gestapo would preside over while the SA does the legwork? If our Nazi POV could ask to be transferred to Rommel's command, wouldn't that make him Wehrmacht himself? But why would a Wehrmacht officer be tasked with... You see what I mean.
Another thing is that it's never explained how exactly the Elves have been able to keep up in that world?! One character mentions early in the story how they were once able to fight the Vikings and the Saxons. Really? The author never describes Elvenkind as a numerous bunch, and he tells us how elves look like: as tall as eight year olds, with sharp teeth and pointy ears. Allow me to point out that - as someone who has worn shield, armor and sword - I will call bullshit on the notion that someone with the body of an eight year old could go mano-a-mano with a Viking raider in full "Hello, I'm here to burn, rape and pillage and not necessarily in that order"-attire.

And they hunt with longbows and rifles. Few grown men can draw a longbow, and firing hunting rifles certainly isn't something optimized for the equivalent of the body of a preteen! And yet somehow they can out of the blue start at guerilla warfare campaign within Germany in 1941, a densely populated and fully mapped nation crawling with paramilitary and military forces and a massive state security apparatus. They attack convoys and patrols and even bases with ease while, and yet the higher ups of the man tasked with "dealing with the vermin" consider them to be no threat. I'm certain open partisan warfare in Germany proper in 1941 wouldn't have bothered anyone in the NSDAP...

The biggest - for the narrative's internal sense of weight - is the
choice of using the Elves as and addition to the Jews as a group that's
persecuted and being exterminated. For Schultz's Elves make for really
bad replacements as his choice shows a distinct lack of understanding
the reasons for the pervasiveness of Nazi antisemitism and its reach on
the part of the author. True enough, making the Elves into another
persecuted group helps Schultz to set them up as a guerilla fighting
force in Germany and occupied France. But the shoe just doesn't fit.


Jews were highly integrated into society (nearly indistinguishable,
really). They made for good scapegoats precisely because their numbers
were large enough for them to be considered a known quantity and yet
small enough to not pose a problem once persecution started. Base public
sentiment could be brought in position against them because with
coordinated propaganda because an above average number of German jews
inhabited higher socio-economic strata and was therefor susceptible to
the public's jealousy. The Jews playing a large role in the
international system of finance and trying to wreck Germany was also and
idea touted easily because it was plain and simple for the Reichspropagandaministerium
to point to, say, the Rothschild family. Prior predjudices could also
be rehashed and exploited: the Jews as cowards sitting at the base while
"real Germans" fought in the trenches of WW1, "parliamentarism" (and
the leftwing parties with their comparably prominent Jewish-German
members) stabbing the Reich in the back and so on... The Jews were a
relatable factor. With the "right" propaganda it was possible to get a
critical mass of people thinking about them as the enemy in their midst.



The Elves don't offer these "convenient" treats. They are loners hiding
away in their enclaves, they don't compete for ressources, they
generally don't interact with human societies. They are not
technologically sophisticated, not internationally organized, hell, they
don't even speak the language of the country they're living in. They
offer very little of the "advantages" of the Jews for propaganda. Most
people in 1940s Germany probably would pay them as much heed as an
exotic jungle tribe or, indeed, a fairytale.


* * *

Final Verdict: F. Reading Alfheim I'm left with the feeling that J.A. Schultz just
doesn't know that much about Germany, the Nazis or WW2 in general except
for the more well-known dates. Which is bad if these are the things your story's resting on PLUS Elves! The point is, after slugging through a typo-riddled sixth of the novel and its mushed-together chapters my suspension of disbelief simply said "To hell with this, I'll go play DEFCON". All I can credit Schultz for is having a nice idea. That's the only positive thing I can say about Alfheim. Do yourselves a favor and don't buy it.

I recently reported that both Secretary Clinton as well as the Koreans are demanding that a spade be called a spade with regard to the so-called 'Comfort Women', mostly Asian women that were forced into sexual slavery by Japan from 1937 onwards. They want them to be called sex slaves since that's what they were. Now, I've repeatedly stated that Japan's treatment of its own history leaves a lot to be desired and this case seems just hellbent to make my point. Because this is the average Japanese's reaction:

“How will parents explain when their children ask what a sex
slave is?”




“What can one make of a nation that seeks to strongly
emphasize that their grandmothers, mothers, and sisters were sex slaves?”




“I feel sorry for the comfort women. I can only conclude
that Koreans are discriminating against them.”

Seriously, what the hell?

Okay, I guess most of us have seen the original Red Dawn, and despite its flaws it holds a special place in my heart as one of the few movies that deals with WW3 in a non-apocalyptic manner. That it had high production values certainly didn't hurt, and sometimes John Milius just knows what he's doing. This new one, however...



In case you haven't heard it: the enemies who invade the US are... the North Koreans. You know, the country that's been perpetually starving for the past three decades. Whose tallest soldiers are six inches smaller than South Korea's tallest. Whose armed forces generally operate on a level of technology that would've made the 1970s Soviet Union roll over with laughter. Whose airforce needed hell to freeze over to even come close to parachute massive formations into the USA.



These are the ones we are supposed to believe used an EMP in this movie to completely neuter US defenses, invaded the West Coast in force, wiped out CENTCOM...



You know, who needed a remake of RED DAWN in the first place? There's no credible enemy to fit the storyline in a context that's supposed to take place in the here and now! That, and it looks worse than the original...

Courts in China's restive far western region of Xinjiang have jailed 20 people for up to 15 years on charges of terrorism and separatism, state media said on Thursday, as the heavily Muslim area marks the fasting month of Ramadan.



The three courts in the cities of Urumqi, Kashgar and Aksu also leveled charges of making explosive devices, promoting religious extremism and plotting "holy war", Communist Party mouthpiece The People's Daily said on its website.



While it did not give the ethnicity of those sentenced, judging from their names they were all Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic-speaking people who call Xinjiang home, many of whom chafe at Beijing's rule and restrictions on their religion and culture.



"A vast amount of evidence shows that the accused criminals carried out a lot of preparatory work in planning violent terror activities and set up a formal terror organization," the report said.



"They bought, produced and copied mobile transmitters, discs and publications which promoted separatism, religious extremism and violent terror and proactively spread them around," it added.



"Some members of the terror organization made explosives and carried out test explosions."



China blamed violence in Xinjiang - strategically located on the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Central Asia - on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent state of "East Turkestan".



Some Chinese officials have blamed attacks on Muslim militants trained in Pakistan.



But many rights groups say China overstates the threat to justify its tight grip on the region.



Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, said the government had politicized the case and used terrorism as an excuse to punish Uighurs who don't agree with the system.



"The aim is to terrorize Uighurs into abandoning their rights," he said in an emailed statement.



Beijing has shown no sign of relaxing its control in Xinjiang, a vast swath of territory accounting for one-sixth of China's land mass which holds rich oil, gas and coal deposits.



In July 2009, regional capital Urumqi was rocked by violence between majority Han Chinese and minority Uighurs that killed nearly 200 people.



Since the unrest, China has turned its attention to boosting development in Xinjiang and providing greater job opportunities, especially for Uighurs, to try to address some of the root causes of the violence.

Courtesy of the blog Letters of Note an extraordinary letter from the nephew of Adolf Hitler has been discovered in which he begs to be allowed to enlist in the U.S. Army to fight against his uncle's facist regime.

William Patrick Hitler fled Nazi Germany when war broke out in 1939 to come and live with relatives in New York.

After being rejected from the U.S. Army because of his family connection, he wrote an emotional plea to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 on why he so strongly wanted to fight for Allied Forces.

March 3rd, 1942.
His Excellency Franklin D. Roosevelt.,
President of the United States of America.
The White House.,
Washington. D.C.

Dear Mr. President:

May I take the liberty of encroaching on your valuable time and that of your staff at the White House? Mindful of the critical days the nation is now passing through, I do so only because the prerogative of your high office alone can decide my difficult and singular situation.

Permit me to outline as briefly as possible the circumstances of my position, the solution of which I feel could so easily be achieved should you feel moved to give your kind intercession and decision.

I am the nephew and only descendant of the ill-famed Chancellor and Leader of Germany who today so despotically seeks to enslave the free and Christian peoples of the globe.

Under your masterful leadership men of all creeds and nationalities are waging desperate war to determine, in the last analysis, whether they shall finally serve and live an ethical society under God or become enslaved by a devilish and pagan regime.

Everybody in the world today must answer to himself which cause they will serve. To free people of deep religious feeling there can be but one answer and one choice, that will sustain them always and to the bitter end.

I am one of many, but I can render service to this great cause and I have a life to give that it may, with the help of all, triumph in the end.

All my relatives and friends soon will be marching for freedom and decency under the Stars and Stripes. For this reason, Mr. President, I am respectfully submitting this petition to you to enquire as to whether I may be allowed to join them in their struggle against tyranny and oppression?

At present this is denied me because when I fled the Reich in 1939 I was a British subject. I came to America with my Irish mother principally to rejoin my relatives here. At the same time I was offered a contract to write and lecture in the United States, the pressure of which did not allow me the time to apply for admission under the quota. I had therefore, to come as a visitor.


I have attempted to join the British forces, but my success as a lecturer made me probably one of the best attended political speakers, with police frequently having to control the crowds clamouring for admission in Boston, Chicago and other cities. This elicited from British officials the rather negative invitation to carry on.

The British are an insular people and while they are kind and courteous, it is my impression, rightly or wrongly, that they could not in the long run feel overly cordial or sympathetic towards an individual bearing the name I do. The great expense the English legal procedure demands in changing my name, is only a possible solution not within my financial means. At the same time I have not been successful in determining whether the Canadian Army would facilitate my entrance into the armed forces. As things are at the present and lacking any official guidance, I find that to attempt to enlist as a nephew of Hitler is something that requires a strange sort of courage that I am unable to muster, bereft as I am of any classification or official support from any quarter.

As to my integrity, Mr. President, I can only say that it is a matter of record and it compares somewhat to the foresighted spirit with which you, by every ingenuity known to statecraft, wrested from the American Congress those weapons which are today the Nation's great defense in this crisis. I can also reflect that in a time of great complacency and ignorance I tried to do those things which as a Christian I knew to be right. As a fugitive from the Gestapo I warned France through the press that Hitler would invade her that year. The people of England I warned by the same means that the so-called "solution" of Munich was a myth that would bring terrible consequences. On my arrival in America I at once informed the press that Hitler would loose his Frankenstein on civilization that year. Although nobody paid any attention to what I said, I continued to lecture and write in America. Now the time for writing and talking has passed and I am mindful only of the great debt my mother and I owe to the United States. More than anything else I would like to see active combat as soon as possible and thereby be accepted by my friends and comrades as one of them in this great struggle for liberty.

Your favorable decision on my appeal alone would ensure that continued benevolent spirit on the part of the American people, which today I feel so much a part of. I most respectfully assure you, Mr. President, that as in the past I would do my utmost in the future to be worthy of the great honour I am seeking through your kind aid, in the sure knowledge that my endeavors on behalf of the great principles of Democracy will at least bear favourable comparison to the activities of many individuals who for so long have been unworthy of the fine privilege of calling themselves Americans. May I therefore venture to hope, Mr. President, that in the turmoil of this vast conflict you will not be moved to reject my appeal for reasons which I am in no way responsible?

For me today there could be no greater honour, Mr. President, to have lived and to have been allowed to serve you, the deliverer of the American people from want, and no greater privelege then to have striven and had a small part in establishing the title you once will bear in posterity as the greatest Emancipator of suffering mankind in political history.

I would be most happy to give any additional information that might be required and I take the liberty of enclosing a circular containing details about myself.

Permit me, Mr. President, to express my heartfelt good wishes for your future health and happiness, coupled with the hope that you may soon lead all men who believe in decencey everywhere onward and upward to a glorious victory.

I am,
Very respectfully yours,
Patrick Hitler

Well, it's a war, even though it's in the future, isn't it?



I've personally never played any of the HALO games but my own opinion mirrors that of owner of the Youtube channel I've embedded this video from.

Microsoft has produced a live action Halo web series. The series will be
called Forward Unto Dawn and it will be divided up into 5 episodes
which will be released one at a time leading up to the launch of Halo 4.
The series will tell the story of a young recruit who is at a military
academy when the first covenant invasion happens. We've got a shot of
the recruits at the military academy during filming right here.
Interestingly the protagonist in the web series will also be a character
in Halo 4 so it will be cool to already know the back story of one of
the characters going in. Master Chief is also in the movie and he's
played by Daniel Cudmore who played Colossus in the X-men movies.

After
the release of Halo 4, the 5 parts will be collected into one 90 minute
movie along with 15 minutes of bonus footage. So if we do the math 90
-15 divided by 5, we can figure out that each episode in the series will
be about 15 minutes long.

[image error]





Zipang, Episode 6: ORDER OF ATTACK

Review of Episode 5: Here.



We start the episode with Lt. Satake's VTOL Umidori under attack by two A6M2-N "Rufe" floatplane fighters and his co-pilot already dead. After some handwringing back in Mirai's CIC Kusaka informs them that they can end this without further casualties if the Lt. manages to target the fighters' central floats. Without them they'll lose stability and will have to cease their pursuit. Satake manages to do so and returns home safely.



Lt.Commander Kusaka of the IJN later proceeds to present his plan for them and the Mirai: to stay afloat and undetected they'll have to take on supplies in the former Dutch East Indies. The signs look good: due to the Battle of Midway many of the fleet units in the area had been withdrawn so Japanese naval patrols are limited in number.



After the dead co-pilot is given a burial at sea the Capatin orders Cmdr. Yosuke to accompany Kusaka on his trip to Singapore where he'll try to acquire the necessary civilian vessels to make the supply runs. Strangely enough Yosuke seems genuinely surprised when cthe captain hands him a pistol for self-defence. I mean, really? At least the captain's reasoning is sound: they cannot fully trust Kusaka, and Yosuke needs to be on his guard.



It's also nice to see Kusaka spill the beans in plain terms: he doesn't think the JMSDF crew are soldiers. Preach it, bro!



They make it safely to Malaya and Kusaka and Yosuke are flown ashore via helicopter. The episode ends with Kusaka welcoming the commander to his era.



Quite honestly, not too much happens in the episode. It just seems to go with the flow. I hope there's something more substantial in next episode.