As a student of history born post WW II it was obvious to me what the causes of that War were – mainly – good men and women stood idly by and let Hitler arm until it was too late to avoid the apocalypse.
What I never understood until recently is why those good folks stood idly by especially when they had such a dynamic Leader as Sir Winston Churchill urging them to action.
As he said in one of his famous speeches after that War:
“I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might all have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind. There never was a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe.” (1946)
And dear Reader, I believe we are facing a similar situation throughout the world today, but sadly we have no Churchill to fall back on and the next World War will be fought with Atomic Weapons… not Panzer Tanks.
We find ourselves with the most outspoken Free World Leader being our one and only Prime Minister Stephen Harper – yet he is no Churchill, indeed there are none today, nor does he have an army at his command.
But back to my issue – how could the Free World standby pacifistic while Herr Hitler planned for War?
That, I could never understand, but I was looking at this issue through the lens of what happened between 1939 and 1945.
Now I find myself looking at this same issue, as those pacifists did, leading up to war.
And let’s just look at the line-up against us:
- Russia – threatening to unleash atomic weapons against NATO;
- China – with its economy now stated by many to exceed that of the US and fully engaged in military build-up;
- Barbarian Terrorists unleashed across many parts of the world – especially throughout the Middle East and many parts of Africa;
- Rogue nations like North Korea and Pakistan are nuclear armed;
- More nutbars are about to join the nuclear club – most notably Iran;
And where are the people on all of this.
Talk to the average person and raise this issue and see their eyes glaze over as they say, “it is not our concern”.
But just wait until the nuclear weapons begin to fly - it will be their concern then and yet – just as in Churchill’s day, it will be too late to avoid catastrophe.
And with that, I finally understand what things were like in the lead up to World War Two: The West then and today would rather pretend that the evil at large throughout the world was of no concern to them.
Better to bury their heads than face up to reality.
As I see it…
‘K.D. Galagher’
