Snippets of War Observations

The USA government has so far never officially apologised for the nuclear bombs dropped on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August 1945.

No Anglo nation has been extensively firebombed in contemporary times from the 20th century to now, except for the United Kingdom.  Pearl Harbour was attacked, but not the mainland of the United States.  Darwin in northern Australia suffered more damage from the Imperial Japanese forces than Pearl Harbour, but not the rest of the Australian continental island.

Most of Europe incurred massive grief, destruction, personal loss and division in the reign of the Nazis under Hitler.

The ensuing battles and efforts to bring Hitler down in mid 1940s Europe ensured further deaths of many civillians caught up in the meeting of Allied and Axis armies.

The Japanese Government has never apologised for the Nanjing massacre in Central China in 1937.

A significant number of residents of colonies of the world wide British Empire in the 20th century fought for the United Kingdom in both the two World Wars. These included residents of India, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Malaya, Canada, Hong Kong and the Caribbean.

American born Japanese volunteered in enough numbers to form the Nissei regiment which saw service in Europe fighting against the Nazis.

Germany has officially and profusely apologised for the gassing by Nazis of innocents in the death camps echoed by Auschwitz.   Not only Jews, but European Gypsies, gays and various nationalities whom Hitler wanted exterminated were gassed.

The extermination of many Armenians in the early 20th century is often under recognised, together with other genocides those in current power refuse to emphasise.

The executions of overseas Chinese in Malaya, the Phillippines and Singapore by the Japanese Imperial Army, when they invaded parts of South east Asia in the early 1940s, illustrated the intense revenge sentiment and behaviour of payback.  These overseas Chinese had sent funds and volunteers to fight against the invasion by Imperial Japan of eastern China from the 1930s.

Many Nazis escaped to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay after the end of World War 2.

Jews fleeing from Europe did find refuge in Shanghai in rhe 1930s.  The invasion of China by Japan caused them to flee again, this time to New Zealand and eastern Australia.

No south eastern Asian nation permanently accepted boat refugees from Vietnam in the 1980s.  They languished in temporary camps mainly in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore until the Western countries offered permanent settlement.

Australia and New Zealand sent troops to Malaya to help British colonists fight communist insurgents in the 1950s.

The extreme cruelty of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia extensively scarred an ancient society and culture of a nation already damaged by the American war in next door Vietnam.

Afghanistan remains a land which has fought off foreign armies, whether those led by Alexander the Great, the Soviet Union or the United States of America.

The rich resources of petroleum, religious tribalism and political interference in the Arab and Persian lands have proved to be two edged swords.

Southern and Eastern Europe continue to be frontiers where and when Islam, Christianity and Judaism met in fraught and intense historical experiences. 

Did Winston Churchill send Anzac troops to Gallipolli in Turkey in the First World War, preferring to save British troops from a rather hopeless encounter?

The most number of civillians and troops died for Russia in the battles against the Nazis in the second World War.

Commemorations continue to be held in France to remember the sacrifices by the Anglo nations in both World Wars of the 20th century.

Thailand and Japan were the only Asian nations which collaborated against the Allied countries in World War 2, together with Nazi Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

The Australian Federal Government in Canberra for a few years hid the fact of Darwin being bombed by the Japanese. Australia prioritised the attack of Pearl Harbour as being more important in communicating with her own residents during World War 2.

Many surviving Caucasians trapped in South east Asia, as British, Dutch and French colonies were over run by the Japanese Imperial Army in the first half of the 1940s, suffered traumatic experiences as prisoners of war.

South west China became a hub of resistance, defence and preparation for the Chinese besieged by the Japanese Imperial Army in the 1930s and first half of the 1940s.

The invasion by the Japanese Imperial Army in the 1940s sparked off the urge for national independence by several colonies after the end of World War 2.

#yongkevthoughts

Looking at War

 Which countries have always waged war for a long time now since the middle of the 20th century? 

The United States of America has chalked up the most in number of wars participated, starting with the Korean Peninsular War in the early 1950s.  An ironic fact is that such military episodes have never taken place on homesoil in mainland America. 

The USA military and government have mostly dabbled themselves and their arnaments in the Middle East - Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Yemen and Lebanon come to mind.    The cauldron of aggression, conflict, geopolitical tensions and social disorder sparked off by the establishment of the state of Israel have seen fights with her neighbours.  And the USA government is a dominant supporter of Israel.

The Cold War turned out to be varying degrees of heightened tensions, a game of high stakes who will blink first  and almost shaving near close encounters of military outbreaks.   The main protagonists were the Soviet Union and the USA, with the circle of accompanying allies.

The break up of the Federation of Yugoslavia in the 1990s arose from long brewing domestic differences.  United Nations sent personnel to be involved in the intracacies and complexities, thereby causing foreign troops to step in a stage beset with the divide between Eastern and Western Europe.

The Falklands Isles in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean witnessed the determination of Margaret Thatcher and Britain to not let a strategic colonial outpost be lost.  The confrontation with Argentina could have been the last fought battle of the British Empire's military tradition.

New Zealand has not experienced military mayhem domestically since the wars of attrition between the Maoris and the British colonists in thd early 19th century, leading to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Contemporary India and Pakistan have had limited skirmishes - and so have India and China on the Himalayan border, plus that between Vietnam and China.  China's last major war participation has been in the Korean Peninsular in a proxy conflict between Communists and capitalists.

Which European nations have not gone into battle since the end of World War 2?
Amazingly, most of the European continent has undergone peaceful political processes under the advent of the EU.  The Ukraine question escalated in the third decade of the 21st century with still an unresolved and continuing military conflict.  Historical fears and sentiment still run through the instinctive geopolitics of the European continent.

Most continents have never been invaded by foreign powers since the end of the colonialism period.   " Invasion"  these days can be more in the form of commercialism, soft power, financial domination, technology advancement and trade prowess, rather than in physical military wars.  However, colonies, albeit of small size, still exist around the world - we reflect on the possesions by the French in the South Pacific.  On the other hand, large nations like Canada and Australia still have Governor-Generals representing the ultimate authority of the British Monarch over their lands.

Which contemporary nations have somehow retained their viable independence amidst the rolling waves of human tribal conflict and war?  Thailand and Ethopia were never colonised when most of the world were.

Which nation has often joined others in warfare, and in the name of the another country leading the war, despite of almost never being attacked before?  Australia, India, New Zealand and Canada had sacrificed many in the war effort led by Britain and the USA since the beginning of the 20th century.

Which region of the world has attracted the most invaders in modern times since 1945?   Perhaps it is the Middle East.
Evolving disorders have broken out domestically in societies there  as a consequence of dictatorships, religious based groups, people's revolutions and interference by foreign governments.

Central Africa had its share of turbulence
due to economic inequity, warlord dominancs, burgeoning populatons and claims over resources.   War has even been declared between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969 over the results of a football match in Central America.

All nations in South east Asia have been attacked and invaded by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War 2.  Which nations in present day ASEAN have managed to experience predominant lack of warfare since then?

Singapore, Brunei, the Phillippines, the Federation of Malaysia and Thailand have been fortunate to not have serious epispdes of warfare in recent history.   Indonesia had battles in Irian Jaya (western half of Papua New Guinea) and when fighting the Portuguese ruled Timor-Leste in the latter's war for independence.

Indo-China was quagmired in atrocious warfare as the Communists fought intense nationalistic struggles in Vietnam and Laos.  Kampuchea was taken over by a cruel regime under Pol Pot.  Myanmar continues under military rule and its central government fights the armies of several different ethnic groups in major portions of the country, apart from facing rebellions within the Burmese cohort.

What lies for the near future in the 21st century?   Will ideology continue to stir up the masses?  Are democratic styled elections a sham subject to manipulation, misinformation and huge monies controlled by a few individuals?  Will conflicts still arise because of significant fights over trade and resources?  Will the ideal human values overwhelm the human tribal instinct to fight?

The quality of specific leaders who hold the upper hand in world affairs can be so important.   Do politicians choose between the welfare of their human denizens and the tempting short term way to massive business opportunities and wealth?  The core generation of voters can decide the path but powerful people can pull the puppet strings.   War has always been waged by older politicians making use of younger people to do the actual fighting.

#yongkevthoughts