Excerpt of a letter from Chamberlin to King George VI dated 9/13/38.
“The continued state of tension in Europe which has caused such grave concern throughout the world has in no way been relieved, and in some ways been aggravated by the speech delivered at Nuremberg last night by Herr Hitler. Your Majesty’s Ministers are examining the position in the light of his speech, and with the firm desire to ensure, if this is at all possible, that peace may be restored.
On the one hand, reports are daily received in great numbers, not only from official sources but from all manner of individuals who claim to have special and unchangeable sources of information. Many of these (and of such authority as to make it impossible to dismiss them as unworthy of attention) declare positively that Herr Hitler has made up his mind to attack Czechoslovakia and then to proceed further East. He is convinced that the operation can be effected so rapidly that it will be all over before France or Great Britain could move.
On the other hand, Your Majesty’s representative in Berlin has steadily maintained that Herr Hitler has not yet made up his mind to violence. He means to have a solution soon - this month - and if that solution, which must be satisfactory to himself, can be obtained peacefully, well and good. If not, he is ready to march.
In these circumstances I have been considering the possibility of a sudden and dramatic step which might change the whole situation. The plan is that I should inform Herr Hitler that I propose at once to go over to Germany to see him. If he assents, and it would be difficult for him to refuse, I should hope to persuade him that he had an unequalled opportunity of raising his own prestige and fulfilling what he has so often declared to be his aim, namely the establishment of an Anglo-German understanding, preceded by a settlement of the Czechoslovakian question.”
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In hindsight it appeats Herr Hitler wasn’t too impressed with Chamberlin’s concept of prestige and Anglo_German understanding, at least on Britains’s terms.
Shades of Czechoslovakia and Hungary. We had some Hungarian neighbors and I can remember them cheering and then being sorely disappointed when the Russians overwhelmed the uprising. Was only 6 years old, but I can remember their short lived elation.
They want to see how committed we are defending Taiwan.
As hard as it may be to believe, we are at a crossroads of epic significance.
I think it would be sad, if the US didn’t provide some military support. Georgia, in her willingness to send troops into Iraq, became the third largest coalition force. It would be unfortunate, if the US didn’t return the favor, especially since their homeland is being invaded.
Snipers up and out !
All hard targets have soft pink centers !
As well every Georgian serviceman that helped us in Iraq should be given a stinger missile as a going away gift when we airlift em home.
CNN is reporting that Russian troops are in Gori and that the US is evacuating its advisors and families.
cs
Georgia’s Interior Ministry captured
Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:37:28 GMT
Russian forces have taken the Georgian Interior Ministry in the western city of Zugdidi amid an escalating conflict in the Caucasus region.
“The Russians have crossed the border and are now in control of Zugdidi,” a reporter for Norwegian TV2 news channel said on Monday.
The arrival of the Russian troops came just after UN observers left the town, AFP quoted the reporter as saying.
“We saw Russian military trucks passing by. We saw hundreds of soldiers. There was a mix of soldiers from the regular army and soldiers that are supposed to be peacekeepers,” he said.
This comes while Georgian authorities said Russian forces occupied the city of Gori, 76 kilometers west of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=66309§ionid=351020606
(comment: an Iranian source !)
bump for later reading
The saddest part of all this is that Christians can’t seem to stop fighting themselves when we face an even greater threat.
“Russian widens the war and enters Georgia proper. Also flanking in from the coast where they have made amphibious landings.”
Looks like the Russians are planning to stay awhile.
angela merkel was wrong.
will europe wake up?
Thanks for posting these updates JH.
Why did they choose the opening of the Olympics to start this up? (I seem to recall something about laying down weapons during the Olympics— do you think that Russia assumes that this will tie the hands of the civilized nations?)