19 July 14
Lusitania?
“I have never heard anything about the ‘resolutions’ of the Apostles, but I have heard a good deal about their ‘Acts.'”
Og Mandino
Under a timid, military-hating President Wilson, America resisted becoming involved in what would ultimately be called “The Great War” (WW1), already raging in Europe since July of 1914.
“No boots on the ground” articulated the pacifist mantra then, as now.
The catalatic event that drew America into the War was the precipitous sinking of the cruise ship, Lusitania, just off the Irish coast on 7 May 1915. The Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine. Twelve hundred passengers died as a result. 128 were Americans.
Since the beginning of the War, cruise ships, including the Lusitania, had been used to surreptitiously supply the British with war materials. Since America was officially “neutral,” such materials could not be delivered openly. Of course, as with most military “secrets,” everyone knew it, including the Germans.
The exasperated captain of the German submarine, U-20, Walter Schwieger, upon sighting the Lusitania that Friday afternoon had had enough, and ordered the attack!
President Wilson, who was narrowly reelected in 1916 under the adolescent slogan, “He kept us out of war,” was transformed from a sanctimonious, pacifist war-hater, to an enthusiastic war-monger! At his urging, America officially entered the War on 6 Apr 17.
However, American military forces, victims of years of neglect under the Wilson Administration, were badly out of date and suffering from severe lack of training, and obsolete equipment. Even after the passage of the Draft Act in May of 1917, the first American troops, mostly conscripts, did not arrive in Europe until the summer of 1918. The War officially ended in November of the same year.
Six months after sinking the Lusitania, the U-20 was mistakenly grounded in heavy fog on the Danish coast. Her crew, unable to extricate her, blew her up in place.
Schwieger himself died, at the age of thirty-two, when his boat, now the U-88, struck a British mine in September of 1917. His remains, and those of his crew, are still entombed in the sunken submarine, to this day.
Fast forward to 17 July 2014 (Thursday), ninety-nine years later. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 (Boeing 777), a unarmed commercial passenger jet, is, without warning, shot down by a sophisticated Russian surface-to-air missile over Ukraine. 298 dead, no survivors!
USA, UK, and all of Western Europe are incensed! Russia’s Putin, true to character, tries to weasel out of responsibility, but even now, everyone knows the truth.
Meantime, Putin’s acolytes in Ukraine are busily destroying all evidence at the crash-site and simultaneously preventing any kind of competent investigation, as if one were necessary!
What will BHO, NATO, and the Western allies do?
Nothing!
By the end of the year, the incident will be long forgotten (except by families of murdered victims).
Putin will continue, unhindered by the West, with his violent annexation of Ukraine, and other independent nations. When evidence of the missile-launch overwhelmingly points to him, he’ll say, as he has in the past, “So, what are you going to do about it?” He has absolute confidence no one will call his bluff, and he is right!
Malaysia Airlines will replace its lost 777 and continue to look for ways to save on fuel.
And, BHO will blithely resume talking about “income inequality,” “global warming,” and amnesty for illegal Democrat voters, in-between fund-raising trips and lavish vacations.
The downward spiral of Western Civilization continues, with only a few, mostly insignificant, speed-bumps.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
John Adams
That, of course, is the problem!
/John
