This Day in History — July 22 jamaicaobserver.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jamaicaobserver.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
[Note: This essay appeared today at Asia Times. I have removed it from the paywall and reposted it here because the issue is so important. Christopher Clark entitled his groundbreaking account of the origins of World War I The Sleepwalkers. The West is now sleepwalking into a confrontation with Russia and China that will not end well].
by Spengler
The Russian pessimist says things are so bad they can’t possibly get worse; the Russian optimist says, “Don’t worry, they will!”
If Western leaders think that Russia and China are aggressive now, the Russian-Chinese alliance now emerging will be a nastier combination than most Western observers can imagine.
During World War I, a Colonel Patton was asked to establish a Light Tank Training School, he trained on French tanks and established a school in a small French village called Bourg. One day, in 1917, the village Mayor complained that he, a Mayor, was not kept informed about the death of a soldier in his village. Colonel Patton was not aware of any such incident, hence, when the Mayor insisted that they visit the ‘grave’, the curious Colonel couldn’t refuse. They walked through the village and came to a newly closed latrine pit, with the earth properly banked, a stick at one end to which was affixed a crosswise sign stating, “Abandoned Rear”. This; the army’s closed makeshift toilet, the poor French Mayor had mistaken for a cross affixed on the grave of a martyred soldier. But Colonel Patton didn’t have the heart to tell the Mayor the truth that day.
Veteran liberated by General Patton pays tribute on 75th anniversary of death eveningexpress.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eveningexpress.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.