A Bunch of Bloody Idiots

If the UK and the EU don't want to be walked all over, sidelined and even invaded by Russia, we and they had better pull our fingers out, come to terms with raw and unvarnished reality, prepare, rearm and immediately and unequivocally back Ukraine with everything we've got.

Britain's civilian population hasn't been directly involved in a military conflict since World War Two. We've forgotten every hard lesson that six year conflict taught us. We've run down the armed forces catastrophically, let NATO fall into disrepair (possibly the greatest mistake my own generation has made) and kidded ourselves that democracy was permanently in the ascendancy. That communism/fascism and authoritarianism was finished. The Triumph of the West by J. M. Roberts and a belief in the end of history popularised by Francis Fukuyama, founded upon the idea that fascism and communism had been defeated, epitomised this incredible naivety.

To explain why I'm talking like this, I'll tell you two things:

1) I'm possibly one of the few people left alive who talked to a real World War Two combat infantry officer and learnt what it was actually like. Granted, he was my father, but unlike many war veterans he talked about his experiences in detail.

2) Then you might say I had my own private little war. Three years dealing with a former (and completely unrepentant) Italian fascist who had met Benito Mussolini and probably also Adolf Hitler.

I've seen a side of human nature I don't even want to talk about. It took two years for my few remaining layers of naivety to be peeled back, and when I finally realised exactly what I was dealing with it was probably one of the most terrible moments of my life.

That was about 1994. I've tried to come to terms with it since then, and I thank God that the creature I had to endure had been only a very small cog in the Third Reich's machine and was by then essentially powerless.

And that was bad enough. Thank God I never had to face fanatical young Nazis backed up by a division of Panzer tanks...

My grandfather, who actually fought in both the First and Second World Wars, also said that the First World War didn't have to happen and could have been avoided. But the Second? It had to be done. It was a cancer which had to be cut out.

So those were the stories I heard, and then I saw the truth of it for myself.

Ever since then (and I have never even written this down before), I have known exactly what I would have done to that monster if I'd been given legal sanction. There is no doubt in my mind at all.

But most of you have never seen or experienced this, and if I tried to explain it I'd probably receive a barrage of arguments.

That's because, in general, you have become naive, you have kidded yourselves that democracy (under the umbrella of NATO!) has won. You have ignored history and wasted billions on bloated welfare programmes. You seem to have turned into a bunch of overweight strutting peacocks in short pants. Festooned with tattoos, crashing around carelessly in overlarge Range Rovers, umbilically attached to your smartphones and talking endless trivia.

You look, in short, like a bunch of bloody idiots.

And all the time, the forces of communism, fascism and authoritarianism were waiting, biding their time until they could rise again.

This is what is happening today. With Putin, with Trump and with Xi JinPing.

History is not at an end, and anyone who thought it was is certifiable.

I daresay your little egos are fizzing because of what you've just read. I don't care, and remember, neither does Putin or Trump. They don't care about your gender identities, they don't care about your identity politics, they don't care about your deranged conspiracy theories and they don't care about you. They want to subjugate you to their world view, and that's all there is to it. You can run around wringing your hands and begging for a ceasefire all you like. You won't get it. You have to wake up and realise you actually have to win the war.

These two interviews will provide evidence of their intent and proof of your dilatory refusal properly to defend yourselves. It wouldn't have been that difficult, you know. High fences make good neighbours, and all you had to do was keep NATO up to par.

First, there's this innocuous but no-nonsense interview with Boris Bondarev, a Russian defector, on Times Radio. He really laid it out and you really should listen to him.

But I don't think you amateurs can cope with the hard facts he's told you.

Second, there was this other interview with the former prime minister of Poland which summed up the way EU politicians failed to maintain NATO for decades and left the American taxpayer to foot the bill. I hate Trump, but he was right about that.

The crucial comments are between 4.10 and 5.40, but I will transcribe them here to avoid any doubt:

"This is the new reality and we have to cope with this. ... I know it's very pleasant to drink great French wines and to taste Italian cheese or ... Spanish Jamon Iberico ... Our Western allies and partners do not do their own part ... while at the same time the U.S. is paying for the bill securing Europe with its troops and with peace and stability. This couldn't last forever."

I learnt the hard and terrible lesson that there cannot be any compromise with an authoritarian fascist. None at all. To say that it's their way or the highway is the understatement of all time. Boris Bondarev's interview starts with UK Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper wittering on about Russia coming to the table...

Russia will not come to the table. They are just stringing idiotic UK and EU politicians along while they pursue their aims.

Donald Trump cannot be trusted. He has the attention span of a gnat, little interest in Europe or NATO and a strong tendency to listen to the last person who bumped into him and/or flattered him. EU politicians who think that if they butter him up enough he might become a reliable ally, or that he might magically realise the reality of the situation we're in are kidding themselves. Forget it.

The only thing to do (apart from getting real) is to give Ukraine every penny of the ca. £175 billion of frozen Soviet assets sitting in the Brussels-based financial clearing house Euroclear and overwhelm the Russian Armed Forces with our might before he overwhelms us with his.

That's it.

I'd also recommend politely but firmly telling Trump "no" with regard to Greenland and letting the chips fall where they may.

Also, don't forget that Xi JinPing would like China to become a global leader by, oh, about 2050. They just love to plan ahead, and they won't necessarily do so by peaceful means.

But the thing is, I just don't think you've got the gumption to do it. I don't think you understand you're in a "1938 situation." I think you're going to run around having stupid and useless debates on social media about airy-fairy ceasefires while Putin ruthlessly pursues his aim of subordinating Ukraine to Mother Russia and killing anyone who gets in his way.

Also, the Russo-Ukrainian war which began on 24th February 2022 has, at the time of writing, now been going on for 1,418 days.

The First World War, known as the war to end all wars, went on for 1,568 days.

Those 1,418 days have been ones of unmitigated horror for Ukraine. The timescale will soon equal that of World War One.

If you naive peaceniks had actually been that which you claim to be, you'd have grasped the nettle and finished it quick. Instead, you have let it drag on for four years.

You must be so fucking proud of yourselves.

And please don't assume I'm some sort of supervillain holed up in an evil lair, laughing while everything all goes to Hell. I'll die screaming in nuclear fire along with the rest of you, but when I go at least I'll know I didn't talk trivia and instead gave it to you straight.