On the briefest of visits to London, I was appalled to notice that our television presenters and politicians and dignitaries have almost all resorted to stereotype by wearing those bloody poppies again – even though I suspect most of them would not know the difference between the Dardanelles and the Somme. How come this obscene fashion appendage – inspired by a pro-war poem, for God’s sake, which demands yet further human sacrifice – still adorns the jackets and blouses of the Great and the Good? Even Tony Blair dares to wear a poppy – he who lied us into a war, which killed more people than the Battle of Mons.

I know all the reasons they give us. We must remember our dead. “They” died for us and our freedom. The cost of sacrifice. Remember Passchendaele. Never forget. At school I used to wear a poppy – without the leaf which now prettifies this wretched flower – and so did my Dad who, as I often recall, was a soldier of that Great War, in the trenches of the Third Battle of the Somme, 1918, and at Cambrai. But then, as 2nd Lieutenant Bill Fisk grew older and became sick, he read the biographies of that most meretricious of officers, Earl Haig – butcher Haig of the Somme, whose wife gave her name to the original poppies – and came to regard the wearing of these sickly and fake petals as hypocrisy. He stopped wearing the poppy for 11 November, and so did I.

read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/poppycock--or-why-remembrance-rituals-make-me-see-red-8927751.html

From Counter Currents...

How To Protect Humanity From Perpetual Animosity And Wars?

By Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja

17 November, 2013
Countercurrents.org

The mankind is fraught with sorrows and pains of institutionalized animosities and wars. When fear of unknown animosities and killings overwhelm the daily thinking process, a society - a nation no matter how normal claims to be, cannot function as normal beings to co-exist with their own self, the surroundings - in the human culture and make any positive contributions to human change and progress. This state of affairs reflects complete societal breakdown and march towards self-annihilation. We are witnessing and living in that delusional culture of human degeneration. Animosity and wars are not outgrowth of celestial bodies but essentially man-made follies throughout the history. All human acts are subject to change and reformation. Over the decades, this vital concern has occupied my scholarly thoughts, human interactions with so many other beings (both in the industrialized West and with people in the developing nations) to find out, how can we safeguard the “succeeding generations from the scourge of wars” and maintain normal societal living and co-existence in diversity. Had this concern and priority been in the thoughts and commitments of the governance of the modern institutions evolved more than half of century ago for global peace and security, it would have supported the sustainable movements for global peace and harmony. To great surprise, looking at the modern history of international affairs, every new man-made conflicts takes new approaches and time and resources to ponder and new agenda as if we have wasted decades in doing nothing except giggling, laughing and lying about peace and the ideals of the mankind in competitive and hilarious animosities and blame games. Is it part of the human nature to look for animosity and madness of war? Wars kill people – the living human beings, destroy humanity of the man enforcing barbarism and cruelty, practically denying all prospects of peace and co-existence. Previous wars of centuries were aimed at annihilation of political and economic enemies but the 21 st century conflicts are ready-made recipes not only to eliminate the mankind but also the environment in which human beings survive and the planet Earth that sustains life. Given the strategic know-how and the scientific-technological developments, it is an established fact that any futuristic global warfare could end the very existence of man and humanity on this planet. The United States , West Europeans and Russia placed unknown sophisticated Weapons of Mass Destruction on Earth and in space are ready-made menaces to the survival of mankind. Wars appear to be the outcome of sinister minds, devilish individual plans and monstrous scheme of things against the very humanity of which these people are a member of the construct.

read more: http://www.countercurrents.org/khawaja171113.htm

MPs outraged as Capita’s chief executive says potential new recruits have too little to do

Oliver Wright

The head of a controversial private outsourcing firm accused of presiding over a collapse in Army recruitment has attempted to blame a lack of war for its failure to sign up new soldiers.

The number of people attending army interviews and selection tests to be regular soldiers has fallen by 35 per cent since Capita took charge of hiring new recruits from the Ministry of Defence in March.

But when asked to explain its failure to maintain manpower levels Capita’s chief executive suggested it was partly down to potential new recruits having too little to do.

“We have the disadvantage that we actually have no wars on,” Paul Pindar told the Public Accounts Committee.

“Soldiers like to join the Army when they actually have something to do.” When MPs expressed surprise at the statement he added: “You can pull faces at me but actually it is something that is factually true.”

Mr Pindar said that recruitment had also been hit by the general improved economic situation in Britain and the failures of a new IT system that his company had been told would be up and running when it took over the contract.

Margaret Hodge, chair of the committee, described his comments on war as “awful”.

Her Conservative deputy, Richard Bacon, said he was “doubtful” of Mr Pindar’s explanation and pointed out that millions of soldiers had been recruited in the past without any IT systems at all.

“I think there is a difference from the past when young men and women would go into a recruiting office and speak to someone in uniform who could be considered a role model,” he said afterwards.

“Now they are filling in an anonymous online questionnaire. Go figure.”

Mr Bacon added that he also believed that Mr Pindar was trying to be “diplomatic” and not passing too much blame on to the MoD for problems the company had inherited with the IT systems.

The MoD declined to comment on Mr Pindar’s statement but sources pointed out that 5,000 members of the armed forces are still on active service in Afghanistan.

Mr Pindar had been defending his company against allegations by MPs that recruitment had slumped since Capita was put in charge of advertising, marketing and handling application forms.

MPs read him figures showing that recruitment to the Territorial Army had slumped from 1,432 in 2012 to 367 in the same period this year. The figures for regular army recruitment had fallen from 5,042 to 3,259.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/we-need-more-wars-head-of-controversial-private-outsourcing-firm-blames-lack-of-conflict-for-spectacular-collapse-in-army-recruitment-since-it-took-charge-8952799.html#

From the ABC fence sitting department:

Disillusionment and Moral Injury: The Curious Case of Bowe Bergdahl

Aspiring to be an elite soldier in a platoon that was satisfied with its current status, Hastings described Bergdahl not as feeling supported by buddies, but as "shackled to a bunch of goof-offs" who "he didn't think ... were competent to fight." Thus, it seems Bergdahl had less reason than most disillusioned soldiers to stay.

So he deserted, believing himself able to make his way through the Afghani mountains and into Pakistan. He almost certainly overestimated his abilities and did violate his professional duties - for these things he is implicated and worthy of blame. However, to the extent that the military environment he was surrounded by, the dwindling professionalism of his platoon, the disconnect between what he believed he would be doing and what he was actually assigned to do, and the disillusionment about the moral justification for the entire war served as catalysts for Bergdahl's likely moral injury, taint, shame and disillusionment, the United States military is implicated alongside Bergdahl. His desertion is his crime, but the mitigating factors are substantial and few are of his own making.

Disillusionment is a powerful enemy to military morale. War and military service can be exhilarating, empowering and thrilling - an aspect that our current Australian Defence Force recruitment advertisements emphasise. But it can equally be harrowing, boring and traumatic. We do a grave disservice to future recruits by sweeping the negative aspects of military service - the possibility of physical or moral trauma, the complex interaction between conscience and obedience, and the practical realities of warfighting - under the rug.

If we are to avoid future Bergdahls, or at least avoid being equally implicated alongside him, we owe our future soldiers a frank and honest appraisal of what war consists of, and how it might truly be experienced.

Matthew Beard is a Research Associate with the Centre for Faith, Ethics and Society at the University of Notre Dame, Australia.

THOMPSON :

05 Jun 2014 8:08:32am

Folks have had disillusionment about war since the beginning of time. Most are able to follow a 'code' that helps them 'deal' with the realty of war which is breaking things and killing and maiming people, young and old. Many come to the moment where a friend can live or die based on a soldier's actions and that 'action' becomes the most important job a soldier has on a day to day basis. To judge all soldiers and a war on the death of a young child killed by the wheels of a specific war machine is justification (rationalization) to do what a person knows is wrong. When one signs up to be a soldier there is no way a person can possibly know what one is signing. That is why discipline and team work are the basis of all the training a soldier does. 'Nam was a terrible war for a lot of reasons. But for the soldier it was primarily because those at home did not support the troops when they came home. Today's soldiers have home support and even though the same carnage exists as 'Nam the home support raises the morale of the troops. Normal folks, whatever that means, learn to cope and do not desert their comrades nor their country no matter how upset they become at the war. A rose by any other name is still a rose and to try and intellectualize a rose into an elephant is impossible.

And, the Aussie's comments about standards does not hold water. They did the same in 'Nam and you still had the same buddy protection mode as you have in all wars.