Day: March 24, 2023

Women’s History #5

World War 2 brought the capabilities of women as spies and resistance participants to the forefront…..these brave women were part of the war effort working for a section known as the S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive)….

There numbers were decimated by either incompetent leadership or a spy within the organization….I feel it was a little of both.

But let’s look at the brave women of World War 2……

After France signed an armistice with Germany in June 1940, Great Britain feared the shadow of Nazism would continue to fall over Europe. Dedicated to keeping the French people fighting, Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged the United Kingdom’s support to the resistance movement. Charged with “set(ting) Europe ablaze,” the Special Operations Executive, or SOE, was born.

Headquartered at 64 Baker Street in London, the SOE’s official purpose was to put British special agents on the ground to “coordinate, inspire, control and assist the nationals of the oppressed countries.” Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton borrowed irregular warfare tactics used by the Irish Republican Army two decades before. The “Baker Street Irregulars,” as they came to be known, were trained in sabotage, small arms, radio and telegraph communication and unarmed combat. SOE agents were also required to be fluent in the language of the nation in which they would be inserted so they could fit into the society seamlessly. If their presence aroused undue suspicion, their missions could well be over before they even began.

Extensive training in resisting interrogation and how to evade capture underscored the gravity of their missions. Fear of the Gestapo was real and well-founded. Some agents hid suicide pills in their coat buttons in case they could not escape. They knew it was unlikely they would see their homes in the British Commonwealth again, but accepted the risk.

Irregular missions required irregular materiel. The SOE Operations and Research section developed unique devices for agents to use in sabotage and close-range combat. Their inventions, including an exploding pen and weapons hidden in everyday objects like umbrellas and pipes, would even inspire Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. Operations and Research also developed a foldable bike called the Welbike, but it was unreliable on rough terrain. Most of the groups’ inventions, like waterproof containers that protected agents’ supplies during parachute jumps, were more practical.

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-Female-Spies-Of-SOE/

I have watched several documentaries on those women and their stories need to be told and told often.

Sadly their contributions to the war effort have mostly been overlooked or forgotten…..that needs to change.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Class Dismissed!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

China’s Foreign Policy

Oh boy this post ought to get the opposition juices flowing.

Some predict that we are inching closer to an all out war with China (some want it to be with Russia)….to understand China’s outlook to foreign policy one should actually know what their policy is and why….

China’s orchestration of the renewal of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia should be a wakeup call to the Biden administration’s national security team, particularly to Antony Blinken’s Department of State. China’s success exposes flaws in American national security policy, particularly the policy of nonrecognition as well as the reliance on the use of military force to achieve gains in international politics. Our instruments of power are not working.

Mao Zedong often cited a Chinese proverb from the Han Dynasty that “No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat.” Deng Ziaoping cited this proverb to justify radical changes in domestic policy. Xi Jinping has implicitly put this aphorism to work in national security relations by maintaining the importance of correct political relations with all countries regardless of their ideological orientation. As a result, China has stable relations with most of its friends and adversaries.

Conversely, for the past century, the United State has obtusely relied on a policy of non-recognition of countries that Washington simply didn’t favor for idealogical reasons. The Soviet Union had to wait for 16 years to gain recognition from the United States, which ultimately required President Roosevelt’s understanding of the futility of ignoring the Kremlin at a time when allies were going to be needed against the dangerous new leadership in Germany. The role of the Soviet Union in World War II was central to the allied victory. Three-fourths of the German army were concentrated on the eastern front.

China’s Foreign Policy: Lessons for the United States

On the foreign policy front….this is the full text of the peace proposal for the Ukraine conflict….I have read many condemnations of the Chinese proposal….and yet few have actually read the proposal…. but that is normal lots of opinions with actually no information other than hatred for one side or the other.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/202302/t20230224_11030713.html

The US is concerned over the China proposal…..there is a concern that the world will become war weary and approve of the Chinese proposal.

Now I pause for the inevitable condemnation…blah, blah, blah.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”