Wednesday, June 6, 2012

The Longest Day (Of Fundraising)

Les Braves - French sculptor Anilore Banon's tribute on Omaha Beach















The White House commemorated the 68th anniversary of the D-Day invasion by releasing a video of President Obama's 2009 speech at Normandy.

That's it. No speech today, other than the ones he gave at four fundraisers in California. There was no special event, recognition of World War II veterans, or of military families, or anything of the sort.

If he's going to blow the anniversary off, I'd prefer that he ignore it completely rather than send out a lame re-run from three years ago.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

TSB: That Sort of War is really great! Do you know any good books about the Japanese Occcupation of Taiwan and/or Korea? gwb

TSB said...

GWB: I wish I knew more about that aspect of the Korean War. I found an academic paper about the colonial legacy in Korea (it's here: http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/10061/Cumings.etc.pdf), and that might lead you to some reference works.

Reading about Korea's history made me realize that I completely missed that aspect of the Vietnam War. Back in that day, I never thought to ask myself how it was that the South had a post-WWII political leadership that was Catholic and culturally as well as politically alienated from the Vietnamese mass. Now that I realize that situation was a product of Japan's occupation as well as of French colonialism, it makes more sense.

Anonymous said...

Thanks TSB! I'll check that out!

Anonymous said...

TSB: 50% thru "This Sort of War" I realize for the 1st time that this was a stunning ChiCom military victory after centuries of futility. Now, 60 yrs later they have achieved economic and educational superiority. They are now dictating to us and I think they intend to crush us soon.We have been cooperating completely since Clinton. gwb

TSB said...

The Chinese are big global players now and still rising. I think the only saving grace is that they have never, historically, sought to rule over non-Han peoples. Maybe they will be content just to be masters of their own domain.

Anonymous said...

Agreed! They are out to vanquish the "Imperialists". With the 1 child policy they may need some slave labor before long. N.Koreans will work for food!
Wow TSB: Escaping from N Korea in minus 24 deg weather was brutal!gwb