Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh on appeasement

There are disquieting parallels between the situation that confronted our country some 90 years ago and that which now prevails. In the late Twenties and early Thirties, Britain was engulfed in revulsion at the horrors of the Great War and all but bankrupt as a result of it, as well as striving to recover from the Depression years. Despite the growing menace that Nazism presented to European stability, the notorious “Ten Year Rule” – which assumed that Britain would not be at war in the next decade – remained in force. The nation’s defences were progressively weakened, while calls for rearmament fell largely on deaf ears.

Against a widespread background of support for pacifism and appeasement, blind faith in collective security through the League of Nations was used to excuse unwillingness to grasp the nettle of rearmament, at least until it was nearly too late.

Article

A very good article that reinforces the very arguments I have made in The Lens of History blog and podcast. If you swap Russia for China the article equally applies to New Zealand.

Why aren't former senior members of the New Zealand Defence Force speaking out in the same manner as Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh?Are they fearful of being labelled heretics for speaking out against New Zealand's foreign and military policies?

The absence of a Winston Churchill type figure in New Zealand politics is very telling. As a nation New Zealand excels at obsessing over rugby , taking our current foreign and military policies as gospel and electing governments that will forever increase social spending. This is why the current Prime Minster of New Zealand is a Neville Chamberlain clone.

Sometimes as if I am witnessing a tragic comedy worthy of William Shakespeare. Now my next task is find a women who is a worthy of a Juliet....

I find how Kiwis lack awareness concerning the consequences of the policy of appeasement to be unfortunate. New Zealand Prime Minster John Key is a enthusiastic practitioner of appeasing China's territorial claims in Asia. The National lead government failure provide the NZDF with a suitable force structure is comparable to the defence cutbacks that are taking place in the UK and the USA.

If David Cameron and his lieutenants in France and Germany are inviting the Russians to invade Western Europe, then New Zealand is inviting the Chinese to go on the rampage in the Pacific. It is regrettable that history is repeating in such a obvious manner.