Missive #316

At a crucial point in the twentieth century, as Nazi Germany prepared for war, negotiations between Britain, France, and the Soviet Union became the last chance to halt Hitler’s aggression. Incredibly, the French and British governments dallied, talks failed, and in August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Germany. Michael Carley’s gripping account of these negotiations is not a pretty story. It is about the failures of appeasement and collective security in Europe.This is a different history than what you usually read or hear. The author is an academic but refrains from using academic ‘speak’ although he does load up his work with footnotes. A suggested read that will give you something to think about. It is about moral depravity and blindness, about villains and cowards, and about heroes who stood against the intellectual and popular tides of their time. Some died for their beliefs, others labored in obscurity and have been nearly forgotten. In 1939 they sought to make the Grand Alliance that never was between France, Britain, and the Soviet Union. This story of their efforts is background to the wartime alliance created in 1941 without France but with the United States in order to defeat a demonic enemy. 1939 is based upon Mr. Carley’s longtime research on the period, including work in French, British, and newly opened Soviet archives. He challenges prevailing interpretations of the origins of World War II by situating 1939 at the end of the early cold war between the Soviet Union, France, and Britain, and by showing how anti-communism was the major cause of the failure to form an alliance against Hitler. 1939 was published on September 1, the sixtieth anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland and the start of the war.

I have been getting afternoon rain everyday since 17 July for a total of 0.79″ with the hardest rain providing about half of that. It has made my walking route to the east muddier that I want to deal with so yesterday I gave up that route. The other two routes that I walk are also muddy but by staying in the center of the road I can stay out of the worst of it.

Fixing things seems to be the order of the day this summer. These past couple of weeks my laptop battery has been discharging much faster than in the past. I did a battery status inquiry and got a report that I think tells me that the battery is approaching it’s useful life. I have sent an inquiry to System 76 asking them to confirm that and tell me what battery I need. They have given me the replacement information but have not yet confirmed that it need to be replaced. I hope that is all that is wrong. I do use the laptop quite a lot but it is only a coupe years old I would think that the battery would last longer than that.

The book that I reviewed today is the first one in a PDF format that I read using the Onyx Boox Page. To bookmark and turn pages is a little different than for ePub books but not so much that it is a problem. The readability was very good, on par with Adobe, and much better than other PDF readers that I have tried. The Boox Page is a very good reader and a usable tablet but don’t expect it to replace a ‘regular’ tablet. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A that I got has been working well and I’m almost to the point where I will retire the Fire 8 once more and rely on the Tab A as my daily tablet.

More than anything else, the elite want a president that is easy to control.  That is why they love Joe Biden and that is why they hate Donald Trump.  It all comes down to control.  No matter what happens, the elite want to feel confident that whoever is in the White House is going to be a team player.  So the elite are really excited about the possibility that Kamala Harris could become the next president of the United States.  Whenever she makes a public appearance, it is clear that she is in way, way over her head, and if she actually makes it into the Oval Office she will be exceedingly easy to manipulate. — Could It Be Possible That This Was their Plan All Along by Michael Snyder