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warsofasoiaf · 4 years

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The Celtic Tiger - A Kaiserreich Ireland AAR Chapter 6: Three Days in Halifax

“I am a war man in times of war, and a peace man in times of peace.” -Michael Collins

The Second Weltkrieg had seen millions of men dead on every continent save Antarctica. Europe and Asia had turned into rolling battlegrounds of armor and artillery, the fields littered with bodies and the hulks of tanks. The rivers were choked with fuel and blood. The seas could erupt at any time into a sudden death of torpedoes and naval bombardment, and the coasts were saturated with mines. What made the war worse is that it seemed that progress anywhere was slow; countless soldiers were dying for very little gain much like the First Weltkrieg.

The Entente had been suffering a crisis of leadership. The Dominion of Canada had seen setback after setback, and had failed to secure any landing zone on the British Home Isles. The Tories had been unsatisfied with King Edward’s performance and leadership during the war, and this had only exacerbated his low public standing. The king had frequently become a figure of public scandal for being spotted with young debutantes, and had expressed his wish to marry recently-divorced American film actress Constance Bennett. The Church of England had fiercely protested the proposal, as it was improper for the head of the Anglican Church. The Tories and Labour parties both expressed their desires that the King either call off the plans or abdicate the throne. When delegations from the West Indies Federation and the Dominion of India supported abdication, the King knew that his time on the throne was at an end. As 1940 came to a close, Edward formally abdicated the throne in favor of his brother, coronated as King Albert I. “Bertie,” a shy and awkward man, seemed to be ill-suited to lead the country at war. Some of the more militant members of the Canadian Exiles had hoped to install Prince Henry, but the traditionalists among the Exiles and the Tories both shot the proposal down; Albert was the oldest and the true and proper heir, nothing would dissuade them from that.

As his first act upon assuming the throne, Albert ordered an assessment of Entente military capabilities against the Internationale, which ways that the Entente could secure a better forward operating location to prosecute the Reclamation of the Home Isles. Launching from French Algeria and attacking at Marseilles or from Sardinia to Piedmont was fine for the European mainland, but the Home Isles were special. The French, naturally, were supportive of the idea of liberating their homeland first and then launching an attack across the Channel, but that didn’t satisfy the British Exiles. Iceland did not have the infrastructure, and shipping to Norway was considered too far and remote. All options had their own unique undesirable elements to them, and it fell to King Albert to pick which risky option would be the best for his population-in-exile.

Albert’s response surprised international observers across the world, when he formally invited the Reichspakt to discuss “matters of shared concern in the struggle against syndicalism” with a conference in Halifax. Given Albert’s tour of service against the Germans in the First Weltkrieg, everyone thought that there would be too much bad blood for any large-scale Entente-Reichspakt cooperation. The two empires had sworn non-aggression pacts with each other, but that had largely been a practical matter since both empires were waging war with the Internationale and the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere. King Albert had potentially offered a further degree of cooperation and coordination with their European rivals, shocking foreign policy observers across the world. This shock was doubled when Kaiser Wilhelm agreed to the proposal. The Kaiser, whose health had been declining due to the stresses brought on by the war, elected to come in person along with his foreign minister.

“The German’s war is not going well. The Communards can afford to keep most of their army on the border and push against the Germans in the west, and the Vozhd can do the same in eastern Europe. But there’s too much bad blood between him and the English. He’ll torpedo the deal, mark my words.” Kevin O’Higgins, the foreign minister, had ruefully predicted. “I doubt the Marcheal will be willing to formally surrender Elsaß-Lothringen to the Germans. There’s too much pride, too many wounds from the First Weltkrieg.”

“I have little hope for them.” Richard Mulcahy agreed. “They can’t even agree on a mediator for the damn thing! The United States can’t be an effective mediator, they’re angry that Germany supported Huey Long. The Danubian Federation can’t be a mediator, they’re long allies of the Reichspakt. Even the International Mandate can’t mediate the conference since they restored British voting rights; their only goddamn job is to mediate between the powers. So now Quentin Roosevelt and Karl I are guests, not arbitrators.”

“Did we offer to mediate as well? I’m certain the Entente would have shut that one down, but I never heard anything about it.” Collins asked.

“They never even bothered to respond.” O’Higgins shrugged, but as soon as he said it, Collins stood up from his desk.

“Their mistake. Mulcahy, look for transit for three to Halifax.”

O’Higgins, mouth agape, could only stutter out, “You can’t be serious.”

“I can and I am.” Collins ordered. “Keep our presence quiet. This will be a conference to remember.”

***

Halifax was an unusual choice for high-level diplomatic talks. Nova Scotia was a rougher province than Ontario, devoted more to resource-gathering and the fishing industry than to high-level diplomatic summits. Ontario seemed like it would have been the first-choice. Quebec had seen riots against the draft for the war effort, but Ontario was still the capital province. But Collins had no experience in high-level diplomatic summits, and never had to set the venue for one. His first high-level summit, in fact, had him walking in as a semi-uninvited houseguest. O’Higgins had been able to bargain for a position with one, having the proposal being floated through Quentin Roosevelt and wielding the guilt of leaving Ireland to dangle in the wind with all the skill of a Catholic mother. King Albert could hardly deny Ireland a spot at the negotiations, not when the war against the Internationale was the chief concern. Ireland had been fighting against them the longest, and had the most experience against the continental armies.

The first part of the day was largely relegated to ceremony. So many visiting heads of state, there was a great deal of pomp and circumstance to go through. A novice observer might have thought it to be a waste of time, but Collins understood the craft of it. Making the Reichspakt nations feel welcome would put them in a more conciliatory mood. Information had always been key in the diplomatic game just as it was in the war. Collins had told Mulcahy to check the quarters that they had been assigned for any bugs, and he could only imagine checking the light fixtures and telephone receivers while he stood in the cold Nova Scotia air and listened to the Royal Canadian Band play the anthems of each of the visiting heads of state.

Collins could hardly get a free moment, he had been a darling in the press for both nations. From his successful handling of Black Monday to his repulse of the Internationale’s invasions with an army almost one-tenth the size of those who he was fighting. The handsome young revolutionary had turned into a seasoned and capable head of state. In both war and peace, there seemed to be no limit to what this man and the nation he led could do. Some Canadians, particularly those British Exiles, had strong opinions about the Ulster peace process. Mercifully, only a few held signs against the mastermind of Bloody Wednesday, far more held signs expressing their support. Collins didn’t doubt that some of those supporters would turn on them should the British King look to re-establish Ireland as a dominion or free state, but that would be a problem for another day. Collins needed to have his head on straight, because one misstep could doom the war effort.

The host for the event, King Albert I, looked young but eager. He looked optimistic, bright-eyed and driven. Past the smiles, Collins could see a man who was deeply troubled and trying his best to put a brave face on the event. As the processions wore on, the king looked less and less comfortable, yet stood proudly for each procession of head of state, with he and the Canadian Prime Minister welcoming each delegation. The plight of such a young king, freshly coronated and now thrust into the largest and perhaps most important conference of his life was sympathetic, even from an English king. When it had been Collins’s turn to be presented to the cheering crowd, he had expected a chilly reception, but he had been pleasantly surprised. He could see a few Irish tricolors being waved by the onlookers, far more than he would have expected from Candians of Irish heritage. When he shook King Albert’s hand, the monarch had told him: “I am pleased that you are here, Mister President. Welcome to the Dominion of Canada.” Collins had decided to maintain decorum by declining to mention that he hadn’t been invited, and had returned the greeting. “I feel quite welcome, your Majesty. Allow me to congratulate you on your coronation.”

The other main luminary for the event was the exact opposite. Kaiser Wilhelm looked tired and worn. He was pale, and walked slowly with the support of his wife and Empress. Collins had guessed that the stress had been taking his toll on the older man. His eyes were sunken and dark, and his mouth was pursed tightly. The leader of the Reichspakt looked like an aging dreadnought, with its sailor desperately bilging out water to keep her afloat. To Collins, the man appeared unsure of what the affair may hold. If he had no hope for the talks, it’s likely he would not have come, but he did not seem to appear conciliatory despite his frail condition. King Albert may have been his first cousin once removed, but that familial relation had meant little to Albert’s father during the First Weltkrieg and would not get in the way of his ambitions to secure Germany’s place in the sun now.

These two titans would be Collins’s targets, not for death but for life. Ireland depended upon a successful negotiation, and he had not come so far to fail now.

***

After the ceremony, a luncheon, and a private visit for King and Kaiser to the coffin of King George V, waiting to be interred in Westminster Abbey, the tall order of diplomatic business began. Both the Entente and the Reichspakt recognized the need for coordination between their armies to better overwhelm the Internationale’s defenses. A reconfirmation of their nations’ non-aggression pacts was a given, but success in this war would require far more than that. It would mean a need for intelligence coordination, military access, and even joint operations between the two alliances. In this statement, both the King and Kaiser were in firm agreement.

However, the exiles in Canada and French Algeria had made it plain that they intended to recover their territories in their entirety, and that this was a hard line for the Entente. Their return to their territories was their primary goal, and the successful conclusion of the war would only be after the rightful governments of Britain and France were restored and their territories returned to their proper administration in their entirety. The Reichspakt protested this; the core goal of the war should be to end the syndicalist menace once and for all, not to restore the British and French governments. “The syndicalists declared wars of aggression against the Reichspakt, along with Ireland and the Republic of Italy,” the Kaiser spoke loudly before a coughing fit brought him to a halt.

“This is true, the Internationale is a threat to world peace.” Collins interjected. He may not have been approved to be a mediator, but he wasn’t about to have the conference die in the first session. “And we cannot lose sight of that. Surely then, there can be something of strategic interest that the Reichspakt could use, that we can confirm by agreement at this conference in exchange?”

The Kaiser had yet to compose himself from his coughing fit, but his foreign minister took charge. “We are prepared to discuss our demands, but we are simply asking that the primary recognition be on the defeat of the syndicalist menace. I believe it is appropriate to turn to the matter of a common cause in the Italian Theater. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is prepared to coordinate naval patrols with the Kingdom of Sardinia. Two Sicilies is prepared to maintain the army lines if Sardinia can help maintain clear seas in the Mediterranean. Since the majority of the German and Dutch navies are in the Pacific, Italian operations will depend upon Sardinian and French naval power. We understand that the French strategic direction looks to be a crossing at Marseilles. The Reichspakt is prepared to increase the pressure on the front between the Socialist Republic of Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to divert Italian manpower away from potentially reinforcing French garrison troops in southern France.”

Collins folded his hands to hide his frown. The Reichspakt knew what it was doing, but Collins didn’t have to like it. Without a hard line of its own to establish, and thus focusing on matters that could have been saved for later, this conference was off to a bad start. There was no question that the German Emprie would have in mind a host of concessions to offer in exchange for taking no territory, particularly from France, and that should have been the first sticking point of the conference. Perhaps the Kaiser had hoped to foster a spirit of cooperation by settling some small affairs first, or perhaps to make the Entente feel invested so they would be reluctant when Germany offered its demands. Perhaps it could have even been considered a good ploy, but Collins thought that the war had no time to waste on such matters.

***

If the first day of the conference was dominated by things of lesser importance, the second day of the conference was sure to surprise Collins in the other direction. The Kaiser, looking much healthier than he had the day before, had opened the conference with his list of demands. “The German Empire demands that, to alleviate territorial concerns, that the Entente recognize colonial possessions currently administered by the German Empire in Central Africa and East Asia as confirmed colonial possessions. In addition, to facilitate the prompt and swift reconstruction of France into the European community, France would join the Central European Customs Union as a constituent member.”

The French government had been taken aback by the request. The recognition and acknowledgement of German colonial gains was an expected demand. With the war currently raging in East Asia, if the Germans were able to successfully fend off Japan and Siam, they would have far more legitimacy than the French held on ever since their successful defeat of the Indochinese Revolt led by Ho Chi Minh. Deustche-Mittelafrika was widely seen as a colonial failure, with the corrupt Stattholders extracting resources from African fiefs. Such lands, even if the Entente could reclaim them, would be ungovernable, especially with a more assertive Somalia and Ethiopia pressuring decolonization efforts and the Internationale’s Anti-Colonialist Committee launching terror attacks in Morocco and Algeria. France still maintained its hold on northern and western Africa, and administered it far more capably. The lost colonies were already lost; there was no need to hold on to them.

Joining Mitteleuropa was the larger concern; it was no secret that while the organizations did benefit all member countries, the lion’s share of the benefits went to the German Empire and several structural rules served no other purpose than to enrich Germany at the expense of the other member nations. Several nations within Mitteleuropa were almost forced to join the union out of necessity in the wake of the First Weltkrieg, and chafed at some of its restrictions. France had protested this requirement, asserting that it had the potential to threaten the recovery of the French government and economy. The Dominion of Canada also had its own concerns, namely how the Mitteleuropa rules and regulations would interfere with the Imperial Economic Development Council, the Entente’s own economic development organization. Much more loosely structured than Mitteleuropa, and centered on economic advisors and medium-term projects, the actions of the IEDC could be seen as a violation of trade agreements and regulatory oversight agreements that were present in Mitteleuropa. “Sorting out the idiosyncrasies of how these two great organizations would interact would take months of policy consultation, something that is well beyond the scope of this conference,” King Albert offered.

“So are the necessary withdrawal arrangements for territories. We understand the need for the details to be sorted. At this point, we are only seeking a pledge that once the French government has fully retaken its position and has successfully re-established governance following the cessation of hostilities, that they will join Mitteleuropa in totality.” The French delegation deferred the answer until the next day, asking its economic advisor to meet with the Canadian Minister of Finance and work out a quick answer as to whether or not such a plan was even feasible. Collins despaired. Had he been named the mediator of this discussion, he would have made sure he understood the various proposals of negotiation before any of them had set foot in Halifax.

“The French delegation makes a sound point,” Collins offered the Reichspakt delegation. “It is worthwhile to understand whether the French government is capable of complying with a demand and maintain its current treaties and commitments. Now, let us discuss shared planning between our nations’ intelligence services. It would be advantageous for us to find ways to streamline the sharing of intelligence gathering for both aerial and naval reconnaissance, and the establishment of signals officers that can ensure ground troops can benefit from enemy intelligence. G-2 has offered several proposals that may be adopted quickly by our respective army signal corps.”

All Collins could do was attempt to keep the discussion moving forward.

***

Deustche-Mittelafrika had been even more fragile than any could have predicted. Periodic mismanagement by the colonial administration, made worse by the disorganized and often mutually-contradictory procedures and byzantine support structure between the regional colonial governors and allied local leaders. The Stathalter, Hermann Goering, had run an infamously brutal colonial regime in his attempt to provide Germany with raw resources. Even domestic protest had risen steadily as word from journalists, dissidents, and other sources continued to trickle in from the dark continent. “Goering has become Kurtz of Joseph Conrad’s novel in every way. He holds himself as the great iron man of Africa, more force of nature than man and every bit as pitiless. He conceives of himself as inseparable from the nation. Rising industrial outputs are the equivalent, in Goering’s eyes, to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He holds himself as a vital thriving heart, and purges those who do not think as he does.”

As protests continued to mount, high-level members began to depart Mittelafrika. Ernst Junger, noted author and new thinker, departed for Deutsche Ostasia. The Reformgruppen, an alliance of German colonial officers who supported greater autonomy and partitioning of Mittelafrika, returned home after Goering refused to return to German courts to fight the Black Dossier of abuses compiled by his brother Albert. Theodor von Hassel, who had grown disgusted with Goering, had even publicly spoken of democratic transition. “It is intolerable that Prussia may have a Bundesrat, but nowhere in the entirety of Africa can anyone offer even a breath in its governance.” Famously, he had met with Somalia and had encouraged their own path to democracy, and when their constitution had been articulated, he had gone to Mogadishu and proclaimed Somalia “the bright heart of African democracy.” Somalia had taken those words to heart, and had founded the African League for Democratic Independence, espousing the desire for African nations to gain control of their own governments and achieve ethnic self-determination.

Mittelafrika had debated invading Somalia to end this threat to their colonial overlordship, but repeated flare ups and Goering’s corruption had caused more and more of the component colonial nations of Africa to turn against him. Over the course of one day, spontaneous demonstrations, some believed to be influenced partially by Somalia and Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia, and others believed to be organic, had risen from the Ivory Coast to Nyassaland. Goering had disappeared, and more than a dozen groups claimed to have ended the madman’s life once and for all. The German colonial government had scrambled, with only the Namibian colonial administration holding on to a shred of territory, now called Deutsche-Südwestafrika. The newly independent countries wasted no time both in suppressing their own internal revolts and going to war with each other, and Ethiopia and Somalia had almost declared war on each other.

***

Late into the evening, Collins had sat with the French delegation, drinking wine long into the night and working with their advisors. Ireland had long been a member of Mitteleuropa and had chafed under its regulations just as the other member nations had. The French government-in-exile had been curious to see if the German offer was genuine, but had quickly run into a row when France had brought up that Ireland had not made entreaties to France in the Open For Business Initiative. Collins had tried to defend himself, saying that French Algeria had little in the way of businesses to open in Ireland. At the time Ireland had been courting for investment in 1936, the French exiles had been conducting their own Transsaharan survey, and were building a Algers-to-Mali railway, hardly conducive to opening a business in Ireland.

“I heard the Jacobins had hoped to open an automotive plant in Dublin. Was that true?” came a pointed question.

“They did. While they were sending boys to fight in the United States, fighting my own volunteers, they came hoping to give themselves a place to peddle syndicalism to their employees while they were stuck on the line. I’ll say, telling the Communards to piss off was satisfying. You and I fought on the right side during the Second American Civil War. Let’s fight on the same side again.”

The news of Mittelafrika’s collapse worried the German and Portuguese delegations immensely. The Kaiser had elected not to postpone or abort the proceedings at the Halifax Conference. Collins had speculated that to do so was to declare weakness in the face of the Entente. This had left the state of the conference in a terrible balance; one of the concessions that the Reichspakt had agreed to were the British and French colonies they had taken over after the Weltkrieg and the syndicalist revolutions. With those colonies no longer under their control, Kaiser Wilhelm may have hoped to demand further concessions from the Entente nations in exchange for their support. Collins had advised against it, with the loss of their African holdings the Reichspakt was weaker, not stronger. If the French had accepted the demands for Mitteleuropan membership, then the conference could be successful. They had already secured themselves in Indochina, there was no need to rock the boat further.

“In light of recent events, to further cement ongoing peace between the Entente and the Reichspakt, the German Empire requires the French government to formally renounce their claims to the territory of Elsaß-Lothringen. This will solidify the borders between our two nations and lead to lasting peace in Europe.” Kaiser Wilhelm addressed grandly, much to Collins’s shock. “This will be the German Empire’s final demand.”

The French delegation immediately stood up and stormed out of the council chambers. Collins, sunken-eyed from his late night, called the session for a recess, and sent O’Higgins to talk the French delegate down from aborting the conference altogether. On his fourth cup of coffee, Collins had no appetite as he met with Richard Mulcahy and Kevin O’Higgins.

“What the hell is Kaiser Wilhelm thinking?” Collins tried to keep from raising his voice. “He just lost one of his largest colonies and now he wants to demand more?”

“He’s overplaying his hand. He doesn’t want to appear weak.” O’Higgins offered, trying to explain the Reichspakt position. “And with the loss of the African colonies, he wants to be seen as someone who delivered, not someone who capitulated to the Entente.

Richard Mulcahy shook his head. “I don’t blame him for wanting to project strength. They’re sharks out there and they smell blood.”

Collins scoffed. “Well, he did it in the worst possible way. Looks like I’ll need a secret weapon. Mulcahy, go and grab my bag from the cloakroom. Bring the small brown case.”

***

When the session reconvened, the tension was so thick the room felt like a jungle. Once the session was called, the French delegation immediately spoke.

“I do not see the reason in promoting further concessions. It is evident to us now that the Reichspakt has not come to bargain with us as equals.”

“That is a gross mischaracterization. The Reichspakt has already graciously seen fit to agree to the territorial integrity of the Entente, and sees no reason why it is not also free to claim its own sovereignty regarding its own territories.”

“And demanding that France surrender her economic sovereignty as well?”

“A speedy rebuilding and recovery is in German interests as well as France, and the best way to secure that is membership within the Central European Customs Union.”

As the discussion became more and more heated, Collins, the unofficial mediator, slowly opened a brown case seated on the desk, and pulled out a glass bottle, filled with a dark brown liquid. Few even noticed as Collins took the bottle into his hand, running his fingers over the finely-crafted neck, before taking the bottle, and smashing it as hard as he could against the hard oak table. The loud crash brought every delegate to quiet, and that pause held as the thick smell of whiskey began to fill the room.

“That...was the Cairedas bottle on display in the Dail.” Michael Collins began. “Five years ago, we made four of those bottles to commemorate a spirit of friendship and shared optimism for the future. That bottle was priceless. Now look at it, there are pieces of priceless scattered all over this table. Take a piece of it if you want, go ahead, cut your finger on something priceless and see how valuable it is. Because that’s what we have now, nothing.”

“Every single one of us has reason not to be here. And if that’s all that we have, then this is all we’ll ever be, pieces of something greater made worthless by the struggle. And those pieces will be swallowed up. If not by the syndicalists, by Savinkov. Is that all we are?”

***

It would have been poetic for the sides to have come to an agreement after Collins’s speech, but it had taken several hours of negotiation to work out an acceptable compromise. The Entente formally recognized their lost colonies as German territorial possessions. The Reichspakt agreed to take no territories from the Entente and not to interfere with the rebuilding process of the Entente nations save through mutual treaty, unconditional foreign aid, or private donations. Portugal vowed not to cause or entice any actions against the German colonies in Namibia. France agreed to join the Central European Customs Union, but did not have to leave the Imperial Economic Development Council or the Imperial Scientific and Academic Council, nor did IEDC or ISAC initiatives fall under the jurisdiction of Mitteleuropa or the Kaiser Wilhelm Society. France would also be permitted to maintain all previously existing trade treaties with Entente nations, providing it a significant advantage over other Mitteleuropa member states. Signals operators from each alliance would be detailed to the other alliance’s divisions in the interests of unified communications and joint operations at the divisional level.

Ireland, belonging to neither alliance, would also engage in sharing intelligence with both nations. Entente planes could utilize the air bases in Belfast to support combat operations on the British Home Isles. Ireland would participate in joint planning as a non-aligned full belligerent power. If necessary, the Dominion of Canada could utilize Irish territory temporarily as a staging ground for naval invasions of the Union of Britain. It was certainly not a small sacrifice, but Collins made it gladly.

As the Irish delegation prepared to depart, Richard Mulcahy whispered to Collins, once he was sure that they were on their plane and away from any Canadian microphones placed in their quarters.

“I didn’t know you took the Cairedas bottle from the Dail.”

“I didn’t. I just paid Saorstat to make a replica.”

“You cheeky bastard. What were you going to do if they called your bluff?”

“Thank God, we’ll never have to find out. Come on, we’ve got a war to win.”

---

King Edward Abdicates

Collapse of Mittelafrika

Successful Halifax Conference

Alright, as I said, the format was a little different in this one, wanted to do a little character work for Collins. Less pictures in this one since the game doesn’t really replicate treaty negotiations (hell, it doesn’t even allow non-members to participate, but that wouldn’t do for this AAR) Decided to be a bit showboat-y at the end since in the Anglo-Irish treaty negotiations he was quite the darling of the London crowd. Had some fun playing around with the setting, even if it might get a little past the point.

Two more chapters to go, the war and the peace afterward, plus an appendix to detail my units and my national focuses to give a picture of this new Ireland. Hope you like this one.

-SLAL

#kaiserreich #creative #celtic tiger

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bloggerblagger · 7 years

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77) M’aidez, M’aidez, May-day. (But, seriously, do you really think she is going to help?)

Unmoored.

That is how Trump and Brexit have made me feel. The old certainties that tied me to a place of relative safety are being wrenched away. It may sound daft and melodramatic but I have a very definite image in my mind. I am on the prow of a small boat tied up to a quay; the wind starts to blow, a storm whips up, and the sky suddenly turns menacingly dark. I hear creaking and banging and the screeching of birds and the deck starts to rock. Then, one by one, the ropes that tie us to the pontoon start to snap under the strain, and, before I know it, it’s too late to get off. We are loose, drifting and lurching towards to the choppy, frothing open sea. And here’s the worse part: I do not have a clue how to sail this boat. Not a fucking clue.

Religious types like to preface announcements of their hopes and plans with ‘Please God’ or ‘God willing’ or ‘Inshallah’. ‘We’re going on holiday to America next year, please God.’ ‘My son will be going to Oxford in September, Inshallah.’ Silly superstition to me, hoping to ward off the evil eye, and being a modern, atheistic, hard-core rationalist, you never hear me say things like that.

Only I haven’t evolved quite as far as I would have liked. I’m still just as prone to a bit of OCDish touching of wood as the next person. So I have my own Godless version of those pointless little mantras, and, in truth it means the same thing. I always say that I am going do such and such, ’All other things being equal’.

But, of course, now, all those other things are not equal.

I went to see ‘Jackie’, the other day, Natalie Portman’s tour de force as the wife of the assassinated President. Almost the first thing you see is a title saying ‘1963’. 54 years ago this year, comfortably more than half a century and, although it shocks and pains me to say it, ah yes, I remember it well.

For my generation it was the dashing, glamorous Kennedys who did so much to give us such an absurdly romantic idea of what America was. A Technicolor wonderland full of skyscrapers, and ludicrous, enormous cars with tailfins inspired by cartoon spaceships, and surfers on beaches full of gorgeous Californian girls, and the wild West and the Rockies and Marilyn and Elvis and Haight Ashbury.

Everything in America seemed bigger and brighter, and I, and most of my generation I think, totally bought into this romantic idea of brand America. By and large, we turned a blind eye to the mad religiosity, and the insane gun toting, and the fact that between the supposed nirvanas of New York and California lay vast tracts of flat, dead boring country full of fat, dead boring people.

Now the romance is over. Every day, several times a day, we are tweeted to a display of mindless vulgarity, of pointless, petty, puerile offensiveness that makes complete fools of those of us who were once in love with the idea of America. How blind we were. America was always like this but we chose not to see.

The will of (a minority of) the people.

Laughably this has all come about in the name of democracy, that noble concept that America claims to be so wedded to.

Democracy? When the winner can be outvoted by more than three million votes.

Democracy? When the least populated state, Wyoming, has an officially recorded population of 582,658 and and has 3 votes in the Electoral College, making 1 vote per 194,219 people, and the most populous, California, has a population of 39,250,017 and 55 votes in the Electoral College making 1 vote per 713,637.

Yep, that’s democracy in the good old US of A*, where, in a Presidential election, the vote of a citizen of Wyoming is worth nearly 4 times as much as that of a citizen of California. (3.67 times to be exact.)

Still there are always the fabled checks and balances to this bullying in a China shop President. (And - so far - in a Mexico shop, an Australia shop, an Iran shop, and a Muslim shop too.)

Surely the Legislature, that is to say, Congress, can reign him in? Except that, of course, both houses of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, are now solidly Republican, supposedly the party of Trump.

The Senate, by the way, is even less democratic than the Electoral College and even more hopelessly skewed in the direction of those who live in the back and beyond. (Aka Trump voters.) Every state gets two senators, so in Wyoming that’s one Senator per 291,329 voters and in California it’s one per 19,625,009. Which means that a vote in a US Senatorial election from a Wyomingite is worth a whopping 67.36 times as much as that of a Californian. ( 68.2% of the Wyoming popular vote went to Trump, you won’t be surprised to learn, whereas in California 61,5% of the popular vote went to Mrs.Clinton.)

And the judiciary?

Can it really be independent when Federal judges - that’s not just Supreme Court justices but also Courts of Appeals judges and District judges - are appointed to their office by the President of the United States? (The Senate has to approve them it’s true, but you know which way that is going to go.)

Yes, the brave chap in Washington is currently sticking two fingers up to Trump over the immigration issue, and apparently this case is going to go all the way to the Supreme Court, but when push comes to shove, don’t we know from experience - the hanging chads experience - that the Supreme Court votes along party political lines?

Americans can blather on about the sanctity and durability of their Constitution as much as they like, but somehow I don’t think it frightens the Orange One one little bit.

(Not that, as I have pointed out before - see blog post 69 - our so-called democracy is any more convincing. Far from it. Even if a Californian’s vote in a Senate election counts for so little, at least they get a vote. Whereas with our equivalent, our Upper House, the House of Lords, we just have to take what the great and good decide we should be given.)

The headmistress will see you now.

Has there ever been anything more nauseating than the sight of Theresa holding Donald’s hand?

But if it turned your stomach, I’ll bet that’s nothing to how it made her feel. Kitten heels notwithstanding, she is the very model of prissy, churchy, English modesty and restraint. Can you imagine anyone who would instinctively repulse her more than the bragging, vainglorious, vulgarian with the silly hair? Give Mrs.May her due: just the act of not actually publicly vomiting was a sacrifice way above and beyond the call of duty.

Of course, having just cut off our nationalist nose to spite our economic face - or was it the other way around - what choice she did have?

Even if our goods sold in the USA under EU rules do, currently, only face an average 2%** tariff, so that the very best deal she could ever get - no tariff at all - would barely make a difference, she is still forced to go grovelling to Trump, in order to be able to pretend that she is doing something other than sticking her head in the sand and praying that Brexit is all just a bad dream.

Mrs.May, being very tall and thin with rather stick-like legs and a beaky nose, and often awkwardly bent slightly forward, does, in fact, look quite ostrich-like, don’t you think? Or ‘struthious’ which, I have just discovered via Google, is the proper word for being ‘of or pertaining to ostriches’. The struthious Mrs. May ….remember you saw it here first.

But actually I prefer another image of her. I see Mrs. May as the headmistress of a private girl’s school facing hard times. (Those of us who have daughters who have been to private girls’ schools will know that she is perfect casting.)

Her secretary rings through to her office on an Intercom that wasn’t even the last word in high tech modernity three headmistresses before.

“Mrs. May, Mr. Trump is here.”

Beat pause, then Mrs.May takes a deliberate deep breath before replying.

“Give me a moment please.”

Mrs.May stands and walks across to the mirror on the wall. She glimpses the wallpaper peeling behind it and the damp patch it reveals. She hopes he won’t notice it but is quite certain he will. She looks in the mirror and pats down her hair. She stares at what she sees and grimaces slightly, shaking her head. Her face says it all.

So this is what it has come to. St. Boadica’s so desperate for money that she has to admit the wild child daughter of this dreadful man, this hideous, lecherous, ghastly buffoon. Worse still, if she is to squeeze out of him a desperately needed donation to the ‘St.Boadicea’s Repair the Roof’ fund she is going to have to shake his sweaty little hand, feign laughter at his terrible off-colour jokes, and try, pathetically, against the all the odds, to appear coquettish when he squeezes her hand just a little too tight. She shudders visibly.

Mrs. May turns back to her desk, opens a little drawer and takes out an old silver hip flask. She tips her head back and takes a good, hard unladylike swig, and then puts the flask back in the drawer. She reaches down to the intercom to press down the ancient Bakelite switch so that she can ask her secretary to show the odious Mr.Trump in. But as she leans down, her eye catches sight of her well-worn blouse. She pauses for a moment, considers, then lifts her finger from the switch and undoes the top button.

’Oh well’, she reasons silently to herself, ‘In for a penny, in for a devalued bloody pound.’

* http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/7/12315574/electoral-college-explained-presidential-elections-2016

** http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-us-trade-deal-donald-trump-theresa-may-meeting-benefits-eu-single-market-small-upsides-bank-of-a7546866.html

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republicstandard · 6 years

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Populism is the Future for the Alt-Right

The infamous Charlottesville ‘Unite the Right’ rally, which took place last August, was intended to help unify the various political factions of the dissident right. But as we all know things did not go to plan. The authorities not only revoked the permit for the rally at the last minute, but they also funnelled attendees into the path of Antifa and other violent left wing protesters which caused conflict on the streets which was shown on news bulletins all around the world.

Various members of the pro-white community suffered numerous problems both on the day and in the weeks and months afterwards. Some had their homes broken into; others were de-platformed on social media, whilst others are still currently battling in the courts. And in a historic first several websites had their domains seized and were forced into the dark web for months. To put it simply, the Charlottesville rally was an unmitigated disaster for the pro-white movement; but I also think it was the reckoning that the movement badly needed.

The following months after the rally were a mixture of infighting, self-reflection and change. It was clear that the momentum that had built up during 2015, 2016, and the first 8 months of 2017, was gone. Looking back it is clear that prominent members of the pro-white movement should have been more active in reorganizing and leading during this crucial period. However at the same time I recognise the very difficult situation many of these people were in and how little spare time they had.

More controversy later followed. Pro-white political candidates like Paul Nehlen and Patrick Little descending into meltdowns the likes of which have not been seen this side of Britney Spears shaving her head and beating a car with an umbrella. There are so many twists and turns in their stories that it would require an entire article just to write about them; and who has time for that?

Britain is in the process of leaving the EU, Trump has become the President of the United States of America, and anti-immigration Governments have been elected in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Poland and Czechia.

My conclusion from everything mentioned above is that the pro-white movement has energy, online presence and some potential, yet it is floundering due to its own faults and is simply not going to change anything anytime soon.

My sympathies with the populist movement grow by the day, not just because of their ability to get elected into power, but also because they have a large number of coherent and well thought-out policies that can actually be implemented in the near future. Not to mention the fact that they actually have political parties and a long list of financial backers with deep pockets.

It is easy to forget but in the last two years the populist wave has achieved many things. Britain is in the process of leaving the EU, Trump has become the President of the United States of America, and anti-immigration Governments have been elected in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Poland and Czechia.

I think that a pro-white movement of some kind is always necessary; simply because all other races have their advocacy groups and so logically whites will need their own as a counter and to represent their interests. It is the tragedy of identity politics that this is so, as we move from high-trust societies to ones which are weighted towards groups who can leverage moral authority through state infrastructure, such as diversity quotas and the risible affirmative action program. I also think that such a community is necessary because it helps shift the Overton Window to the right. Whether you agree with the Alt-Right or not, nobody can deny the influence it has had in moving certain topics into the public sphere over the past two years.

My main issue is that I still have no idea why people in the Alt-Right and other pro-white groups have not done more to support the populist movements. I read a lot of white nationalists on social media continuously claim that: ‘Elections don’t matter, if you vote your just feeding the system. We need to let everything collapse and rebuild from scratch.’ This way of thinking is patently absurd for a number of reasons; I think it stems from a mindset of wanting to be as edgy as possible and maintaining a ‘distance’ from the so called ‘normies’.

Obviously these same people would rather see Matteo Salvini, the new interior minister of Italy, continue to turn back migrant boats then allow them to dock at Italian ports. Yet at the same time they claim voting doesn’t change anything, even though Salvini’s policies are reversing Italy’s pro-immigration agenda. This mentality of rejecting the democratic process and working only in overtly pro-white activism needs to end. Even if you don’t agree with democracy, this is the system you have to work in and you must act accordingly. Rejecting the process and simply not voting will only bring victory to your enemies, because I can guarantee that the left will turn out in droves, and they certainly don’t play fair either.

Throughout the 2015-2016 election campaign of Donald Trump identitarians and civic nationalists worked together online to help him get elected. There is no reason why this should not continue, and it was silly from a tactical perspective when these two groups diverged so much after November 2016. In Poland, Hungary and now Italy, what could be described as ‘pro-white’ factions work in harmony with civic nationalist entities on a daily basis – and this partnership achieves results.

No matter how much propaganda you spread or how many immigrants arrive, the likelihood of a pro-white candidate let alone a party being elected in our lifetimes is very slim. Even in South Africa, where whites face rape, torture and murder on their own farms, the majority of whites still vote for mainstream parties. Indeed many liberal whites in Cape Town still deny that the farm murders phenomenon even exists.

The majority of white people by their very nature seem to be instinctively repulsed by ethnic nationalism to some degree, and in any given white country only a small minority of people seem aligned with pro-white causes. This is why I think populism is the way forward, because it provides a form of nationalism which not only solves most of the West’s problems, but is also amenable to the mentality of the average person in the street.

Brexit and Trump’s election were implicitly white events; framed as such more by the actions of the nay-sayers than the advocates. Despite all the media programming, these countries are the product of European peoples, and they still are the majority populations in thes lands, for now. Yet, not one of the major figures in either of these causes made it an explicitly white event- a very wise tactical choice. Populism allows you to save the white man and his family without actually saying that you are saving the white man and his family. Yes; sometimes the populists cuck and you identitarians may cringe with resentment, but if that cuck lowers immigration by 50% then there is no reason not to get behind him.

In the modern world, where an Englishman can be locked up for saying something controversial or a parent can have their child taken by social services simply because they have a bruise on their arm, a certain flexibility is needed. You need to achieve your goals without ever stating what your true goals are. The left have always done this; their centre-left candidates are quite often secretly communist, yet they will never admit that. You need to enter movements and help push through legislation that is similar to your beliefs or which will help lead to the implementation of your goals. Populism is the ‘big tent’ that allows you to do this.

Purity spiralling will get you nowhere, and cutting yourself off from the political process or people who even slightly disagree with you is stupid.

In other words, it is time for the Alt-Right to be pragmatic, as well as idealistic.

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