When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s Remembrance Day was a very solemn occasion. There were still a lot of World War II veterans participating and even some from World War I, as well as veterans from the Korean War (sometimes referred to as a “police action)”.
Continue readingTag: World War II
Alberta Politics: If you don’t know basic facts about who was fighting whom in World War II, you’re not fit to hold public office
If the embarrassing events in Canada’s House of Commons last Friday after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to MPs and Senators illustrate anything, it ought to be the value of teaching history – and remembering your history lessons. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo: Justin Trudeau/Flickr). Key takeaways from everyone’s modern
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Evidence suggests U.S. conservatives have given up on democracy — can Canada’s Cons be far behind?
Yesterday was Martinstag in Germany. I suppose if you think about it, it’s St. Martin’s Day here in Canada, too. Armistice Day 1918, how the end of World War I was told to Canadians. The occasion is said to be quite popular with children, with lots of colourful lanterns, costumes
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Despite COVID-19, 15,000 people join Fight for Equity rally against racism at Alberta Legislature
A mostly youthful throng estimated at more than 15,000 people braved the coronavirus pandemic yesterday evening to join the Fight for Equity rally against racism at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. The rally was organized in response the public murder of George Floyd, an African American man, at the hands
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Dunkirk from German Perspective
Along the lines of the History Oversimplified, a more in depth view of one of the important battles during the early stages of World War II.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A timely reminder on this historic day: The hammer of D-Day crushed Hitler on the anvil of Russia
FREDERICTON, N.B. – It’s now been 75 years since our magnificent Canadian soldiers went ashore at Juno Beach in Normandy to play their part the grim and deadly task of sweeping Hitler and his odious empire from Europe. Canadians need to remember, though, that the landings on June 6, 1944,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney fiddles (with climate policy) while Alberta burns
It is an irony, though not a particularly satisfying one to observe, that while Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party Government moves swiftly to repeal Alberta’s carbon tax, the province is aflame, with more than 5,000 Albertans required to leave homes and communities in imminent danger of destruction. It is
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Quote of the Day – Do I have to do teshuvah?
Barbara Coloroso has done exemplary work in writing “Extraordinary Evil – A Brief History of Genocide”. Second time around on this book, now going low and slow to really get down with the text and understand what she is saying. I wanted to share some of the passages that resonated
Continue readingAlberta Politics: He’s no bot, but Russia’s social media and press guy in Canada manages to stir up controversy just the same
PHOTOS: Kirill Kalinin, Press Secretary of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Ottawa, in a reception room of the Soviet-era structure on Charlotte Street. Below: An image shot last week of the exterior of the Embassy, built in 1956 after the original building on the site burned down; the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Chrystia Freeland should not be punished for her grandfather’s sins, but for misleading Canadians about them
PHOTOS: Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland during her visit to Edmonton in the midst of the 2015 federal election. Below: Former Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Who would ever have imagined major Canadian media companies would conclude collaborating with the Nazis when they were on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A timely reminder on this historic day: The hammer of D-Day crushed Hitler on the anvil of Russia
PHOTOS: Canadians soldiers storm ashore at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, 72 years ago today. Below: The late University of Victoria Professor Reginald H. Roy, author of 1944: The Canadians in Normandy. It’s now been two years since I wrote this piece o…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Victory Day in Moscow: some thoughts about the wisdom of messing with Russia
PHOTOS: A scene for last year’s May 9 Victory Day Parade in Moscow. The red banner visible in the centre is one of the Soviet victory flags hoisted over the Reichstag in Berlin in May 1945. Below: My military history professor, Reginald H. Roy and Br…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: In Flanders Fields? It’s time to encourage another generation of school kids to read some better poems from the Great War
PHOTOS: In Flanders Fields? The reality of the Great war’s battlefields: squalor, incompetence, mechanized industrial death. Below: John McCrae, and a Great War poet still worth reading, Wilfred Owen. A civilization that forgets its poetry is barely worthy of the name. Like fiction and unlike non-fiction, poetry is how a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The effort to engineer regime change in Greece could lead to a much bigger disaster
PHOTOS: Leaders of the Greek military government of 1967 to 1974. Is something similar waiting in the wings if the eurozone leadership’s effort to terrorize the Greeks into voting Yes to never-ending austerity fails today? Below: Greek Prime Minister Alex Tsipras, former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien and Nobel-Prize-winning American
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Six things we all need to think about when Canadians volunteer to fight for the Kurds
The Kurds: They should have had a country of their own, but since they don’t, and since Canada is allied by treaty to one of their principal enemies, letting Canadians join their fight isn’t a simple matter. We need clarity on just what Canada’s position is from the Canadian government.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Why Denmark fears militarization of Arctic islands means Canada could soon control almost all of Hudson’s Bay, and other tall tales
If we just listened to Stephen Harper and the BBC, what a wonderful world this would be! Below: Catherine the Great, USAF Gen. Philip Breedlove. Last Wednesday, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported in shocked tones on its online news site that “NATO’s top military commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove, has warned
Continue readingAlberta Diary: On the centenary of Gavrilo Princip’s fateful shot in Sarajevo, let’s learn the right lessons from history
Gavrilo Princip under arrest. Below: Princip and the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Today is the centenary of the day Gavrilo Princip took his little Belgian pistol to Sarajevo and blew the heir presumptive to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire into history. As is well known, not long after young Princip
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Enough petulant propaganda, please: the hammer of D-Day crushed Hitler on the anvil of Russia
D-Day on Juno Beach: Canadians trudge ashore under a strange colorized sky. Below: The distinguished Canadian military historian, the late Reginald H. Roy. It’s been 70 years today since our magnificent Canadian soldiers went ashore at Juno Beach in Normandy to play their part the grim and deadly task of
Continue readingLeDaro: Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima: Japan marks 68th anniversary
Are the wars worth fighting? We should have learned from World War II. Millions of people were killed. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the U.S. was one of the frightening consequences of this war. Modern day nuclear weapons are much more destructive. U.S alone can destroy life on this
Continue readingLeDaro: Aboriginal children used for nutritional experiments – during and after World War II
These kinds of stories are troubling. It gives one a bad feeling about our history and damages the pride of being Canadian. Such experiments were done after World War II.
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