THE COLD WAR

The Cold War was born out of the 1945 Yalta Conference to define areas of responsibility in a post-world war world. Stalin gained most, communist governments existing in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania by 1947, with Czechoslovakia and East Germany to follow.
Yugoslavia became communist under Tito but retained independence. Berlin itself was split into 4 zones - the USSR, US, Britain and France - but was in East Germany, only accessible by a ‘corridor’ to the west.

PACTS AND THINGS

In 1948 the 3 western powers created the state of West Germany, the Soviet response being to blockade Berlin. The west responded with the Berlin Air Lift, supplying the city and daring the Soviets to shoot down the planes.
The blockade was lifted in May 1949. To stop further expansion of communism, in 1949 the west devised NATO, the Soviets responding with the Warsaw Pact, mass armies beginning to appear on both sides.
Continued migration to the west became a hindrance to the east, so in 1961, the Berlin Wall was built, extending to become what Churchill called the Iron Curtain, splitting Europe into two camps.
Hungary rebelled against Soviet domination in 1956, and Poland in 1968, both uprisings put down by the Soviet Red Army. But things nearly got out of hand in 1962.

THE NUCLEAR THREAT

In 1959 Fidel Castro won a revolution in Cuba, turning the country to communism and friendship with the USSR. The Soviets had become the 3rd nuclear power in 1949, and in 1962 a US spyplane photographed a missile site under construction in Cuba.
Kennedy put the island under naval quarantine and threatened nuclear war if the site was not dismantled. Powerless in naval terms, the USSR backed down, but began building up their navy from this point.
But a more rational form of diplomacy arose. Throughout the period MAD, or Mutally Assured Destruction, was the policy of deterrence, both sides having thousands of nuclear warheads, the idea being that neither side could win a war.

END GAME

In 1963 a nuclear test ban treaty was signed, followed by Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, or SALT. And whilst espionage was ripe throughout the period, relations settled down to detente.
By the late 1980s, the Soviets faced trouble. In Poland the trade union Solidarity under Lech Walesa rose to sweep away communism. In the Kremlin the communists of the Soviet Union had realised the west was spending their way to victory, the Soviet economy unable to afford the arms race.
Out of this realisation, Gorbechov, a more moderate leader, rose. The INF Treaty was signed in 1988, limiting intermediate nuclear weapons, followed by reduction talks. Spurred on by Polish freedom, peaceful uprisings erupted throughout the Warsaw Pact and in 1989, German youth ripped down the Berlin Wall, uniting the two Germanies.
The Soviet infra-structure began to break down, crystallised in Boris Yeltsin, who, after a communist hardline attempt to depose Gorbechov, spurred on the people to rise.
Communism was swept away, Yeltsin becoming the President of a new Russia.

TODAY

Today, that new Russia is democratic, but under Putin, old-style central control is raising its head once more. In the west, NATO struggles to find a role, peacekeeping the new ethos following the break-up of Yugoslavia and the ambitions of a Greater Serbia.
Following wars in Croatia, Bosnia and intrigues in Kosovo, NATO finds itself in a new form of protectorate, keeping opposing hatreds apart. However, communism affected more than just Europe, as we shall see in the next post.

© Anthony North, February 2008

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WORLD WAR TWO

Before the war came the Depression. Born in Austria in 1889, Adolf Hitler was to take advantage of the Depression that hit Germany in 1930. Blaming the government – the heavily Jewish Weimar Republic – for the disaster, his National Socialist German Worker’s Party, or Nazis, won a majority in the Reichstag, Hitler being made Chancellor in 1933.
Killing all opponents and opening concentration camps for ‘undesirables,’ he took the title, Fuhrer, and inaugurated the Third Reich.

OPENING SHOTS

Re-occupying the de-militarised Rhineland, in 1937 he moved into Austria and the Sudetanland of Czechoslovakia. Appeased by Chamberlain in September 1938 with the Munich Pact, August 1939 also saw Hitler sign a non-aggression pact with Stalin. Finally, on 1 September 1939, he invaded Poland, beginning the Second World War.
With British troops sent to France, nothing much happened, the period called the ‘phoney war,’ but with Germany’s invasion of Denmark and Norway in April 1940 things hotted up. With Chamberlain standing down in favour of Winston Churchill, May 1940 saw the German Blitzkrieg on Belgium to outflank the French Majinot Line. With forces led by von Runstedt, the German assault was unstoppable, Belgium capitulating and leaving a British army to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk.

WARFARE ALL OVER THE WORLD

Britain was left to face the Germans alone, fighting the Battle of Britain in the skies from July to September 1940, thwarting a German invasion. Unable to beat the RAF, Germany turned to a war of attrition, bombing British cities, whilst U-boats attempted to starve Britain by blockading the Atlantic, attacking merchant shipping. Meanwhile, Italy joined the war, attacking Egypt, and in June 1941 Hitler began Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
An invasion involving hundreds of Divisions on both sides, by November Leningrad was encircled and the Germans were in reach of Moscow. However, the operation stalled as the big freeze came. Meanwhile, German forces under Rommel had joined the Italians and drove British forces into Egypt following battle at Tobruk.

THE TABLES TURN

But the Germans had reached as far as they were going. Under Zhukov, Soviet forces turned the siege of Leningrad and in October 1942 Montgomery beat the Germans at El Alemain. By August 1944 Germans were expelled from Soviet soil and by May 1945 the Russians began the siege of Berlin. Similarly, forces under Eisenhower landed at Casablanca in November 1942, linked with the British in April 1943, invaded Sicily in July and liberated Rome by June 1944.
With America joining the war in December 1941, in western Europe the main war effort came with massive bombing raids and aiding the French Resistance, but on 6 June 1944, ‘D’ Day brought an allied landing on the Normandy beaches, with a million troops landed by July.
With British forces taking on resistance in Normandy itself, Americans under Patton swept south, turned, and raced on. By August, Paris was liberated, with Montgomery advancing through Holland and Belgium. A German counter offensive through the Ardennes in December was stalled, and in January 1945 the Rhine was crossed at Ramagen and the Ruhr encircled. In May 1945, Germany surrendered.

THE FAR EAST AND PACIFIC

The Second World War was also fought in the Far East. In the early 20th century Japan faced over-population, complicated further when America forbade Asian immigration in 1924. With Hirohito becoming emperor in 1926, the country turned militaristic and adopted fascism, invading Manchuria in 1931. By 1940 Japan had an ambitious expansionist policy, but were held back by US dominance of the Pacific.
Hence, on 7 December 1941 they launched a surprise attack by carrier-borne forces on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Temporarily crippling the US fleet, they occupied Hong Kong, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, parts of New Guniea and headed into Burma, threatening both India and Australia.
Under Nimitz and MacArthur, the US combined air, sea and marine forces for a relentless drive against the Japanese, with victories at Coral Sea (1942), Midway Island (June) and Guadalcanal (August). Reconquest of the Philippines followed, a crushing defeat suffered by the Japanese at Leyte Gulf in October 1944, allowing island hopping operations, taking the war to Japan itself.
Meanwhile, the British re-occupied Burma by May 1945. On 26 July, the Potsdam Proclamation was made, threatening Japan with total destruction as the Manhattan Project was successful in making an atom bomb. With no response, on 6 August 1945 an atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a second dropped 3 days later on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered, bringing the Second World War to an end.

UNITED NATIONS

Following the Second World War moves were made to stop conflict arising again. The San Francisco Conference of 1945 produced the UN Charter, furthering the League of Nations into the United Nations, with its HQ in New York.
The organisation is headed by a Secretary General and includes the International Court of Justice and the UN Assembly. Its main role is the maintenance of international peace and security, and to this end the Security Council sits with 5 permanent members - USA, Britain, France, Russia and China - and 10 other members on 2 year rotation. Issuing Resolutions to validate military and peace keeping operations, member states provide troops who operate around the world.
Other agencies have developed, including the World Health Organisation (WH0) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), co-ordinating relief from disaster and poverty in the Third World.
However a new global system began to form following the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, setting up several organisations and agreements. These include the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, set up in 1948 to reduce trade barriers; the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, set up in 1947 to promote international monetary cooperation; and the World Bank, set up in 1945 to borrow from commercial markets and lend to member states.
These organisations are geared towards furthering a world economy, thus laying the roots of modern global capitalism.

(c) Anthony North, January 2008

Elements of this post have been extracted from Second World War - see History page - which has a deeper analysis of why the war happened.

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ME AND THE COLD WAR

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I’m soon to begin posting some of my experiences at the cutting edge of my service in the Royal Air Force. Hopefully you’ll find them interesting and often funny. It was a strange time.
I was in the RAF from 1975-84, and my trade was in administration – i.e. I flew a desk. But for five of those years I worked on two of the 20 or so air defence bases that protected UK air space. And sometimes that got very interesting.

At least once a month the siren would go off.

When this happened, we knew it was exercise time. My blue uniform was swapped for combats, beret for helmet, and pen for 7.62mm SLR. Because, when that siren went off, I was part of the defence of that thin blue line.
How important was that line? Well, British forces contributed 4 divisions to the effort in Germany, whilst the rest of the forces were responsible for UK air space and keeping the Atlantic open for re-supply from America.

The unsinkable aircraft carrier.

US forces first called Britain that during World War Two, and it was a fact that had the Cold War gone hot, Britain’s importance would have been just as great. For if British air space fell, then no American reinforcements or supplies could ever get to Europe, and the Soviets would have won.
Hence, that thin blue line of the RAF would have become crucial. Those bases would have become among the most violent places on Earth, constantly attacked by bombers, missiles and infiltrated Soviet SPETZNAZ special forces.
I was only a very, very, very small cog in all this, but that was what we were training for in those exercises. And they often got scary as well as very, very funny.

© Anthony North, November 2007

TONY ON FLOODS AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: UK floods – natural or unnatural disaster? … PLUS … What happened to aircraft carriers? Cameron! Get your act together.
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FLOODS, BIGNESS AND EFFICIENCY

The Great Flood is well under way in the UK. Many counties, cities and towns in the south west, and other areas, have been deluged as rivers break their banks. A natural disaster …
No, hang on a minute. It MAY be a natural disaster in part. Unless man-made climate change is behind it - and we accept that flood plains will revert to flood plains. But now there are some 300,000 people without water supplies, whilst sewage infested water swirls around them.

Is this a natural disaster?

I find it amazing that the deluging of such a small part of the infra-structure was responsible for this termination of supplies. But then again, maybe not.
Over recent decades, the term ‘efficiency’ has been used to explain the marvelous services we get today. This has been achieved by two simple business ideals. The first is that a few bigger facilities are far more efficient than many smaller ones.
Yes, this is absolutely true, if your main motive for efficiency is profit. But when the slightest problem affects just a few – or even one – of these bigger facilities, the implications are enormous – and hundreds of thousands of people will be without water for maybe two weeks.
Bigger is very rarely better, or more efficient. For as soon as pressure enters the system, it fails. We should wake up to the simple fact that smaller, and more, is the only option to survive such problems – and demand that business allows a touch of inefficiency into the system, so that it can be efficient.

© Anthony North, July 2007

DAVID’S HONEYMOON IS OVER

When David Cameron was first picked to lead the Tory Party, I thought, great! Just what was needed. It had nothing to do with him being a good politician – more with the importance of PR …
… read more …

THE MYTHICAL AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

The building of two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers is about to be announced – perhaps. These super-duper ships were first authorized ten years ago, and should have been in service by 2015 …
… read more …

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TONY ON BECKHAMS AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Posh and Becks go to LA; Spot of difficulty at Tesco… plus … BBC v Queen, Casinos a no-no, and US troops in Iraq – or, soon, maybe not.
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POSH AND BECKS – THE MOVIE?

It can’t be long now. David and Victoria Beckham are in Hollywood, and the money trail is bound to lead to a movie. I can imagine David kicking many a villain around the set, and fascinating us with his ‘golden balls’ – although I doubt ‘I’ll be back’ will sound the same with HIS voice.
I have similar reservations about Posh’s pout. It certainly wouldn’t have worked in ‘that scene’ from When Harry Met Sally. But, hey, this is Hollywood.
I used to deride the Posh and Becks Show as the worst kind of celebrity dribble. When they appeared to be a good, modern family, I could at least see a good heart at the centre of it, but that went by the board long ago.
But I no longer deride them as such. Rather, when I see the mechanical poses, the ridiculous postures, I’m beginning to feel sorry for them.
I wonder if they remember what it is to be human?

© Anthony North, July 2007

ANTI-BBC

The recent controversy over the trailer for the up-coming documentary on the Queen lays bare the reality of the BBC. In incorrectly insinuating that she had walked out of a photo-shoot, their hatred of what Britain stands for is laid bare …
… read more …

NO SUPER CASINO, THAT’S SUPER

It is hard to explain my relief that Brownski has decided against the Super Casino. So many conflicting thoughts sweep through my head. My relief has nothing to do with gambling – there are plenty of gambling opportunities in the UK as it is – but with the obvious implications of such huge casinos in Britain …
… read more …

TROOPS OUT

The US House of Representatives want troops out of Iraq by April 2008. Those who want them to stay feel that the US hasn’t done its job yet. Iraq is far from stabilized. But this is pure naivety …
… read more …

TESCO COPS

Police shut 14 Tesco stores. They soon re-opened, and we’re told it had nothing to do with extremism, but the Police are keeping their mouths firmly shut regarding what it was all about …
… read more …

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TOP TEN QUOTES

Many wise words have been said and ignored. Maybe we don’t like a smart ass. But for good or bad, I list, here, the quotes we should remember, and why. If you disagree, let me know your own list.

10. But it moves just the same

These words were spoken by Galileo in 1632 after the Inquisition made him recant his theory that the Earth orbited the Sun. This was in conflict with the Church’s view that the Earth was unmoved and centre of everything. Unfortunately, whilst he was right, Galileo also thought HE was centre of everything, and had an arrogance that finally made him too many enemies. At No 10 I place the onward march of truth, but with a warning that it should come with humility.

9. I am the State

This 1655 statement by Louis XIV of France to his Parliament should have warned the world of the dangers of arrogance of leadership. For it was a worrying precursor of others who went on to rule as if they were. The Napoleonic Wars and World War Two were the result.

8. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

That’s better. Edmund Burke’s Bristol Speech of 1774 defined what true leadership is – a Parliamentarian, voted for by a constituency, but not beholden to them – until election time, of course. This vital element of democracy forms a balance between an elected representative free to do as he thinks, but trusted to do the best for his voters.

7. Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.

How right Wellington was. And these words, supposedly said as he rode through the bodies following the Battle of Waterloo, should serve as a constant reminder of what happens when the politics goes wrong. For the usual answer to political mistakes is conflict.

6. Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

Oh, the correctness of it – but also the naivety. Jean Jacques Rousseau used these words to open his ‘The Social Contract’ of 1762. The hope was to begin a new period of freedom for the people, permitted by government by the people. But when the people speak, duck! Which the aristocracy of France failed to do, and Madame Guillotine chopped, and the French Revolution ensued, and Napoleon set Europe on fire …

5. ‘… by the people, for the people …’

We’re at it again. The inscription on the Lincoln Memorial, taken from his 1863 Gettysburg Address. What wonderful sentiment for government, what brilliant hopes … but still that damned naivety. Maybe, when we look at power in the United States today, we should say: ‘… by big business, for big business …’

4. Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

That’s right. Winston Churchill knew what he was saying – here, in a speech from 1947. All the above problems are identified in the realization that democracy is imperfect. We maybe cannot think of anything better, but it’s the best of a bad lot. Kind of knocks naivety on the head - if we bother to listen.

3. Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

This 1941 statement by Albert Einstein isn’t normally associated with politics, but maybe it should be. After all, the politics we have today were worked out by Enlightenment philosophers working with scientific methodology. Democracy is as much a product of science as gravity. And what old Albert is saying is simple. A single system is always wrong. Better to have more than one – such as tempering democracy with a touch of belief, of morality, of acceptance that democracy may not be all.

2. I Think, Therefore I Am

Ah, if he hadn’t thought, maybe the world would be different. But when Rene Descartes published these words in 1637, he invented modern philosophy – and, by implication, science and politics. And with too many ‘I’s, he placed individuality in a prime position in the pecking order. Indeed, we only ‘were’ because we could think we were. We may have done marvelous things since he wrote it – and I’m glad he did – but it re-confirmed our arrogance in the modern world.

1. I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Believed to have been said in 1759 by Voltaire, these are the most important words ever uttered. They are a defence against bigotry and intolerance, and a warning against arrogance. Please bear them in mind when you’re commenting that this list is a load of crap.

© Anthony North, July 2007

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TONY ON BIG CRUNCH AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Is science giving up on explaining Big Bang? … PLUS … Amateur terrorists are dangerous; Cocaine and the UK
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SCIENCE EXPERIENCES BIG CRUNCH

A team from Penn State University will soon be venerated for saving science from its biggest nightmare – namely, how to prove Big Bang through the ‘magic’ of creating something out of nothing.
As we know, Big Bang is the scientific theory to explain the beginning of the universe – a theory that has left us with ‘imaginary time’, and the invention of dark matter and energy to fill 90% of the universe to make the math fit.

Why Big Bang?

Big Bang had to be theorized for we live in a ‘linear’ world where everything has to have a beginning and an end. The previous Steady State theory suggested the universe is eternal and renews itself.
This is no good, philosophically, for our tastes. It smacks too much of eastern philosophy, and a cyclic world where everything goes in cycles of existence. This cyclic world was replaced, in the west, by Genesis, and we’ve needed beginnings and ends ever since.
We are all, it seems, still closet Christians.

Big Crunch

But now we are in the process of escaping from Big Bang creating something from nothing by moving Creation back many tens of billions of years. One suggested ending for our universe is in a Big Crunch, where the universe implodes back to the point of the Big Bang.
This has been suggested for years, but the obvious implication was ignored. This implication is that our present universe may be the result of a previous Big Crunch, thus moving the problem of Creation on to an infinite number of Big Crunches before it.
So all the math and head scratching can be forgotten. We’ve postponed the implication of not knowing what we’re doing to an eternal cyclic Big Crunch leading to Big Bang leading to Big Crunch, ad infinitum.
Eastern philosophy rules, OK!

© Anthony North, July 2007

COCAINE CAPITAL UK

The UK has become the cocaine and heroin capital of Europe. The latest UN report says there is a decline, or leveling out of the problem, in other European countries, but the UK seems to steaming full ahead …
… read more …

THE PROBLEM WITH AL QAEDA

Following the recent terrorist activity in London and Glasgow the UK is on top alert again. But maybe it is time to remember what Al Qaeda is, including the reasons for its successes and, most often, its failures …
… read more …

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TONY ON RESPECT, PUTIN, ARMY …

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Is dark matter ‘out there’? Time to dis respect? Is US Green? PLUS: Where’s the British Army; Putin and Bush get mouthy again!
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DOES IT MATTER?

Telescopes have found a dark object at the outer edge of our galaxy. Typically, scientists have jumped at the possibility that this could be evidence of dark matter. I find it strange that science will grasp at anything if it looks like it could prove a theory.
Alternatively, anything that would challenge a theory is usually discarded without a second thought. But I would offer a revised theory of what dark matter is: a substance required to prove the math.
The problem is the universe is far too light to give the math of Big Bang credibility, so a huge chunk of the universe simply has to be ‘out there - over 90% of it, infact. So could I suggest the rational answer? Maybe the theory is wrong.

TO DISRESPECT RESPECT

Blair’s ‘respect czar’, Louise Casey, has called for the promotion of good manners in the UK. That’s a laugh, coming from the government that has done more than any other to destroy them …
… read more …

AMERICA AND THE ENVIRONMENT

George Bush has suggested a greenhouse gas conference in the US in the autumn. Does this massive release of hot air suggest a cooling on their attitude to warming, or is it designed to head off criticism at the upcoming G8 summit …
… read more …

THE SHRINKING BRITISH ARMY

According to MoD figures the British Army is now as small as it was prior to the Napoleonic Wars. With 99,280 men, and a shortfall in recruiting of 5,000, this is ridiculous when you consider it is having to fight two wars …
… read more …

LITTLE MINDS WILL PLAY

The usual round of G8 brinkmanship is going hay-wire this time. As the Summit approaches, first Bush tries to deflect the Eco-debate, and now Putin is threatening to target nukes at Europe once more …
… read more …

© Anthony North, Jun 2007

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TONY ON WEALTHY, BLAIR, BULLIES …

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Harry Potter survives court; today’s wealth is a con. PLUS: Monkeying around with evolution … and much more …
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POTTER AND WITCHERY

An attempt by a parent to have the Harry Potter books removed from school libraries in Gwinnett County, Georgia, has been overturned by the judge. It may not be the end of it, but Harry’s magic survives.
The reason for the objection was that the parent felt the books indoctrinated children in witchcraft. Yet, as far as I’m aware the books do not teach children a religion. Perhaps it is ignorance that feels that some religions have no right to be treated as such.
In the west we pride ourselves on our tolerance, but such tolerance does not extend to what we do not understand, and think of as dangerous superstition. A shame. If only she had argued they were not good enough to be treated as literature for education.
But that is another argument. And certainly not for a court.

WEALTH, OR WHAT?

We are said to be a thriving economy with the average person far better off than before. Is this the case, or is it a con? Go back thirty years and the average person felt that £200 or so would sort out his finances adequately …
… read more …

SIERRA LEONE – BLAIR’S ONLY SUCCESS

I knock Blair a lot, and deservedly so. I make no bones about declaring him one of the worst Prime Ministers the UK has ever had. But to be fair, even he got it right once. And as he strutted about in Sierra Leone I remembered this was it …
… read more …

MONKEYING WITH EVOLUTION

British scientists have offered the idea that some primates – the orang utan in particular – may have walked upright in the trees some 20 million years ago. If so, it destroys the theory that man’s immediate ancestors learnt the ability when on the ground.
A further problem is that it suggests bipedalism may not be the absolute point when our ancestors moved towards becoming human. The theory has been that walking on two legs allowed manual dexterity to evolve – a specifically human trait.
I, for one, have never felt that simply walking on two legs was all that was required. My own view is that we evolved to the point where mating face to face was the most practical. And from this, we began to understand togetherness, emotion and individuality.

CYBERBULLIES

Bulling of teachers on the internet and mobile phone is rocketing. So says the teacher’s union NASUWT. Comments are becoming more prolific and vicious, leaving many teachers in fear …
… read more …

KEEP ORGANIC LOCAL

The Soil Association is about to consider new moves to assist the fight against climate change. High on the agenda is an understanding of what is, and is not, organic. In particular, they are thinking of removing organic status from food that has been on an air journey …
… read more …

© Anthony North, June 2007

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WHEN GOOD BECOMES EVIL

There are certain statements that seem so true that they are rarely questioned. Consider, for instance, the following: ‘It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.’
The statement is attributed to Edmund Burke and I was recently reminded of it in a debate on The Daily Grail – one of the best sites in the world; after my own Beyond the Blog, of course.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE

In most instances it is absolutely true. Few can doubt that Adolf Hitler rose because good men did nothing; and equally, the evil came to an end when those good men decided to do something and defeat him.
But often the picture is not as simple as that. Consider the Anglo/US adventure in Iraq. We can argue it was the intent of ‘good men,’ but is the outcome ‘good’ in the way it was hoped to be?
In the UK political correctness was at first a ‘good’ idea, freeing minorities from discrimination. But today it has become so dictatorial that it is shutting down free speech and making people so fed up that it may well destroy those freedoms it fought for.

BULLIES, BULLIES EVERYWHERE

Good can, at times, become the new evil. It happens throughout life. Take the school bully, eventually overthrown when a ‘good’ person stands up to him. Sometimes it remains for the good, but often the ‘hero’ becomes the new bully.
In the wider world, the reality has many a historic precedent. Nothing could be more ‘good’ than the ideals of Christianity. Yet for a thousand years the Christian orthodoxy caused totalitarianism throughout Europe.
Nothing could have been more noble than the philosophical search that was the 18th century Enlightenment. Yet the outcome was pernicious social engineering that led to the French Revolution and most errors of the modern world.

LAW OF OPPOSITE EFFECT

How can it be that good intent can so often become the new evil? I think the answer can be found in what I call the Law of Opposite Effect. The law has two elements that seem to apply in such cases.
The first is a warning to beware of being over zealous in your need to put down evil. For so often a fanaticism breeds an equal fanaticism to counter it. Just as black is the opposite of white, we need to remember that the happy medium is grey.
The second is a reality that is open to see from the above examples. A fanaticism has a habit of causing the opposite effect to that intended. Because whenever a fanaticism strikes, those who disagree will fight back.

IN CONCLUSION

Evil must always be fought wherever it rears its ugly head. But we must beware that, in fighting it, we do not employ the fanaticisms that breed it in the first place. When this happens, we usually end up with the opposite to that intended.
And evil retains its hold on our world, and our history.

© Anthony North, May 2007

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