#French Defence Minister

[basicpart]

France in talks with Kyiv over Ukraine’s minerals: ‘not looking for payback’

France is also seeking access to Ukraine’s deposits of critical minerals, with negotiations already under way for months, the French defence minister said on Thursday, indicating that the United States isn’t the only player. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is expected on Friday at the White House to sign a minerals deal with the United States. President Donald Trump made the announcement on…

[whencyclopedia]

Phoney War

The Phoney War was the period from the start of the Second World War (1939-45) when Britain and France declared war against Germany on 3 September until the start of significant military action in the West in the spring of 1940. While Poland bore the brunt of Germany's aggression, the civilians of Western Europe anxiously awaited their turn.

Hitler Invades Poland

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the leader of Nazi Germany, had pursued a persistently aggressive foreign policy through the 1930s by breaking the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, which had formally concluded the First World War (1914-18), forming the Anschluss, or union, with Austria and occupying the Czech Sudetenland in 1938. Powers like Britain and France, fearing the terrible costs of another world war, had opted for a policy of appeasement towards Hitler, but they finally took a stand after Hitler's occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 when the Nazi leader next threatened Poland. Britain and France promised to protect the Poland in the event of an attack, and so the invasion of Poland in 1939 resulted in both countries declaring war on Hitler if he did not withdraw. This declaration was made on 3 September, but Hitler did not respond and carried on with his invasion plan, carving up Poland with the USSR, as had been agreed in the Nazi-Soviet Pact the month before.

In practical reality, given the geographic distances involved, both Britain and France could do little to help the Polish government in terms of military aid – one of the main reasons Hitler had believed his invasion would not lead to WWII. Meanwhile, the USA pursued an isolationist policy, and Italy, for the time being, remained neutral. Perhaps if France had mobilised its army and attacked Germany from the west, then Hitler may have withdrawn, but the French generals had already put their faith not in offence but in defence. Britain did nothing practical either, as Member of Parliament Robert Boothby (1900-1986) noted: "We'd gone to war for the defence of Poland, we'd given a unilateral guarantee to Poland and in the event we did nothing to help Poland at all" (Holmes, 74).

While the Poles bore the full brunt of Germany's high-speed blitzkrieg war tactics, it was not until the spring of 1940 that the people of Western Europe became directly involved in the war. This initial period of non-military action in the West, when everyone expected the bombs, artillery fire, and tanks to arrive at any moment, was called the Phoney War. The term was coined by a US newspaper. Some of the British press described the period as the 'Bore War' while Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) called it the 'Twilight War'. In France, the same period was called la drôle de guerre ('Strange War'), while in Germany it was the Sitzkrieg ('Sitting War').

Europe on the Eve of WWII, 1939

Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND)

Continue reading...

[scotianostra]

The pioneering Scottish aviator Bertram Dickson was born in Edinburgh on 21st December 1873.

Dickson was the first British winner of an aviation contest and his skills as a pilot also led indirectly to the foundation of the Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force. As we shall see, he also notched up an achievement that he certainly did not want.

It is baffling that more is not known about Dickson. Indeed, of his early life, family and schooling, as I have posted before, all that can be reported is that he was born in Edinburgh on this day in 1873, it’s not the only missing period of Bertram’s life though as I will explain, the man is a bit of an enigma.

By the age of 19 Bertram Dickson was assisting the geographer Sir Thomas Holdich in the Andes Mountains in a famous expedition that defined the border between Chile and Argentina. Dickson went to the Royal Military Academy from where he graduated in 1894, being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in November, 1894, before gaining promotion to lieutenant and then captain by November 1900. His service until then had taken in British East Africa, South Africa and Somaliland.

The following May there began the great mystery of Dickson’s life, but one which is easily explained.

He was seconded to the Foreign Office and promptly disappeared from the records for seven years.

There’s little doubt that Bertram Dickson became a spy, an early James Bond-type who by 1908 was a military attaché in what is now Eastern Turkey but was then part of the Ottoman Empire. Prior to then he had also written articles for geographical journals – a normal cover story for espionage activities

Early in 1910, Dickson learned to fly at the Henri Farman flying school in France. Having gained his aviator’s certificate, No 71, the first British pilot from the services entered a flying contest and won it with the longest distance flown – believed to have been the first aviation endurance competition.

He repeated his success at air meetings in the UK – he won £400 at Lanark – before he resigned his army commission to work for the British and Colonial Aircraft company. It was while he was working for them that on September 21, 1910, Dickson flew his Bristol Boxkite aircraft in what were reconnaissance try-outs.

Dickson “won” the first sortie and was able to stress the importance of air war readiness to two observers, Field Marshal Lord Kitchener and Home Secretary Winston Churchill who was hugely impressed and would later be Secretary of State for Air.

Dickson then earned an unwanted distinction. On October 3rd, 1910, he was involved in the world’s first mid-air collision between two powered aircraft. He and the French pilot Rene Thomas survived the accident – for which the courts later blamed Dickson – but the Scot was very seriously injured.

Even as he lay in recuperation, Dickson made his greatest achievement, which was to persuade the Government to take war in the skies seriously. Kitchener and Churchill had not forgotten Dickson’s demonstration and as a result of their intervention, in November 1911, the then prime minister Herbert Asquith asked the Imperial Defence Committee to form an investigation into war in the air.

The Technical Sub-Committee for Imperial Defence duly inquired into the subject and it was to that subcommittee that Dickson made this prophetic submission: “In case of a European war, between two countries, both sides would be equipped with large corps of aeroplanes, each trying to obtain information on the other... the efforts which each would exert in order to hinder or prevent the enemy from obtaining information... would lead to the inevitable result of a war in the air, for the supremacy of the air, by armed aeroplanes against each other. This fight for the supremacy of the air in future wars will be of the greatest importance.”

Remember that this was before any country had an independent air force – pilots and planes were attached to army or navy units, and it was an Italian Army Air Corps flying French-built aircraft which first dropped bombs on Libya during the 1911-1912 Italo-Turkish war on October 23rd, 1911.

It may well have been that Dickson, with his connections to Turkey, had information on this first-ever air raid, and drew his conclusions accordingly.

The Imperial Defence Committee recommended the formation of the Royal Flying Corps which was instituted on April 13th, 1912, becoming the RAF six years later when it joined with the Royal Naval Air Service whose founding was largely the work of Dickson’s old contact, Winston Churchill.

Having never really recovered from his injuries sustained in the Milan air accident, Dickson died on September 28th, 1913, at Lochrosque Castle near Achnasheen in Ross-shire. He was buried in the Cnoc na Bhain burial ground in Strath Bran. There is a plaque honouring him nearby.

[nigrit]

'The War of the Districts, or the Flight of Marat…'

Part 1 (of 5)

Some years ago I photographed a fantastic, satirical poem from a compendium of French Revolutionary verse in the BnF (réserve). It’s been gathering virtual dust ever since. But no more! It’s a witty take on a key moment from early in the Revolution, when the Paris authorities pitted themselves against the radical Cordeliers district (under Danton’s leadership). With help from @anotherhumaninthisworld (merci encore!), we managed to produce a rough translation, which I revised, added some footnotes (to clarify the more obscure references) and added this brief intro to put it in context. While the translation is a literal one, I’ve tried to preserve some of the rhyming spirit of the original where possible. So boil the kettle, get a brew on and settle down to an epic account of Maranton vs Neckerette…

In the early hours of 22 January 1790, General Lafayette, commander of the National Guard, authorized a large military force to arrest the radical journalist Jean-Paul Marat, following a request from Sylvain Bailly, the Mayor of Paris, to provide the Chatelet with sufficient armed force [“main-forte’] to enable its bailiff to enforce the warrant.[1] Bailly’s request was in response to the outrage caused by the publication, four days earlier, of Marat’s 78-page Denunciation of the finance minister, Jacques Necker.[2] Marat had moved into the district the Cordeliers district in December to seek its declared protection against arbitrary prosecution.

His best-selling pamphlet denounced Necker – probably the most popular man in France after the King in July 1789 – of covertly supporting the Ancien Régime and working to undermine the Revolution. His accusations included plotting to dissolve the National Assembly and remove the royal family to Metz on 5 October, colluding in grain hoarding and speculation, and generally compromising the King’s honour. The charges were intended to reveal a cumulative (and damning) pattern of behaviour since Necker’s reappointment in July 1788, and again in July 1789. Bearing his Rousseau-derived epigraph, Vitam impendere vero (‘To devote one’s life to the truth’) – now used as a kind of personal branding, Marat adopted the role of “avocat” to ‘try’ Necker before the court of public opinion.[3] Its general tone came in the context of a wider distrust of international capitalism, with which Necker was closely associated, and which appearted to violate many traditional values.[4] For those interested in the nitty gritty, here’s a footnote explaining why Marat had completely lost faith in Necker.[5]

It caused such a sensation that the first print-run sold out in 24 hours. Most of the radical press hailed Marat’s audacity in challenging Necker’s ‘virtuous’ reputation, while providing invaluable publicity for his pamphlet. The legal pursuit of Marat was largely prompted by the rigid adherence of the Chatelet to Ancien Régime values against the offence of libel (attacking a person in print).[6] I suspect that Marat was hoping a high-profile campaign against Necker would help to establish his name in the public eye by provoking a strong response. However, this was one of the rare occasions when Necker delegated his defence to ‘hired’ pens, providing Marat with valuable extra publicity.

If libel was the main reason for going after Marat, the impetus for pursuit was further motivated by wider political concerns over the extreme volatility that had gripped Paris since mid-December. After pre-emptive popular action in July and October against perceived counter-revolutionary plotting, a new wave of similar rumours was seen by many as a signal that the thermometer was about to explode again. The arrest of the marquis de Favras on Christmas Eve, for allegedly conspiring to raise a force to whisk the King away to safety, assassinate revolutionary leaders, and put his master, Monsieur (the King’s middle brother) on the throne as regent, only served to intensify popular fears. This, combined with the continuing failure to prosecute any royal officers, including the baron de Besenval, commander of the King’s troops around Paris during 12-14 July – who would be acquitted on 29 January for ‘counter-revolutionary’ actions – led to large crowds milling daily outside the Palais de Justice, as the legal action against both men dragged on through January.[7] On the 7th January, a bread riot in Versailles led to the declaration of martial law; on the 10th, a large march on the Hotel de Ville had been stopped in its tracks by Lafayette; on the 11th, there was an unruly 10,000-strong demonstration, screaming death-threats against defendants and judges, in the worst disturbances to public order since the October Days march on Versailles (and the most severe for another year); and on the 13th, tensions were further exacerbated by a threatened mutiny amongst disgruntled National Guards, which was efficiently snuffed out by Lafayette.[8] As a result, Marat’s Denunciation, and earlier attacks on Boucher d’Argis, the trial’s presiding judge, were seen as encouraging a dangerous distrust towards the authorities. Hence the pressing need to set an example of him.

So much for the background. Do we know anything about the poem’s authorship? it appeared around the same time (July/August) as Louis de Champcenetz & Antoine Rivarol’s sarcastic Petit dictionnaire des grands hommes de la Révolution, par un citoyen actif, ci-devant Rien(July/Aug 1790), which featured a brief entry on how Marat had eluded the attention of 5000 National Guardsmen and hid in southern France, disguised as a deserter. These figures would become the subject of wildly varying estimates, depending on who was reporting the ‘Affair’ – all, technically, primary sources! The higher the number of soldiers, the greater the degree of ridicule.[9] Contemporary accounts ranged from 400 to 12,000, although the latter exaggerated figure, included the extensive reserves positioned outside the district.[10] Since the poem also suggests around 5000 men, this similarity of numbers, alongside other literary and satirical clues, such as both men’s involvement in the Actes des apôtres, and the Petit dictionnaire’s targeting of Mme de Stael, suggest a possible common authorship.[11] While the poem took delight in mocking the ineptitude of the Paris Commune, the lattertook aim at the pretensions of the new class of revolutionary. While it is impossible to estimate the public reception of this poem, its cheap cover price of 15 sols suggests it was aimed at a wide audience. It was also republished under at least two different titles, sometimes alongside other counter-revolutionary pamphlets.[12]

Both act as important markers of Marat’s growing celebrity, just six months after the storming of the Bastille. A celebrity that reached far beyond the confines of his district (now section) and readership (which peaked at around 3000).[13] Marat was no longer being spoken of as just a malignant slanderer [“calomniateur”] but as the embodiment of a certain revolutionary stereotype. While he lacked the dedicated ‘fan base’ of a true celebrity, such as a Rousseau, a Voltaire or (even) a Necker, he did not lack for public curiosity, which was satisfied in his absence by a mediatized presence in pamphlets, poems, and the new lexicology.[14] For example, Marat would earn nine, separate entries in Pierre-Nicolas Chantreau’s Dictionnaire national et anecdotique (Aug 1790), the first in a series of dictionaries to capitalize on the Revolution’s fluid redefinition of language.

There seems little doubt that Marat’s Denunciation was intended to provoke the authorities into a strong reaction, and create “quelque sensation”, of which this mock-heroic poem forms one small part.[15] It would prove a pivotal moment in his revolutionary career, transforming him from the failed savant of 1789 to a vigorous symbol of press freedom and independence in 1790. Who knows what might have happened, if, as one royalist later remarked, the authorities had simply ignored this scribbling “dwarf”, whose only weapon was his pen.[16]

I'll post the 3 parts of the poem under #la fuite de Marat. enjoy!

[1] The Chatelet represented legal authority within Paris.

[2] Dénonciation faite au tribunal public par M. Marat, l’Ami du Peuple, contre M. Necker, premier ministre des finances (18 Jan 1790).

[3] The slogan was borrowed from Rousseau’s Lettre à d’Alembert, itself a misquote from Juvenal’s Satires (Vitam inpendere vero = ‘To sacrifice one’s life for the truth’).

[4] See Steven Kaplan’s excellent analysis of the mechanisms of famine plots and popular beliefs in the collusion between state and grain merchants. In part, this reflected a lack of transparency and poor PR in the state’s dealings with the public. During 1789-1790, when anxieties over grain supply were the main cause of rumours and popular tension, Necker made little effort to explain government policies. The Famine Plot Persuasion in Eighteenth-Century France (1982).

[5] As a rule, the King, and his ministers, did not consider the workings of government to be anyone’s business, and was not accountable to the public. However, in 1781, Necker undermined this precedent by publishing his Compte-rendu – a transparent snapshot of the royal finances – yet on his return in 1788, he failed to promote equivalent transparency over grain provision. In consequence, local administrators suffered from a lack of reliable information. Given the underlying food insecurity that followed the poor harvest of 1788, any rumours only unsettled the public. The most dramatic example of this came in the summer of 1789, when rumours of large-scale movements of brigands & beggars created the violent, rural panic known as ‘The Great Fear’. It was Necker’s continuing silence on these matters that lost Marat’s trust.

[6] Necker had a history of published interventions defending himself before the tribunal of public opinion, confessing that a thirst for gloire (renown) had motivated his continual courting of PO, then dismissing it as a fickle creature after it turned against him in 1790. eg Sur l’Administration de M. Necker (1791). For the best demonstration of continuity with Ancien Régime values after 1789, see Charles Walton, Policing Public Opinion in the French Revolution (2009).

[7] The erosion of Necker’s popularity began on 30 July after he asked the Commune to grant amnesty to all political prisoners, including Besenval.

[8] While the evidence was slight, Favras’ sentence to be hanged on 18 February made him a convenient scapegoat, allowing Besenval and Monsieur to escape further action. See Barry M. Shapiro, Revolutionary Justice in Paris, 1789-1790 (1993).

[9] The most likely figure appears 300-500. See Eugène Babut, ‘Une journée au district des Cordeliers etc’, in Revue historique (1903), p.287 (fn); Olivier Coquard, Marat (1996), pp.251-55; and Jacques de Cock & Charlotte Goetz, eds., Oeuvres Politiques de Marat (1995), i:130*-197*.

[10] For example, figures cited, included 400 in the Révolutions de Paris (16-23 Jan); 600 (with canon) in Mercure de France (30 Jan), repeated in a letter by Thomas Lindet (22 Jan); 2000 in a fake Ami du peuple (28 March); 3000 in Grande motion etc. (March); 4000 in Révolutions de France; 6000 (with canon) in Montjoie’s Histoire de la conjuration etc. (1796), pp.157-58; 10,000 in Parisian clair-voyant; 12,000 in Marat’s Appel à la Nation (Feb), repeated in AdP (23 July), reduced to 4000 in AdP (9 Feb 1791), but restored to 12,000 inPubliciste de la République française (24 April 1793).

[11] “Five to six large battalions/Followed by two squadrons” = approximately 5000 men (4800 + 300). A royalist journal edited and published by Jean-Gabriel Peltier, who also appears the most likely publisher of this poem.

[12] For example, Crimes envers le Roi, et envers la nation. Ou Confession patriotique (n.d., n.p,) & Le Triumvirat, ou messieurs Necker, Bailly et Lafayette, poème comique en trois chants (n.d., n.p.). Note the unusual use of ‘triumvirate’ at a time when this generally applied to the trio of Antoine Barnave, Alexandre Lameth and Adrien Duport.

[13] By the time the poem appeared, the Cordeliers district had been renamed section Théåtre-français, following the administrative redivision of Paris from 60 districts to 48 sections on 21 May 1790.

[14] For the growth of mediatized celebrity, see Antoine Lilti, Figures publiques (2014).

[15] As Marat explained in a footnote (‘Profession de foi’) at the end of his Denunciation, “Comme ma plume a fait quelque sensation, les ennemis publics qui sont les miens ont répandu dans le monde qu’elle était vendue…”

[16] Felix Galart de Montjoie, Histoire de la conjuration de Louis-Philippe-Joseph d’Orléans (1796), pp.157-58.

[dertaglichedan]

France gives Ukraine licence to fire long-range missiles at Russia

Jean-Noël Barrot, the foreign minister, said it was vital for Europe’s security to supply weapons such as the Scalp, the French equivalent of Storm Shadow

France appears to have given Ukraine approval to fire French-made Scalp long-range missiles into Russia “in the logics of self-defence”, following similar moves by America and Britain — but has not revealed whether they have yet been used.

Jean-Noël Barrot, the foreign minister, said in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg to be broadcast on Sunday that the West should not put limits on support for Ukraine against Russia and “not set and express red lines”.

President Putin has vowed to increase production of his country’s new hypersonic intermediate-range Oreshnik missile following its first use in an attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday. Russian defence officials have pointed out that the weapon’s range would allow it to be used against European cities.

Nato and Ukraine are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday to discuss the escalation in the two-and-a-half-year conflict, which follows North Korea’s decision to send troops to fight alongside Russian forces. Some 10,000 of them are believed to be in Russia’s Kursk region, ready to enter combat in Ukraine “soon”, according to Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary.

Barrot said: “We will support Ukraine as intensely and as long as necessary. Why? Because it is our security that is at stake. Each time the Russian army progresses by one square kilometre, the threat gets one square kilometre closer to Europe.”

***Oh sure, why not?

[lilasboudoir]

France is very close to have a fascist as prime minister.

Art by Léo Chérel

How so?

- Last month, we had the european parliament elections. The far right scored a crazy amount of seats. In France, the far right had the best score.

- So the pyroman that some people refer to as our president decided to dissolve our national assembly and run new elections right after the results.

- He gave the other political party not even a month to run a campain which is very anti-democratic. He hoped with so few time, the leftist wouldn't have time to unionize.

- Well, jokes on him because unionize they did. It's called the NFP for "Nouveau Front Populaire" as "New Popular Front". It's a reference to a party of 1936 created by Leon Blum, a famous socialist in France.

- But our medias are runned by crazy biollionaires like Bolloré who wants nothing more than to make the far right win. So there is a huge propaganda on our TV and radio about how the NFP is dangerous. I mean, they even argue than to protect the jews, the far right is better than the left (the far right party in France was made by some ex-Waffen-SS but never mind) and people believe it! A lot of people think NFP is antisemitic and the reason is: because they defended Palestine and called out the genocide that is actually going on (so it would mean that they're against Israel and so, against the jews. Yeah, I know). This is the level of misinformation our main medias are in.

- If the far right win this elections, the president will name a far right prime minister, because it is a tradition in France. And because Emmanuel Macron isn't the barrier against the far right that he claims to be.

-

Now, how are you affected by this even if you're not french?

The RN (our far right party) is pro-Israel and don't condone them for the genocide they're perpetrating. In fact, they see it as legitimate defence and they will give money and weapons to Israel so they can keep going with their atrocities.

They are close to Vladimir Poutine (do I have to say more in this context with the war going on in Ukraine?)

They plan to desobey european laws. If the Europe try to interfere too much, they will certainly plan for a Frexit.

France is a member of a lot of international organisations in which they have a lot of power. Do I have to elaborate how devastating that would be?

If you're worried for disabled people, black people, LGBTQIA+ people, women, poor people accross the world know that they will suffer a lot more if the RN gain power.

The RN don't give a flying fuck about ecology.

-

How can you help?

Spread the word.

If you know french people, talk to them, tell them to go vote for NFP.

If they're not convinced, tell them to watch this videos :

How to recognize a fascist

How the RN is going to screw french economy

How the RN program is unrealistic and dangerous

How our medias are corrupted by the rich to make us think the far right is a viable option with the help of the Atlas Network

Tell them to read and/or listen to independent professional medias like Mediapart, Blast, Reporterre or Basta! and to support them if they can. Those medias did a lot of work to call out corrupted politicians. They don't have an agenda, they just want to inform. They're not owned by billionaires and so, can give informations as they see fit without any risk of professional threats from their boss. They are the most reliable sources of information in France and yet, too few people get informations from them.

Tell them to go unionize in syndicates, or to engage in a party or in an association because we need to fight now and after the elections and we can't stay alone in those fights. And while you're at it, do so as well because I'm sure you will need to fight in your own country. Times are tought for everyone. - Thank you very much for your attention and for your help.

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … November 17

Andrea Doria as Neptune 

1503 – Agnolo Bronzino (d.1572) was one of the leading painters of the Florentine School in mid-sixteenth-century Italy. He eventually became court painter to Cosimo de Medici. Born in Monticelli in 1503, Bronzino studied with mannerist painter and portraitist Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557).

Most scholars conclude, based on a series of sonnets Bronzino wrote upon Pontormo's death, that the two men enjoyed a more intimate relationship than that of master and pupil. Later in his life, in 1552, Bronzino also adopted one of his own pupils, Alessandro Allori (1535-1607), as his son. In sixteenth-century Florence, this type of arrangement often signaled a sexual relationship between two men; an older man adopting his younger lover was quite common. The two artists lived together until Bronzino's death in 1572.

Famous mainly for his portraits, Bronzino also painted biblical and mythological scenes, designed tapestries and frescos, and composed poetry. While some of Bronzino's poetry consists of rather conventional lyric verse, as well as the sonnets upon Pontormo's death, he also wrote a considerable body of burlesque verse. Often obscene and erotic, burlesque verse circulated among Florentine intellectual and aristocratic circles, whose members would have detected obscure allusions and subtexts beneath the bawdy wordplay. Bronzino's burlesque poetry is distinguished by its large number of homoerotic references and allusions.

Cosimo I de' Medici as St. Sebastian

There is an undeniable homoerotic subtext to several of Bronzino's famous portraits, including Andrea Doria as Neptune (ca 1545) and Cosimo I de' Medici as St. Sebastian (ca 1538-1540).

In both his writing and painting, Bronzino contributes significant insights into same-sex desire and relationships in sixteenth-century Florentine society.

1851 – Major Lord Henry Arthur Somerset (d.1926) was the third son of the 8th Duke of Beaufort and his wife, the former Lady Georgiana Curzon. He was head of the stables of the future King Edward VII (then Prince of Wales) and a Major in the Royal Horse Guards.

He was linked with the Cleveland Street scandal, wherein he was identified and named by several male prostitutes as a customer of their services. He was interviewed by police on 7 August 1889; although the record of the interview has not survived, it resulted in a report being made by the Attorney-General, Solicitor-General and Director of Prosecutions urging that proceedings should be taken against him under section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. A piece of paper was pasted over Somerset's name in the report, as it was deemed so sensitive.

However, the Director was told that the Home Secretary wished him to take no action for the moment. The police obtained a further statement implicating Somerset, while Somerset arranged for his solicitor to act in the defence of the boys arrested over the scandal. After the police saw him for a second time on 22 August, Somerset obtained leave from his regiment and permission to go abroad.

Lord Arthur went to Homburg, although he returned to England. When tipped off in September that charges were imminent, he fled to France to avoid them. From there he travelled through Constantinople, Budapest, Vienna, and then back to France, where he settled and died in 1926, aged 74.

1854 – Louis-Hubert Lyautey (d.1934) was a French Army general and colonial administrator. After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925. Early in 1917 he served briefly as Minister of War. From 1921 he was a Marshal of France. He was dubbed the Maker of Morocco and the French empire builder, and in 1931 made the cover of Time.

Lyautey was born in Nancy, capital of Lorraine. His father was a prosperous engineer, his grandfather a highly decorated Napoleonic general. His mother was a Norman aristocrat, and Lyautey inherited many of her assumptions: monarchism, patriotism, Catholicism and belief in the moral and political importance of the elite.

As Resident-General of Morocco from 1912 he was publicly deferential to the sultan and told his men not to treat the Moroccans as a conquered people. It was he who governed Morocco for the French, developed its economy, extended its borders, and pacified native resistance. During WWI, even with diminished troops, Lyautey maintained an iron rule over this French protectorate.

During his administration, inadvertently, perhaps, Morocco became a place of refuge for homosexuals from all over Europe who came to sample the delights of the native population. Lyautey is one of the many real life homosexuals who people Roger Peyrefitte’s novel, The Exile of Capri.

1887 – Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC (d.1976). Often referred to as "Monty", he was an Anglo-Irish British Army officer who successfully commanded Allied forces at the Battle of El Alamein, a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign during World War II, and troops under his command played a major role in the expulsion of Axis forces from North Africa. He was later a prominent commander in Italy and North-West Europe, where he was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord until after the Battle of Normandy.

After retirement the outspoken views of the best known general of the Second World War became public and his reputation suffered. He supported apartheid and Chinese communism under Mao Zedong, and spoke against the legalisation of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, arguing that the Sexual Offences Act 1967 was a "charter for buggery" and that "this sort of thing may be tolerated by the French, but we're British - thank God."

However, several of Montgomery's biographers, including Chalfont (who found something "disturbingly equivocal" in "his relations with boys and young men" and Nigel Hamilton have suggested that he may himself have been a repressed homosexual, that he had a "predilection for the company of young men" and enjoyed platonic love affairs; in the late 1940s he conducted an affectionate friendship with a 12-year-old Swiss boy. One biographer called the friendship "bizarre" although not "improper" and a sign of "pitiful loneliness."

1889 – The New York Times published a report on the "Cleveland Street Scandal," a case involving a house of male prostitutes and members of British nobility.

The Cleveland Street scandal occurred when a homosexual male brothel in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia, London, was discovered by police. At the time, sexual acts between men were illegal in Britain, and the brothel's clients faced possible prosecution and certain social ostracism if discovered. It was rumoured that one of the brothel's clients was Prince Albert Victor, who was the eldest son of the Prince of Wales and second-in-line to the British throne. The government was accused of covering up the scandal to protect the names of any aristocratic patrons.

One of the clients, Lord Arthur Somerset, was an equerry to the Prince of Wales. He and the brothel keeper, Charles Hammond, managed to flee abroad before a prosecution could be brought. The male prostitutes, who also worked as telegraph messenger boys for the Post Office, were given light sentences and no clients were prosecuted. After Henry James FitzRoy, Earl of Euston, was named in the press as a client, he successfully sued for libel. The British press never named Prince Albert Victor, and there is no evidence he ever visited the brothel, but his inclusion in the rumours has coloured biographers' perceptions of him since.

The scandal fuelled the attitude that male homosexuality was an aristocratic vice that corrupted lower-class youths. Such perceptions were still prevalent in 1895 when the Marquess of Queensberry accused Oscar Wilde of being an active homosexual. Wilde sued Queensberry for libel but his case collapsed. He was arrested, found guilty of indecency, and condemned to two years' hard labour.

1925 – Rock Hudson (d.1985) was a popular American film and television actor, noted for his stunning looks and most remembered as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s. Hudson was voted Star of the Year, Favorite Leading Man, or any number of similar titles by countless movie magazines, and was unquestionably one of the most popular and well-known movie stars of the time. He completed nearly seventy motion pictures and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned over three decades.

Hudson was born Leroy Harold Scherer Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois, the son of a telephone operator, and an auto mechanic who abandoned the family during the depths of the Great Depression, in the early 1930s. His mother remarried and his stepfather adopted him, changing his last name to Fitzgerald.

After graduating from high school, he served in the Philippines as an aircraft mechanic for the Navy during WW II. In 1946 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and applied to the University of Southern California's dramatics program, but was rejected due to poor grades. Among a number of odd jobs, he worked as a truck driver for a couple of years to support himself, longing to be an actor but with no success in breaking into the movies. A fortunate meeting with powerful - and gay - Hollywood talent scout Henry Willson in 1948 got Hudson his start in the business - and Willson renamed him "Rock Hudson."

Neither a gifted nor a natural actor, he was neverthless blessed with enormous charm and with time proved to have a flair for comedy and was capable of strong and memorable performances in drama. He was coached in acting, singing, dancing, fencing and horsebackriding, and he began to feature in film magazines where he was promoted on the basis of his good looks. Success and recognition came in 1954 with Magnificent Obsession in which Hudson plays a bad boy who is redeemed. The film received rave reviews, with Modern Screen Magazine citing Hudson as the most popular actor of the year.

Hudson's popularity soared in George Stevens' Giant, based on Edna Ferber's novel. Co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean, and as a result of their powerful performances both Hudson and Dean were nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars.

Following Richard Brook's notable Something of Value in 1957 and a moving performance in Charles Vidor's A Farewell to Arms, based on Ernest Hemingway's novel, Hudson sailed through the 1960s on a cloud of romantic comedies. He portrayed humorous characters in Pillow Talk, the first of several profitable co-starring gigs with Doris Day; followed by Come September; Send Me No Flowers; Man's Favourite Sport, with Paula Prentiss, and Strange Bedfellows, with Gina Lollobrigida.

His popularity on the big screen diminished in the 1970s. He performed in a 13-city US tour of the musical Camelot. He was quite successful on television starring in a number of made-for-TV movies. His most successful series was McMillan and Wife opposite Susan Saint James from 1971 to 1977.

Following years of heavy drinking and smoking, by the early 1980s, Hudson began having health problems. Heart bypass surgery sidelined Hudson and his then-new TV show, The Devlin Connection, for a year; the show suffered for the delay and was cancelled not long after it returned to the airwaves. He recovered from the surgery, but a couple of years later Hudson's health had visibly deteriorated again, prompting different rumours.

In 1984 and 1985 Hudson landed a recurring role in Dynasty. While his inability to memorise dialogue was the stuff of legend, now he was exhibiting all the signs of a man in serious trouble. The need for cue cards was one thing, but when his speech began to deteriorate, everybody knew the least of Hudson's problems was simple forgetfulness. The word cancer was tossed around, but the phrase 'gay cancer' was not mentioned- not, at least, by those who had something to lose. Not yet.

While Hudson's career was blooming, he was struggling to keep his personal life out of the headlines, although the Hollywood media was complicit in concealing his homosexuality from the general public. Throughout his career, he epitomised an ideal of wholesome manliness, and in 1955 he wed Willson's secretary at the time, Phyllis Gates, and the news was made known by all the major gossip magazines. The union lasted three years. Gates filed for divorce in April 1958, charging mental cruelty; Hudson did not contest the divorce. Loyal friends and the now-unimaginable support of the media kept Hudson successfully in the closet to all but those 'in the know' until the 1980s.

According to the 1986 biography Rock Hudson: His Story by Hudson and Sara Davidson, Hudson was good friends with American novelist Armistead Maupin, and Hudson's lovers included: Jack Coates (born 1944); Hollywood publicist Tom Clark (1933-1995), who also later published a memoir about Hudson, Rock Hudson: Friend of Mine; and Marc Christian, who later won a palimony suit against the Hudson estate. In addition, Darwin Porter's book, Brando Unzipped (2006) claims that Hudson had an affair with Brando. Hudson was also a close friend of Burt Lancaster, who was reportedly bisexual, and Lancaster's FBI file suggested the two stars had attended Gay parties in Hollywood together.

An urban legend states that Hudson married Jim Nabors in the 1970s. In fact the two were never more than friends. According to Hudson, the legend originated with a group of "middle-aged homosexuals who live in Huntington Beach" who sent out joke invitations for their annual get-together. One year, the group invited its members to witness "the marriage of Rock Hudson and Jim Nabors", at which Hudson would take the surname of Nabors's most famous character, Gomer Pyle, becoming "Rock Pyle". Those who failed to get the joke spread the rumor. As a result, Nabors and Hudson never spoke to each other again.

In 1985, Hudson joined his old friend Doris Day for the launch of her new cable show, Doris Day's Best Friends. His shockingly gaunt appearance, and his nearly-incoherent speech, was so shocking that it was broadcast again all over the national news shows that night and for weeks to come. Doris Day herself stared at him throughout their appearance together.

Hudson was diagnosed with HIV on June 5, 1984, but when the signs of illness became apparent, his publicity staff and doctors told the public that he had liver cancer. It was not until July 25, 1985, while in Paris for treatment, that Hudson issued a press release announcing that he was dying of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. This had an enormous impact as he was the not only the first major celebrity to come out with the disease but because most of his army of fans still had no idea that Rock Hudson was gay.

Shortly before his death Hudson stated, 'I am not happy that I am sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS. But if that is helping others, I can at least know that my own misfortune has had some positive worth.' Hudson's death is said to have pushed his long time friend and then Republican President Ronald Reagan to change his tune on efforts to fight and publicise the epidemic. Rock Hudson's death from AIDS was a highly significant and tragic milestone in bringing the disease to a wider public consciousness.

Rock Hudson was cremated and his ashes buried at sea.

1960 – RuPaul Charles, best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and singer-songwriter, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta and New York City club scenes during the 1980s and early 90s. RuPaul has on occasion performed as a man in a number of roles, usually billed as RuPaul Charles. RuPaul is noted among famous drag queens for his indifference towards the gender-specific pronouns used to address him—both "he" and "she" have been deemed acceptable. "You can call me he. You can call me she. You can call me Regis and Kathie Lee; I don't care! Just as long as you call me." He hosted a short-running talk show on VH1, and currently hosts reality television shows called RuPaul's Drag Race and RuPaul's Drag U.

RuPaul was born in San Diego, California. His name was given to him by his mother, a Louisiana native. The Ru came from roux, an ingredient used in gumbo. RuPaul struggled as a musician and filmmaker in Atlanta, Georgia during the 1980s. He participated in underground cinema, helping create the low-budget film Starrbooty, and an album by the same name. In Atlanta, RuPaul often performed at the Celebrity Club (managed by Larry Tee) as a bar dancer or with his band, Wee Wee Pole, which included the late Todd Butler.

In the early 1990s, RuPaul worked the Georgia club scene and was known by his full birth name. Initially participating in genderfuck-style performances, RuPaul performed solo and in collaboration with other bands at several New York nightclubs, most notably the Pyramid Club. He appeared for many years at the annual Wigstock drag festival and appeared in the documentary Wigstock: The Movie. In the '90s, RuPaul was known in the UK for his appearances on the Channel 4 series Manhattan Cable, a weekly series produced by World of Wonder and presented by American Laurie Pike about New York's wild and wacky public-access television system.

RuPaul is credited with the statement "We're born naked, and the rest is all drag."

Rock Hudson - A Personal Encounter:

By Ted

Back in 1966, on my way to Canada, I had a brief brush with Rock Hudson.

I came to North America by ship from Fremantle, Australia, via the far east, and on the leg from Japan to North America, my friends and I, all travelling second-class, met up with a wealthy American travelling in first class. My friends were a couple of lesbian Australian nurses, and Joe, my cabin-mate, a straight Swiss guy. We were all about 25 at the time. The wealthy American, Lloyd, was a short chubby guy in his sixties. In retrospect, I think he looked a lot like Artie Johnson. He was very ostentatious, and seemed to have a never-ending wardrobe of clothes and of jewellry— neck-chains, rings, bracelets, and watches. He claimed to be a millionaire, and Pat Boone's boyfriend. The very idea was rather shocking to us small-town folk. The way he told it, he had been to Japan for Pat Boone's tour there, but Lloyd hated flying, so was travelling by ship instead while Pat flew home. At the time, Pat Boone was separated from his wife, and had not yet become "born again."

The reason Lloyd was associating with us obvious, though unstated — my cabin-mate Joe was a hottie! He was also absolutely straight, but Lloyd hoped to change that. He would buy us drinks to get us to leave him alone with Joe. He even gave the girls some expensive jewellry to get rid of them. He never really got anywhere with Joe, however.

Anyway, our landfall was in San Pedro, south of Los Angeles, before sailing north to San Francisco and Vancouver. When the American - from L.A. - was leaving ship, he invited us the a "welcome-home" party the next night. He said he would send a car for us. We never really thought he would do it, but the next evening we got a message from the purser's office that a car would be waiting for us at the foot of the gangplank at 8:00 that night. Sure enough, there was not just a car, but a limosine waiting for us. Imagine four young people from the boonies riding in a limousine into one of the poshest areas of Los Angeles (I'm not sure if it was Beverly Hills, or Hollywood Hills, but it was very posh and in the hills on the outskirts of LA)!

I'm not really sure who the "welcome home" was for — Lloyd or Pat Boone. If it was for Boone, he never showed at the party, at least while we were there. Nor was I sure just whose home it was held at. All I remember was that it was a huge ranch-style with an immense patio and pool at the rear. It was around this pool that the party was being held, on a warm, late-June evening. I got the impression that the house was not Lloyd's, although he treated it as if it were. I think it actually belonged to Robert Wagner or Natalie Wood, both of whom were present, although they were not married to each other at the time. They were actually between marriages to each other.

Lloyd greeted us then left the girls and I at the pool to fend for ourselves, while he hustled Joe off to the interior of the house - probably to a bedroom. There were maybe 60 people at the party when we arrived around nine pm. Most of them were males, mostly has-been movie or tv actors or wanna-be's and agents. I really don't remember most of them. I do recall Mickey Rooney being present. I remember him as a nasty little man who was absolutely rude to almost everyone, even though people were trying their hardest to be nice to him, because his estranged wife had been murdered earlier that year. It completely destoyed my pleasant memories of him as Andy Hardy on The Hardy Family radio show of my childhood.

Most of the guests were rather condescending to us small-town hicks with out "adorable accents." I remember Peter Graves (who had starred in a Australian TV "western" a few years before) being particularly snide - maybe because his Aussie western was a major flop.

This was where I had my brief brush with Rock Hudson. He arrived later than us, and made his way round the pool saying hi to everyone, including the girls and I. Unlike many of the guests he was really pleasant to us. After chatting to us for a couple of minutes he moved on, with another tall, fairly good-looking man in tow. One of the other guests told us that the second man was Rock Hudson's boyfriend. He mentioned the man's name, but I didn't recognize the name then, and don't remember it now. It may have been Jim Nabors, but I really don't know.

Around eleven pm, the party got nasty when a fight broke out. I don't know who started it or what it was about, but I know it somehow involved Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner. Someone ended up in the pool fully-dressed. Someone else got a bloody nose. A table of glasses got smashed, and so did a sliding glass door, and someone got badly cut. An ambulance was called and so were the police.

At about the same time, Joe and Lloyd emerged from the house, both looking rather pissed off. Lloyd rather brusquely informed the four of us: "The police are on the way. You'd better go!" He promptly left us standing there, having made no offer of a ride back to the ship or anything. We made our way to the front of the house, rather obviously at a loss. Someone who was leaving at that time offered us a ride back to Los Angeles, which we gladly accepted, because a taxi back to the ship would have been beyond our means, and a couple of squad cars were just arriving.

So, our night of glamour turned into a long wait at the seedy downtown L.A. bus depot, a long ride back to San Pedro on the last bus of the night, and a long walk from the San Pedro drop-off to the ship, past all the little late-night bars with drunk chicanos whistling at the girls – and me and Joe.

Joe never did talk about what happened with Lloyd, but from Lloyd's reaction I presume Lloyd never managed to get into Joe's pants — but then, neither did I, and I spent 9 weeks, on and off ship, trying!

[xtruss]

Several Dead, Hundreds Injured in Pro-Independence Rallies in New Caledonia

Pro-independence protesters say France's new constitutional reform will dilute the share of the vote held by Kanaks, the Indigenous group that makes up about 41 percent of the population.

“World’s Most Wanted Criminal, Fascist, Extremist, Terrorist and the Butcher of Gujrat Indian Prime Minister Modi” urges Indians to focus on national development without making Pakistan a reference point. Photo: Reuters Archive

At least three people have been killed and hundreds more were injured during a second night of protesting in New Caledonia, authorities said.

Wednesday was the third day of demonstrations against a constitutional reform pushed by Paris that has roiled the archipelago, which has long sought independence.

Despite heavily armed security forces fanning out across the capital Noumea and the ordering of a nighttime curfew, protesting continued until overnight Tuesday virtually unabated.

The reform — which must still be approved by a joint sitting of both houses of the French parliament — would give a vote to people who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years.

Pro-independence forces say it would dilute the share of the vote held by Kanaks, the Indigenous group that makes up about 41 percent of the population and the major force in the pro-independence movement.

In Noumea and the commune of Paita on Wednesday, there were reports of several exchanges of fire between civil defence groups and protesters.

Security forces regained control of Noumea's penitentiary, which holds about 50 inmates, after an uprising and escape attempt by prisoners, it said in a statement.

Police have arrested more than 130 people since Monday night, with dozens placed in detention to face court hearings, the commission said. About 60 police have been injured, it said.

A nighttime curfew was extended, along with bans on gatherings, the carrying of weapons and the sale of alcohol.

The territory's La Tontouta International Airport remained closed to commercial flights and people were urged to restrict any travel during the day, the high commission said.

Pacific Rivalry

Macron said French lawmakers would vote to definitively adopt the constitutional change by the end of June unless New Caledonia's opposing sides agree on a new text that "takes into account the progress made and everyone's aspirations".

In the Noumea Accord of 1998, France vowed to gradually give more political power to the Pacific island territory of nearly 300,000 people.

As part of the agreement, New Caledonia has held three referendums over its ties with France, all rejecting independence.

As part of the agreement, New Caledonia has held three referendums over its ties with France, all rejecting independence. But the independence movement retains support, particularly among the Indigenous Kanak people.

A New Caledonia pro-independence leader, Daniel Goa, asked people to "go home", and condemned the looting.

But "the unrest of the last 24 hours reveals the determination of our young people to no longer let France take control of them," he added.

France's Minister for Interior and Overseas Gerald Darmanin attends a debate on the constitutional bill aimed at enlarging the electorate of the overseas French territory of New Caledonia, at the French National Assembly in Paris

Source: TRT World 🌎 And Agencies

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Polish Defense Spending to Hit 4.7% of GDP by 2025 | Gen. Jarosław Kraszewski

Poland's largest defense expo is underway in Kielce, with over 750 companies displaying cutting-edge military technology. Notably, Poland is increasing its defense budget to 4.7% of its GDP by next year. Amid the signing of major contracts, including an airport protection system from a Spanish firm, there’s also a push to develop domestic production, such as a planned ammunition factory. Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has also emphasized the need for "precise" contracts, including ongoing negotiations for more K2 tanks from South Korea. General Jarosław Kraszewski, former Director of the Armed Forces Supervision Department at the Polish National Security Bureau, joined us today on TVP World to discuss these developments.

P.S. The Poles have made a very correct decision! Glad to hear: "Poland is increasing its defence budget to 4.7% of its GDP". Considering the high level of political corruption in the West and the extent to which Russian spies and agents of influence have infiltrated Western societies, Western security "guarantees" and "international laws" cannot be relied upon at all: 1) The Russian imperialists would never have started the war against Ukraine if Western capital, specifically German, French, Dutch, American and all other businessmen, had not invested huge funds in the Russian economy and in the restoration of the Russian military potential (the Russians obtained the military technology they lacked, both directly and indirectly, the West donated for the Russians possibility to steal Western military technology secrets without hindrance); 2) The West significantly reduced the military potential of Western European countries and CATEGORICALLY REFUSED TO INCREASE the defense of Eastern Europe and the Baltic regions at leas since 2006. Even when the Russian invasion of Georgia began in Europe in August 2008, the West pretended that nothing was happening...;

Even more, Western politicians started pushing the idea that NATO is no longer needed, the Western fiasco in Syria, and the West went so far in an absurd situation that they even started talking about giving the Russians a "sphere of influence" in Europe...it must be allowed to attack Ukraine and the Baltic States without hindrance. A. Merkel's German policy in relations with Russia was a particularly big shame for Western politicians, and of course the political circus organized by Donald Trump in America.... It is such a shame that there are no words to describe it... Of course, the Kremlin and Beijing saw all this activity of the Western useful idiots very well... the Russian army, together with Iran, entered Syria without interference, continued attacks in Ukraine, Beijing is becoming more and more aggressive, and this is only thanks to the useful idiots of the West, who have betrayed absolutely all the West's civilization values....

[eaglesnick]

“We need trust among allies and partners. Such trust now has to be built anew.”   Angela Merkel

It is becoming more obvious by the day that Britain and the rest of Europe need to expand their collective defence capability now that Trump has turned against his former allies and is aligning himself with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

This new reality brings into sharp focus the short sightedness  of former critics of a joint European military force.

Nigel Farage, a self-confessed “admirer" of Putin and a “good friend” of Donald Trump has frequently spoken out against such cooperation.

“NIGEL FARAGE took a brutal swipe at French President Emmanuel Macron over his support for the creation of a European Union army to rival Nato branding him an "updated version of Napoleon". (Express: 16/07/2019)

More recently we have this headline:

“Farage issues bombshell NATO warning – Biden has secret plot to force UK to join EU army." (Express: 10/07/2023)

Well, it is an American president that is forcing Britain to join a European Army but it isn’t former President Biden, it is his  best friend Donald Trump!

Farage is not the only actor on the right of politics who got it wrong. This is the Mail Online headline criticising joint manoeuvres between British and European troops:

“Invasion of the EU army! Worried Euro tanks may park on our lawn, Minister? Too late... they're already here." (Mail Online: 22/05/2016)

Better friendly European tanks than Russian T-14 Armatas!

The sad truth is, right-wing British politicians and pundits have been so obsessed with Brexit and reviving the faded image of what they see as Britain’s glorious imperial past, they lost touch with reality.

The right-wing got Brexit dramatically wrong when it comes to the economy and they have it wrong about defence. Brexit is estimated to have cost this country around 2-3% of GDP. That is between £50 and £76 billion pounds!

They have got it equally wrong about defence. Today, Trump's America voted WITH the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, Syrians and four other countries AGAINST a UN motion condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The sad fact is Nigel Farage and other hard-right politicians are part of the problem. They have a total disregard for the truth and they are obsessed with nationalism. If you are a super-power like America, China or Russia then maybe nationalism works because you have the resources and the finance to stand alone. If you are a small country like Britain or Italy or Ukraine , then you need allies.

Farage and Britain’s right-wing press have spent years successfully distancing Britain from our natural allies in Europe. Now that Farage’s "hero” Donald Trump has abandoned Britain and the rest of Europe in his bid to Make America Great Again, we are all going to have to pay the price.

Everyone one of us will find this price costly in financial terms and, if things go terribly wrong, in terms of human life as well.

Thank you Mr Farage!

PS: It will be interesting to see what intellectual contortions Farage will display in his attempt to justify his continuing support for the authoritarian Trump, while Britain and the rest of Europe gather their armed forces to defend our borders from a White House supported and emboldened Putin. 

[usafphantom2]

Breaking: First Mirage 2000s Delivered to Ukraine

Less than a year after the transfer was announced, the French Defense Minister announced the delivery of the first Mirage 2000 aircraft to Ukraine, flown by Ukrainian pilots.

Stefano D'Urso

Mirage 2000 delivered Ukraine

The French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu has announced on Feb. 6, 2025, the delivery of the first Mirage 2000 fighters to Ukraine, less than a year after the transfer was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron on Jun. 6, 2024. In a post published on X, the Minister mentioned that the aircraft arrived in Ukraine on the same day of the announcement, flown by Ukrainian pilots.

Less than a year after the transfer was announced, the French Defense Minister announced the delivery of the first Mirage 2000 aircraft to Ukraine, flown by Ukrainian pilots.Mirage for UkraineThe weapons

In early January 2025, reports emerged online mentioned that the training of the pilots and ground crews at Nancy Air Base, in France, appeared to be complete. That info was not confirmed by officials, however it is consistent with what was previously disclosed by Macron, who said that the training would have taken five to six month, and with Lecornu mentioning that training was ongoing in Nancy.

The details about the delivery, including the number of aircraft and weapons, are currently not available. Similarly, photos of the aircraft either in Ukraine or with Ukrainian markings have not been disclosed.

Mirage 2000-5 in flight. (Image credit: French Air Force)

Mirage for Ukraine

As mentioned, France first announced the willingness to provide some of its Mirage 2000s to Ukraine in June 2024, in occasion of commemorations of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, attended by Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky.

The French government confirmed in November that Ukraine will receive six Mirage 2000-5F fighters during the first quarter of 2025, together with a full support package. Ukraine has reportedly asked for 12 Mirages to meet its immediate needs. France is reported to have between 24 and 28 Mirage 2000-5F still in service.

Lecornu stated that the future Ukrainian Mirages will be modified. “The aim is to equip them with air-to-ground combat capabilities and strengthen their electronic warfare system,” said Lecornu. “This transformation operation will take place at the Cazaux base in Gironde.”

File photo of a Mirage 2000-5 of the HAF fully armed with Mica IR, Mica EM and Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles in front of its Hardened Aircraft Shelter. (Photo: Hellenic Air Force)

According to La Tribune, the aircraft delivered to Ukraine will be armed with MICA air-to-air missiles, SCALP-EG air-launched cruise missiles, AASM Hammer guided bombs and two 30 mm DEFA 554 cannons. The MICA missiles and the cannons are already employed by the French Mirage 2000-5Fs, while the air-to-ground weapons have to be integrated.

No details are available regarding the electronic warfare system which will equip the aircraft, although some sources say it could be the Integrated Counter Measures Suite (ICMS) Mk3 already used by export Mirage 2000s. The system, which in the latest version is fully digital, includes radar and infrared warning sensors, as well as jammers and countermeasures.

As we mentioned when the transfer was first announced, similarly to the F-16s, the Mirage 2000s will not be real game changers in the air war over Ukraine, even though they will certainly help. This will in fact brin to the aerial battlefield another 4th gen. multirole aircraft with a good maneuverability and agility, fairly modern avionics and sensors, and the ability to carry two weapons already used by Ukraine, but this time fully integrated in the aircraft.

A Mirage 2000 at TLP (Image credit: Remo Guidi)

The weapons

The MBDA MICA (Missile d’interception, de combat et d’autodéfense, “interception, combat and self-defence missile”) is the main air-to-air missile employed by the French Air Force. The missile, which is classified as short to medium range, comes in two variants: IR (infrared) and RF (radiofrequency), the latter with active radar homing guidance.

The weapon has a lock-on after launch (LOAL) capability and is reportedly resistant to countermeasures, including both chaff and flares. Reports state MICA has a 12 kg (26 lb) warhead, with a 60–80 km (32–43 NM) range and a speed of Mach 4.

The SCALP EG (Système de Croisière Autonome à Longue Portée – Emploi Général / Long Range Autonomous Cruise Missile System – General Purpose) is the French variant of the MBDA Storm Shadow cruise missile, which has been in use in Ukraine since May 2023. The two missiles are almost identical, with just minor differences.

A Mirage 2000-5 of the French Air Force “Escadron de Chasse 1/2 Cigognes” in flight. (Image credit: Dassault Aviation – C. Cosmao)

This air-launched cruise missile is a stealthy weapon weighing 1,300 kg and measuring over 5 meters in length. It is specifically designed for attacking heavily fortified and valuable targets from stand-off distance, ensuring aircraft and crews remain out of harm’s way even in high-threat environments and adverse weather conditions.

@TheAviationist.com

[whencyclopedia]

Dunkirk Evacuation

The Dunkirk Evacuation of 26 May to 4 June 1940, known as Operation Dynamo, was the attempt to save the British Expeditionary Force in France from total defeat by an advancing German army. Nearly 1,000 naval and civilian craft of all kinds, aided by calm weather and RAF air support, managed to evacuate around 340,000 British, French, and Allied soldiers.

The evacuation led to soured Franco-Anglo relations as the French considered Dunkirk a betrayal, but the alternative was very likely the capture of the entire British Expeditionary Force on the Continent. France surrendered shortly after Dunkirk, but the withdrawal allowed Britain and its empire to harbour its resources and fight on alone in what would become an ever-expanding theatre of war.

Germany's Blitzkrieg

At the outbreak of the Second World War when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, France was relying almost entirely on a single defensive line to protect itself against invasion. These defences were the Maginot Line, a series of mightily impressive concrete structures, bunkers, and underground tunnels which ran along France's eastern frontiers. Manned by 400,000 soldiers, the defence system was named after the French minister of war André Maginot. The French imagined a German attack was most likely to come in two places: the Metz and Lauter regions. As it turned out, Germany attacked France through the Ardennes and Sedan on the Belgian border, circumventing most of the Maginot Line and overrunning the inadequate French defences around the River Meuse, inadequate because the French had considered the terrain in this forested area unsuitable for tanks. Later in the campaign, the Maginot Line was breached near Colmar and Saarbrücken.

To bolster the defences of France, Britain had sent across the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) under the command of General John Vereker (better known by his later title Lord Gort, 1886-1946). Around 150,000 men, mostly infantry, had arrived in September 1939 to strengthen the Franco-Belgian border. The BEF included the British Advanced Air Striking Force of 12 RAF squadrons. The aircraft were mostly Hawker Hurricane fighters and a few light bombers, all given much to the regret of RAF commanders who would have preferred to have kept these planes for home defence. The superior Supermarine Spitfire fighters were kept safely in Britain until the very last stages of the battle in France. The BEF had no armoured divisions and so was very much a defensive force, rather than an offensive one. More infantry divisions arrived up to April 1940, so the BEF grew to almost 400,000 men, but 150,000 of these had little or no military training. As General Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976) noted, the BEF was "totally unfit to fight a first class war on the Continent" (Dear, 130). In this respect, both Britain and France were very much stuck in the defensive-thinking mode that had won them the First World War (1914-18). Their enemy was exactly the opposite and had planned meticulously for what it called Fall Gelb (Operation Yellow), the German offensive in the west.

Totally unprepared for a war of movement, the defensive-thinking French were overwhelmed in the middle weeks of May 1940 by the German Blitzkrieg ("lightning war") tactics of fast-moving tanks supported by specialist bombers and smartly followed by the infantry. German forces swept through the three neutral countries of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. The 9th Army punched through the Ardennes and raced in a giant curve through northeast France to reach the coast around Boulogne. The BEF and the northern French armies (7th and 1st) were cut off from the rest of the French forces to the south. Germany had achieved what it called the 'Sickle Slice' (Sichelschnitt). By 24 May, the French and British troops were isolated and with their backs to the English Channel, occupying territory from Dunkirk to Lille. Although there were sporadic counterpunches by the defenders, Gort had already concluded that the French army had collapsed as an operational force. Gort considered an attack on the Germans to the south, which he was ordered to make, would have achieved very little except the annihilation of his army. The BEF must be saved, and so he withdrew to the north.

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[beardedmrbean]

Conservative Bart De Wever was sworn in Monday as Belgium's new prime minister, after striking a hard-fought coalition deal that moves the country to the right.

Reached after seven months of tortuous negotiations, the agreement makes De Wever the first nationalist from Dutch-speaking Flanders to be named Belgian premier.

A law-and-order candidate whose coalition has already promised to crack down on irregular migration, De Wever's rise to power reinforces a marked right-wing shift in European politics.

The 54-year-old, who in recent years has backed off on calls for Flanders to become an independent country, took the oath of office before King Philippe at the royal palace in Brussels.

From there, he headed straight to a gathering of EU leaders a few blocks away, for talks on defence and transatlantic relations -- quipping to reporters that he was "jumping right in".

On the day's headline topic, De Wever said Belgium was committed to meeting NATO's longstanding defence spending target of two percent of GDP, up from 1.3 percent at present.

"Europe has been a bit lazy on the topic of defence," he said -- arguing that Russian President Vladimir "Putin has woken us up."

Faced with a twin challenge from President Donald Trump -- threatening trade tariffs as well as pressuring allies to ramp up defence spending -- De Wever said the EU needed to preserve its "relationship with the United States."

De Wever's N-VA party is part of the hard-right ECR group in the European Parliament, which also includes lawmakers from the parties of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Czech leader Petr Fiala. 

"Our ECR group now has three prime ministers at the European Council table and participates in the government of seven countries," French hard-right lawmaker Marion Marechal rejoiced on X.

Hard-right parties, often riding anti-immigrant sentiment, performed strongly in European Parliament elections last year, and have topped recent national and regional votes in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.

60-hour marathon

Split between French- and Dutch-speaking communities and with a highly complex political system, Belgium has an unenviable record of painfully protracted coalition discussions -- reaching 541 days back in 2010-2011.

This time around, five groups sought to forge a coalition after June elections that failed to produce a clear majority -- with talks led by De Wever's N-VA which claimed the most seats. 

The new government brings together three parties from Dutch-speaking Flanders: the N-VA, the centrist Christian-Democrats and the leftist Vooruit (Onward).

And it includes two from French-speaking Wallonia: the centrist Les Engages and the centre-right Reformist Movement.

Together, they hold an 81-seat majority in Belgium's 150-seat parliament.

Coalition talks hit a wall during the summer over the issue of plugging the country's budget deficit -- estimated at 4.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2024, one of the highest in the European Union.

Belgium is one of seven EU countries facing disciplinary action for running a deficit above three percent of GDP, in violation of the bloc's fiscal rules.

De Wever, the mayor of Antwerp since 2013, has pushed for cuts in social benefits and pension reforms that have already sparked opposition from labour unions. 

He had threatened to throw in the towel if no coalition deal was reached Friday. 

An agreement was struck with just hours to go after a 60-hour marathon session to iron out differences over an 800-page programme.  

But the gender makeup of the new government has raised some eyebrows, with 11 men and just four women. 

De Wever's N-VA was already part of a right-leaning ruling coalition between 2014 and 2018.

He takes over from outgoing prime minister Alexander De Croo, whose seven-party coalition took an arduous 493 days to emerge back in 2019-2020. 

De Croo had stayed on as caretaker leader after the June elections.

[head-post]

Denmark launches $2 billion Arctic security plan, seeks EU unity on Greenland issue

Denmark announced a $2bn Arctic security plan to protect Greenland after US President Donald Trump claimed the island was essential to US “national security.”

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen urged attention to security in the Arctic and North Atlantic.

We must face the fact that there are serious challenges regarding security and defence in the Arctic and North Atlantic.

His statement came ahead of a visit by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to Berlin, Paris and Brussels to reinforce “European unity” over the Greenland issue.

As Greenland’s ice melts due to global warming, the battle over the island’s natural resources is also escalating. Huge deposits of oil and gas are believed to lie beneath its seas. It is expected that the Arctic could soon offer new shipping routes between the US and Europe.

Frederiksen announced a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as well as with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Denmark is a small country with strong allies. And it is part of a strong European community where together we can meet the challenges we face.

Earlier in January, Trump expressed interest in buying Greenland and the Panama Canal, not ruling out the possibility of deploying military force to control the two crucial objects. However, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday that the EU was “not negotiating” on Greenland.

We are not negotiating on Greenland. Of course, we are supporting our member state, Denmark, and its autonomous region, Greenland, but we shouldn’t also go into speculation about what-ifs because this is not the situation right now.

Greenland and Denmark publicly stated that the Arctic island was not for sale, with Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte B. Egede stating that its people should decide their own future. The latest opinion poll showed that 85 per cent of Greenlanders did not want their island to become part of the United States.

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[scrapironflotilla]

I have written a letter to the Turkish commander, who will come in when we go, asking him to take special steps to preserve the graves of our men. I hope that this will be effectual, and feel sure that it will, as they have behaved most honourably so far, during the eight months that we have been fighting them, and will not, I think, do anything to desecrate our soldiers' last resting places.

Major-General Godley writing to the NZ Minister of Defence, James Allen about the evacuation of Gallipoli and his view of his Ottoman opponents.

Six months later Godley still held this view, writing to Hiram Bingham (the guy who "discovered" Machu Picchu).

There is no doubt that the Bosches have excelled themselves in barbarism, and it is a curious thing that fighting them both, our experience should be that the Turk is a gentleman, while the Hun is quite outside the pale. Both on the Gallipoli Peninsula, in Mesopotamia, and everywhere we have found the Turk fighting most fairly, and in every way respecting the usage and customs of war. In Mesopotamia the other day one of our generals told a friend of mine that nothing would induce them to use gas, or to resort to many of the Boches’ methods.

It always interests me the way the British elite, and Godley is firmly in that elite, view German actions as something so far beyond acceptable, entirely because it's being done to Europeans, or more accurately, white Europeans. Nothing that the Germans did in 1914 was very different the British, French, Belgians or Dutch were doing in their colonies, so it's not hard to see what the important difference is.

[aimeedaisies]

The Coronation Procession

This week I spent a few days in London, so I decided to walk the route that the newly coronated King Charles III and Queen Camilla will take, called the Coronation Procession! The Kings Procession, before the service is this route, just in reverse. I took pictures of the highlights of the route, it will definitely be something to look back on in the future!

Westminster Abbey

Founded in 960 and consecrated in 1065, Westminster Abbey, has seen the coronations of 39 English and British monarchs and 16 royal weddings and is the burial site for 18 English, Scottish and British monarchs.

Whitehall, Downing Street and Horse Guards Parade

Whitehall is recognised as the centre of the Government of the United Kingdom and is lined with numerous departments and ministries, including the Ministry of Defence, Horse Guards and the Cabinet Office. The Palace of Whitehall previously occupied the area and was the residence of Kings Henry VIII through to William III, before it was destroyed by fire in 1698; only the Banqueting House has survived. As well as government buildings, the street is known for its memorial statues and monuments, including the UK's primary war memorial, the Cenotaph and the Women of World War Two memorial.

Downing Street was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing. For more than three hundred years, it has held the official residences of both the First Lord of the Treasury, the office now synonymous with that of the Prime Minister, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, the office held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Prime Minister's official residence is 10 Downing Street, and the Chancellor's official residence is Number 11. The government's Chief Whip has an official residence at Number 12. In practice, these office-holders may live in different flats; the current Chief Whip actually lives at Number 9.

Horse Guards Parade is a large parade ground off Whitehall. It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the monarch's official birthday, and the Beating Retreat. Horse Guards Parade was formerly the site of the Palace of Whitehall's tiltyard, where tournaments (including jousting) were held in the time of Henry VIII. It was also the scene of annual celebrations of the birthday of Queen Elizabeth I. The procession will go past the entrance, not onto the parade ground.

Trafalgar Square and the Equestrian Statue of King Charles I

The square is named after the Battle of Trafalgar, a British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars with France and Spain that took place on 21 October 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar, southwest Spain. In the centre of the square is Nelson's Column built to commemorate Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's decisive victory at the Battle of Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish navies, during which he lost his life. The monument was constructed between 1840 and 1843 to a design by William Railton. The statue of Nelson was carved from Craigleith sandstone by sculptor Edward Hodges Baily. The four bronze lions around its base, designed by Sir Edwin Landseer, were added in 1867.

The equestrian statue of Charles I is a work by the French sculptor Hubert Le Sueur, probably cast in 1633. It is considered the central point of London. Its location at Charing Cross is on the former site of the most elaborate of the Eleanor crosses erected by Edward I (one of 12, to commemorate his late wife, put in location throughout the route of her funeral procession stops back to London). The statue faces down Whitehall towards Charles I's place of execution at Banqueting House. It was commissioned by Charles's Lord High Treasurer Richard Weston for the garden of his country house in Roehampton, Surrey. Following the English Civil War the statue was sold to a metalsmith to be broken down, but he hid it until the Restoration. It was installed in its current, far more prominent location in the centre of London in 1675, and the elaborately carved plinth dates from that time.

Admiralty Arch

Admiralty Arch was commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his mother, Queen Victoria, and designed by Aston Webb, who also designed the Victoria Memorial and the new façade of Buckingham Palace at the other end of the Mall. It once served as residence of the First Sea Lord and was used by the Admiralty.

The Mall, St James Palace and Clarence House

The Mall is the long red coloured road joining Admiralty Arch and Buckingham Palace. It has seen several huge celebrations such as Victory in Europe Day (8 May 1945), lots of state visits, parades and Jubilee celebrations. When the royal family stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, The Mall is packed from top to bottom of vast crowds. The surface of The Mall is coloured red to give the effect of a giant red carpet leading up to Buckingham Palace. This colour was obtained using synthetic iron oxide pigment.

St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London. It is the ceremonial meeting place of the Accession Council, the office of the Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, as well as the London residence of Princess Anne, the Princess Royal and her husband, The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Beatrice and Princess Alexandra. The Proclamation Gallery (pictured above) is a part of St James's Palace, and it is used after the death of a reigning monarch. The Accession Council meets to declare the new monarch. Once the monarch has made a sacred oath to the council, the Garter King of Arms steps onto the Proclamation Gallery, which overlooks Friary Court to proclaim the new monarch.

Clarence House currently serves as the London residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. It has been Charles's residence since 2003. From 1953 until 2002 it was home to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and before her, it was the official home of her daughter, Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II.

The Queen Victoria Memorial

The Queen Victoria monument and surrounding gardens were created between 1904 and 1924. The main statue was unveiled by King George V. As well as Victoria, there are statues representing courage, constancy, victory, charity, truth and motherhood. In summer the flower beds are filled with geraniums, spider plants, salvias and weeping figs. Scarlet geraniums are used to match the tunics of The Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace. In winter time the beds are filled with about 50,000 yellow wallflowers and red tulips.

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of the UK’s sovereigns since 1837. Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. King George III bought Buckingham House in 1761 for his wife Queen Charlotte to use as a comfortable family home close to St James's Palace, where many court functions were held. Buckingham House became known as the Queen's House, and 14 of George III's 15 children were born there. Queen Victoria was the first sovereign to take up residence in July 1837 and in June 1838 she was the first British sovereign to leave from Buckingham Palace for a Coronation. Her marriage to Prince Albert in 1840 soon showed up the Palace's shortcomings. A serious problem for the newly married couple was the absence of any nurseries (for her nine children) and too few bedrooms for visitors. The only solution was to move the Marble Arch - it now stands at the north-east corner of Hyde Park - and build a fourth wing, thereby creating a quadrangle. The cost of the new wing was largely covered by the sale of George IV's Royal Pavilion at Brighton.

I then walked past the Royal Mews, where the Gold State Coach is being prepared for the Coronation. Then onto Hyde Park, then Kensington Gardens and finally Kensington Palace, which is the official London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent. I then treated myself to a scrummy yet expensive piece of lemon cake from the Prada cafè in Harrods 🍰😋

information from wikipedia, royal parks and the royal family website