Seventy-Five Years

So, seventy-five years since VE day. That number's a bit worrisome. It's a nice round number, divisible by itself and three.

Because here's the thing reader(s). After 1945 we got off lucky. Of course there wasn't peace from 1945 till 2020 anymore than there was peace during the 99 years between Waterloo and the Marne. But from 1815 to 1914 there was no continent-wide conflagration. And then it all ended with a trivial assassination. Why, we bet on the morning of 29 June, 1914 the average Englishman saw the headline, shrugged and got on with his morning tea.

'What's this about Austria then, dear?'

'They assassinated the crown prince.'

'Oh I do hope they have a lovely and proper funeral.'

'Hyacinth...'

When the Wuhan Flu from Wuhan China broke out, we assured Middle Daughter, 'Don't worry. China's a real country. They can handle this?'

Go on, hit the laugh-track button. Because The Seventy-Five Years Peace is a great title for a history book.

Huan Ying Zhōngguó

Ni Hao, Chinese readers! This weekend we've been inundated by visitors from Beijing and Hangzhou.  We believe they're drawn here by our B is for Bats, Which Beijing Boils post. Hey, you guys over there ever notice that Xi Jinping looks a lot like Winnie the Pooh? It's True:

Oh, and thanks for the Boiled Bat Bug, Beijing.

Here in America, after the malevolence and incompetence of the Chinese Communist Party forced us into lock down, people have been thinking that we've seen the worst and it will all be over soon. This blog is guilty of that as well.

One of the huge mistakes a historian can make is to look to the past for similar examples of a current event and assuming the current event will follow the same path.

Even so, what if this isn't the end, but the beginning of a hot war with China? World War Two didn't really get going until 1940, and the Great War had a long pause after the hectic summer and autumn of 1914.

Beijing's in a lot of trouble. Rising power? Don't be fooled. China has an aging population, a huge pollution problem, and the world is waking up to what they really are. China has peaked. China will never be more powerful than it is right now. Xi Jinping and the rest of the Chinese Commie Cat Cookers know it. 

The USA is off balance right now, and who knows how much of the Pacific Fleet has been hit by the Commie Kung Fu Flu. Likely? Not really. But possible. [Shrugs, holds out hands as Yidishly as he can] Five percent? There's a Bumbling Beijing Bureau hothead making the same argument over roast dog and pangolin Pecan sauce right now.