Quotations

Edmund Burke ~ 1775

The Late Lord Ashdown ~ 2018

In March 1775 Edmund Burke, in considering how to secure an honourable peace for the American Revolutionaries, said:

“ I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people ... for wise men, this is not judicious; for sober men, not decent; for minds tinctured with humanity, not mild and merciful.”

— Edmund Burke (1775)

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) by James Northcote (1746-1831)

NEIN Standing Up To Hitler 1935 - 1944

by

Lord (Paddy) Ashdown

In his superb history, NEIN Standing Up To Hitler 1935 - 1944, the (Late) Lord Ashdown refers to this quotation by Edmund Burke in 1775 on page 301 when considering the difficulty for the Allies in dealing with the defeat and unconditional surrender of Germany.

As Lord Ashdown wrote:

“There is a tragic irony in the fact that, more than 250 years later, it was an American President who insisted on imposing on Germany a capitulation of the kind Burke so wisely argued against for the colonists of America. It is of course always easy to have perfect vision in hindsight. Even allowing for this, however, it might still be said that, in their single-minded pursuit of unconditional surrender which admitted no end other than the apocalyptic destruction of Germany, the Western Allied leaders, too, allowed militarism to triumph over statesmanship. And so perished the old Europe. And so began a new Europe.”

— The Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon

This, to my mind, is so important. Lord Ashdown continues:

“Almost all the plotters who thought about the future, most notably [Carl] Goerdeler, [Wilhelm] Canaris and the Kreisau Circle, saw a unified Europe as a necessary bulwark against Soviet expansion, and the only safe context for a peace capable of containing the old European contagion of destructive nationalism.

In this, they would have found themselves completely at home in the European Union of today.

That the Germany that has emerged to such a powerful position today is, in very large measure, the kind of post-war Germany they hoped for, and for which they gave their lives.

And so, though there may not be any unblemished heroes here, there are many examples of human trials.

For us, living in similarly troubled and turbulent times, it must surely be inspiring that there was such a rebellion of conscience and moral anger from human spirits who refused to submit, even in the face of such terrible power and even at the seemingly futile cost of their own lives.”

— Ashdown ibid

My own handwritten note on page 302 and dated July 20 2019 reads:

“Thus writes a gentleman of great stature, international prestige and with a respected reputation both as a statesman and diplomat, not to forget his exemplary military service. ”

— Kenneth Thomas Webb

My point is this.

Lord Ashdown was very aware that the tide of life for him was on its final ebb, and he was right to remind us in 2018 that we are "living in similarly troubled and turbulent times". Only yesterday, respected analysts drew comparisons "with Hitler's Nazi Germany".

It is worrying, for I do not see how diplomacy can restore international peace, order and liberal democracy. It worries me, too, that whereas the Cold War envisaged nuclear annihilation, we now talk of ‘theatre nuclear weapons’ i.e. like the Atomic Bombs used in 1945.

My View Six Days On?

It is imperative that we defend freedom of democracy and the rule of law both within the United Kingdom and rule of law as defined and upheld by the United Nations General Assembly.

World War II resulted not just from a nation being raped by a megalomaniac. It resulted from the horrific bullying of communities, peoples and nations, instigated by that one man, aided by two identically-minded men in Italy and in Japan who took their lead from him.

In any police state, people learn very quickly to keep their heads down, to blend into the background; the things they prefer not to read or hear of, they naturally blank out with that threaded needle of hope ... oh this is too preposterous to be true. In all police states, it is not a long journey to cross the Rubicon.

If we take interest in history, we have an anchor point. We have an inbuilt check-and-balance.

This forewarns us, that this anchor point is not limited. It applies to every individual life. It is how we measure our progress, or our lack thereof.

We know the troublemakers today, just as we did then. We know too, the horror of religious fanaticism, which is as ugly and terrifying as Nazism. Those who argue that Communism is, therefore, the way forward, need to recall the Purges from 1917 onwards. Purges come about only at the hands of megalomaniacs ~ Trotsky, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao Tse Tung, to name just four. There are many more that litter the pages of Twentieth Century history between 1945 - 1999.

Communism today is as fanatical, ugly and as terrifying as extreme religions, every religion, and which therefore naturally includes the three monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. On all three, we are wise to cast a very hard and discerning eye.

My View in 2023?

Vladimir Putin has openly boasted that his aim is two-fold. To attain victory, which one would expect of any invader; to establish a new world order. To hear that man speak those words sent a chill through me. For the first time, I truly gained a perspective on how my parents and grandparents must have felt in 1938-1939.

Simply put, it is not a question of if but when NATO engages militarily.

My View in January 2026

We have descended far down into darkness from those days of 2023. At the beginning of the World Economic Forum in Davos five days ago, I saw only a bully of a man playing to the camera and out of his depth. I saw America no longer as an Ally, no longer as a friend. This in turn leaves me wonderign exactly what are the thoughts of my genuine American friends of whom there are many, many indeed.

Then something happened.

It came in the form of the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, addressing Nations and the entire World.

Europe was caught every which way. Yet here was the prime minister of the Nation State of Canada, itself under threat by its southern neighbour standing up to Donald Trump. Europe, still hesitant, fearful of upsetting the bully, was starkly reminded by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, to step up to the plate. His words did not make comfortable listening. Every word he spoke had the accuracy of an exocet missile.

Suddenly, Europe, the 27 member states of the European Union found itself. Suddenly, it realised that Mr Trump has but one goal ~ the destruction of the European Union. The apprentice will not get his way.

I now see the way forward much more clearly. We have found our voice again.

And we in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland know who our friends and allies are. They are the European Union just across the water from us and with whom, behind closed doors, we are still very much involved and welcome; to Canada across the Atlantic Ocean, to the United Nations ~ even though Mr Trump is bent upon destroying it ~ and to the Commonwealth of Nations.

America? Sure, you’re in there somewhere. But as Churchill demonstrated very ably when dealing with President F D Roosevelt, … you’re there but you’re not there.

To my American friends I say this. I fully understand your anger as regards NATO. That is now being corrected. I fully understand your admiration for the economic skills of your President. You have given him the Prerogative. Only you, as a Nation, can touch the rudder. Yes, the President is transactional. Yes, he sees things through the dollar and through gold. Spare a thought to two former First Ladies ~ Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy. Consider them for a moment when wondering why the 47th has demolished the East Wing and the Rose Garden. An entire book within the short encyclopaedia of your history has disappeared. Then consider the Address by the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney. Consider his immediate past credentials.

Those who become Governor of the Bank of England are few and rare. They have an understanding of geopolitics from both the national, international, military and overall financial mindset. The financial mindset! Not the mindset that demands that everything be in gold.

Yes, we are Europe.

Yes, you are a super power.

Yes, we the European Continent are the middle powers, yes you might even say we are the little people.

But do not underestimate us. Do not undermine us.

What did Churchill say in 1940 at the height of the Battle of Britain?

“But if we fail to stand up to him, then the whole world, including the United States, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted science.”

— Winston Churchill, Prime Minister, 1940

And Churchill’s message in 1940 has been repeated time and again by President Zelensky as they enter their fifth year of war.

I think back to two of my heroes in history and literature, Edward R Murrow and J B Priestley. I wonder what they would be saying this evening as they look upon what has just happened in Davos, and what is unfolding in Minnesota and the Twin Cities?

I recall the morning of 10 September 2001. All of us in the Free World stood with you. Article Five of NATO was invoked. I remember that morning well.

Why, on such a day, such a terrible morning, am I looking at the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace? I did not have long to realise why. On very, very rare occasions National Protocol takes a quiet turn. As the Conductor’s baton raised, I prepared myself for my Country’s National Anthem. As the first high note reverberated, I found myself springing to attention as the American National Anthem sounded and resounded from the Palace Gate and deep into and along Pall Mall.

Did that change come from Government? No. It came from my own Commander-in-Chief, now Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I stood firm. I stood with America.

For the past year, I feel as if we’ve all been beaten and ramrodded around a boxing ring. Last evening was a very low point. A man declared to his people that my people had never gone into the front line. I’m not far from Royal Wootten Bassett. How on earth could this man make such a mistake? What does it say of his advisers?

The United Kingdom prime minister, Sir Kier Starmer has today responded. Using the language of high diplomacy, he has uttered that near fatal phrase to another nation state… insulting and frankly appalling.

This will go over the head of Mr Trump. But the Greater American People are a different matter. Those who served alongside British and NATO troops have deliberately fallen out of step with their commander-in-chief. To all Americans, I am truly grateful.