Temas de relações internacionais, de política externa e de diplomacia brasileira, com ênfase em políticas econômicas, em viagens, livros e cultura em geral. Um quilombo de resistência intelectual em defesa da racionalidade, da inteligência e das liberdades democráticas.
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Este blog trata basicamente de ideias, se possível inteligentes, para pessoas inteligentes. Ele também se ocupa de ideias aplicadas à política, em especial à política econômica. Ele constitui uma tentativa de manter um pensamento crítico e independente sobre livros, sobre questões culturais em geral, focando numa discussão bem informada sobre temas de relações internacionais e de política externa do Brasil. Para meus livros e ensaios ver o website: www.pralmeida.org. Para a maior parte de meus textos, ver minha página na plataforma Academia.edu, link: https://itamaraty.academia.edu/PauloRobertodeAlmeida;
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terça-feira, 12 de agosto de 2014
Bomba atomica sobre o Japao, 1945: um debate interminavel nos EUA, e no mundo
O Japão dificilmente se renderia, a despeito de já estar praticamente derrotado em todas as frentes.
O que aconteceria, provavelmente, entre agosto e janeiro ou fevereiro de 1946, teria sido uma penosa conquista de territórios japoneses, ilha por ilha, praia por praia, com combates ferozes até de baioneta, e a continuidade do lançamento de bombas incendiárias, bombardeio por navios e toda espécie de armas convencionais.
Seria possível estimar a morte de 300 a 500 mil japoneses mais, uma vez que eles não se renderiam, a não ser por uma decisão do imperador. Mesmo depois das duas bombas atômicas, militares japoneses tentaram impedir o imperador de declarar a guerra perdida e aceitar a rendição incondicional, como exigida pelos americanos.
Do lado destes, morreriam, provavelmente, mais 50 a 100 mil soldados, apenas nas cabeças de ponte das ilhas japonesas, sem contar mais alguns navios afundados com base nos ataques de kamikazes.
Ou seja, sem a bomba atômica, por mais horrível que ela pode ter sido, teriam morrido muito mais pessoas, soldados e civis, e mais cidades japonesas, e instalações industriais, portuárias e ferroviárias teriam sido destruidas, com alguma perda adicional de construções históricas ou religiosas.
Abaixo, alguns reflexos deste debate, do ponto de vista de conservadores que também condenam, absolutamente, a decisão pelo uso das bombas atômicas. Como se vê, a abominação não vem só do lado da esquerda politicamente correta.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida
The Atomic Bombing of Japan--and Its Conservative Critics
The Lighthouse (The Independent Institute), August 11, 2014
Last week marked the anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. For the past few decades, condemning the attacks has carried the risk of being branded "left-wing" or "anti-American," but Stanford University Professor of History, Emeritus, Barton J. Bernstein, an advisor to the Independent Institute's Center on Peace and Liberty, reminds us that it wasn't always so. Some of the harshest critics of President Harry Truman's decision to drop the bombs came from America's political right, including conservative stalwarts such as former President Herbert Hoover and National Review contributor Medford Evans. READ MORE
American Conservatives Are the Forgotten Critics of the Atomic Bombing of Japan, by Barton J. Bernstein (The San Jose Mercury News, 8/2/14)
Terrorism by Any Reasonable Definition, by Anthony Gregory (The Beacon, 8/6/12)
The Man Who Bombed Hiroshima, by Anthony Gregory (11/8/07)
August 9, 1945, a Date that Will Live in Infamy, by Robert Higgs (The Beacon, 8/9/08)
Delusions of Power: New Explorations of the State, War, and Economy, by Robert Higgs
quinta-feira, 26 de junho de 2014
Jean Guehenno: diario da ocupacao alema na Franca, 1940-1944
domingo, 29 de dezembro de 2013
Segunda Guerra Mundial, um dia na Historia: Alemanha nazista inicia bombardeios incediarios em Londres
On This Day: December 29
Flames Leap High
Thousands in Britain's Capital Toil Against Incendiary Attack
R.A.F. Fighters Go Up
Battle Reich Bombers in Lighted Night Sky- Toll in City Is Heavy
By RAYMOND DANIELL
Special to The New York Times
Roosevelt Calls for Greater Aid to Britain as Best Way to Halt Dictators and Avert War: 'Axis Will Not Win': President Bars Peace Move While Nazis Seek to 'Conquer World': 'Arsenal' Our Role: Asking Mighty Effort, He Rules Out Strikes and Lookouts Battle in Atlantic: British Cruiser Drives Heavily Armed Ship Away From Convoy: Nazi's Tender Sunk: Poor Visibility Ends the Encounter as Raider Flees in Surprise British Wish Help of U.S. on Eire Bases: Deny Report Ulster Is Offered in Trade for Them -- Fear Ireland Tempts Invasion Capital Prepares for Early Action: Roosevelt Calls for British Aid Finds Little Opposition Even Among the Isolationists 800 Flights Here Canceled by Fog: Airlines Put Their Losses at $1,000,000 -- Tug in Crash in East River Mist Nazi Troops Reach Bulgarian Border: Part of Huge Force at Danube -- Hitler Is Believed Forcing Showdown on Balkans Nazis Seen Extending Warfare to the Pacific; 15 Ships Have Vanished in Asiatic Waters |
This capital had a blistering, somewhat mysterious and quite destructive visit from Adolf Hitler's arsonists of the air, who for some reason or other were not followed in proportionate force by the dynamiters who usually fly in their wake.
But for a few hours the incendiaries popped like starbursts from skyrockets and rained on the streets and rooftops with a clatter like machine-gun fire in some districts of London.
Where the fire-bombs hit there was a burst of pure white flame like a magnesium flare, followed where buildings were set afire by a bright red glow that colored the sky as it has not been colored since those days in early September when the "Blitz" attacks began.
[The Nazi incendiary attackers were met in air battles over London by fighter squadrons of the British Royal Air Force, other dispatches state. Heavy anti-aircraft gun fire held off while the defender planes were up; and rescue workers heard machine-gunning from the lighted sky.
[Casualties in London were believed heavy, The Associated Press and The United Press reported.]
Many Parts of City Struck
Although the London Streets generally are almost deserted by pedestrians and motor traffic at night, clanging fire engines this time sped through the narrow streets like racing cars. Geysers from hundreds of hose lines roared and fizzled.
As the flames died down, the gaunt skeletons of buildings outlined themselves against an afterglow.
Not just one section of the capital was singled out for attack. It was scattered all round so that persons watching from rooftops in various parts of London had the impression they were encircled by blazing buildings from soon after the start of the attack in the early evening.
Early evening strollers in some parts of London had a feeling of being hemmed in by a forest fire, but even small blazes blend in the blackout sky and give the effect of a conflagration threatening to consume the city.
Another of Sir Christopher Wren's old churches was a victim of the attack. An incendiary bomb hit the roof of the church.
Janitors and messenger boys rushed in from the streets to try to save as many treasures as possible. They succeeded in carrying out the lectern and some ancient pews, but the building was almost completely destroyed.
"All Clear" Before Midnight
Such raids as that which the Germans carried out this past night emphasize the debt the people of London owe their firefighters. Air Raid Precautions workers and ambulance drivers, for despite one of the heaviest barrages sent up by the ground batteries in many weeks, large numbers of enemy planes got through the defenses and dropped their fire bombs and some high explosives.
Yet there was no disorder and many of the fires that looked so menacing in the middle of the evening were under control before the "all clear" sounded before midnight.
The people of London seem to be developing a sixth sense about air raids. Last night, for instance, when the alarm sounded and before the attack developed into the crescendo it finally reached, subway stations and underground shelters were filled with crowds greater than they had accommodated in many weeks.
Large numbers of people who had no shelter or bunk tickets stood in rows in the vacant spaces used by passengers buying tickets and only narrow passageways were left on stairs leading to the station platforms.
More damage was caused by the fire than by bombs. It is a pity that details cannot be given, but London is a big city and air raiders cover much ground in a short space of time. Besides, the censorship forbids even so much as a hint of what buildings were hit or even what sections of the capital suffered most heavily.
About all that can be said on that score is that in addition to the Wren church two hospitals were hit again. No casualty figures are available but it is inconceivable that so much damage could be done to steel and mortar without harm to flesh and blood.
All Firemen in City Area Called
London, Monday, Dec. 30 (AP)--London in the battle of its life early today fought hundreds of towering flames set by waves of German bombers bent on reducing this empire capital to a flaming skeleton.
Every fireman--thousands upon thousands--in the vast London area was called out, and more thousands of volunteers joined in the battle in the debris-littered streets.
Low water pressure hampered the efforts, but a rainstorm sweeping in from the German-held Continent aided the fire fighters and rescue workers.
The casualties were believed extraordinarily heavy in the long pre-midnight raid that turned the horizon scarlet at dawn.
At the height of the raid launched by hundreds of German bombers, ground workers toiling desperately to control the flames saw squadron after squadron of Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes of the Royal Air Force dive into the midst of the Nazis under of roof of brightly illuminated clouds.
Nazis Try to Dodge in Clouds
The German raiders sought refuge in those clouds.
The firemen fighting in rubble-strewn streets amid tangles of hoses heard the machine-gunning.
Many of the raiders dropped "Molotoff breadbaskets," containers that spew out fifty or 100 incendiary bombs as they fall.
The fires could be seen for miles--great pillars of flames that swept the clouds and illuminated the sky clashes between the attacking and defending planes.
Many witnessed this gripping battle despite the pounding of explosive bombs dropped toward the beacon fires.
Cable communications from London to New York were disrupted and wireless contact, too, for a time.
After a lapse of several hours The Associated Press correspondent succeeded in getting New York by telephone.
The intensity of the fires lighted the way for the raiders more than ever before.
Many Roof-Spotters Feared Killed
Hundreds of rooftop "spotters" stuck to their posts, and it is believed that many of these figured in the mounting casualty list.
Reports indicated that at least two waves of raiders dropped nothing but incendiary bombs.
Several "baskets" of fire bombs were loosed in one area.
Roof-spotters played heroic roles in putting out the many blazes and directing firemen to buildings where firebomb on the roof were hidden from the street.
[The United Press reported that bombs fell close to its office in London, on Bouverie Street, between Fleet Street and the Thames in the heart of the city.
[Headquarters of The Associated Press in New York and messages from London indicated that the building housing its bureau, at 20 Tudor Street in Central London, was hit in the bombardment, but that there were no casualties. Extent of damage was not given. This would be the third time that The Associated Press building had been damaged by bombs, although not greatly, it said.]
The first attacking German planes came over the southeast coast as darkness closed in on the cold, foggy Dover Strait and the English Channel, where throughout the day the Royal Air Force had patroled the skies, watchful alike for invading aircraft and any unusual signs of activity on the shores of France.
Within a short time after the Nazi planes began roaring past the capital's anti-aircraft guns, high explosives were dropping on the city, some in the central part.
The R. A. F. patrol had kept Nazi activity at a low mark during the day. Bombs dropped in a Suffolk coast town and in towns on the Kentish coast. Some houses were damaged, but no casualties were reported.
A small number of persons were killed, however, and some injured by a raider in Northwest England.
One German bomber was believed to have been shot down off the southeast coast by planes of the R. A. F. day patrol.
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A violencia extrema na historia da Uniao Sovietica: uma ditadura baseada na forca bruta
URSS: uma história de violência
União das Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas (URSS) foi marcada pela violência extrema
A barbárie em Berlim
sábado, 7 de dezembro de 2013
O dia da infamia na Historia: 7 de Dezembro de 1941 - Pearl Harbor
On This Day: December 7
Japan Wars on U.S. and Britain; Makes Sudden Attack On Hawaii; Heavy Fighting At Sea Reported
Guam Bombed; Army Ship Is Sunk
By FRANK L. KLUCKHOHN
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES
Congress Decided: Roosevelt Will Address if Today and Find it Ready to Vote War: Conference Is Held: Legislative Leaders and Cabinet in Sober White House Talk Tokyo Acts First: Declaration Follows Air and Sea Attacks on U.S. and Britain: Togo Calls Envoys: After Fighting Is On, Grew Gets Japan's Reply to Hull Note of Nov. 26 Japanese Force Lands in Malaya: First Attempt Is Repulsed -- Singapore Is Bombed and Thailand Invaded Tokyo Bombers Strike Hard at Our Main Bases on Oahu Hull Denounces Tokyo 'Infamy': Brands Japan 'Fraudulent' in Preparing Attack While Carrying On Parleys Entire City Put on War Footing: Japanese Rounded Up by FBI, Sent to Ellis Island -- Vital Services Are Guarded Lewis Wins Captive Mine Fight; Arbitrators Grant Union Shop |
The initial attack in Hawaii, apparently launched by torpedo-carrying bombers and submarines, caused widespread damage and death. It was quickly followed by others. There were unconfirmed reports that German raiders participated in the attacks.
Guam also was assaulted from the air, as were Davao, on the island of Mindanao, and Camp John Hay, in Northern Luzon, both in the Philippines. Lieut. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commanding the United States Army of the Far East, reported there was little damage, however.
[Japanese parachute troops had been landed in the Philippines and native Japanese had seized some communities, Royal Arch Gunnison said in a broadcast from Manila today to WOR- Mutual. He reported without detail that "in the naval war the ABCD fleets under American command appeared to be successful" against Japanese invasions.]
Japanese submarines, ranging out over the Pacific, sank an American transport carrying lumber 1,300 miles from San Francisco, and distress signals were heard from a freighter 700 miles from that city.
The War Department reported that 104 soldiers died and 300 were wounded as a result of the attack on Hickam Field, Hawaii. The National Broadcasting Company reported from Honolulu that the battleship Oklahoma was afire. [Domei, Japanese news agency, reported the Oklahoma sunk.]
Nation Placed on Full War Basis
The news of these surprise attacks fell like a bombshell on Washington. President Roosevelt immediately ordered the country and the Army and Navy onto a full war footing. He arranged at a White House conference last night to address a joint session of Congress at noon today, presumably to ask for declaration of a formal state of war.
This was disclosed after a long special Cabinet meeting, which was joined later by Congressional leaders. These leaders predicted "action" within a day.
After leaving the White House conference Attorney General Francis Biddle said that "a resolution" would be introduced in Congress tomorrow. He would not amplify or affirm that it would be for a declaration of war.
Congress probably will "act" within the day, and he will call the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for this purpose, Chairman Tom Connally announced.
[A United Press dispatch from London this morning said that Prime Minister Churchill had notified Japan that a state of war existed.]
As the reports of heavy fighting flashed into the White House, London reported semi-officially that the British Empire would carry out Prime Minister Winston Churchill's pledge to give the United States full support in case of hostilities with Japan. The President and Mr. Churchill talked by transatlantic telephone.
This was followed by a statement in London from the Netherland Government in Exile that it considered a state of war to exist between the Netherlands and Japan. Canada, Australia and Costa Rica took similar action.
Landing Made in Malaya
A Singapore communique disclosed that Japanese troops had landed in Northern Malaya and that Singapore had been bombed.
The President told those at last night's White House meeting that "doubtless very heavy losses" were sustained by the Navy and also by the Army on the island of Oahu [Honolulu]. It was impossible to obtain confirmation or denial of reports that the battleships Oklahoma and West Virginia had been damaged or sunk at Pearl Harbor, together with six or seven destroyers, and that 350 United States airplanes had been caught on the ground.
The White House took over control of the bulletins, and the Navy Department, therefore, said it could not discuss the matter or answer any questions how the Japanese were able to penetrate the Hawaiian defenses or appear without previous knowledge of their presence in those waters.
Administration circles forecast that the United States soon might be involved in a world-wide war, with Germany supporting Japan, an Axis partner. The German official radio tonight attacked the United States and supported Japan.
Axis diplomats have expressed complete surprise that the Japanese had attacked. But the impression gained from their attitude was that they believed it represented a victory for the Nazi attempt to divert lease-lend aid from Britain, which has been a Berlin objective ever since the legislation was passed and began to be implemented.
Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. announced that his department had invoked the Trading With the Enemy Act, placing an absolute United States embargo on Japan.
Robert P. Patterson, Under-Secretary of War, called on the nation to put production on a twenty- four-hour basis.
A nation-wide round-up of Japanese nationals was ordered by Attorney General Biddle through cooperation by the FBI and local police forces.
Action was taken to protect defense plants, especially in California, where Japanese are particularly numerous. Orders were issued by the Civil Aeronautics Authority to ground most private aircraft except those on scheduled lines.
Fleet Puts Out to Sea From Hawaii
The Navy last night swept out to sea from its bombed base at Pearl Harbor after Secretary of State Cordell Hull, following a final conference with Japanese "peace envoys" here, asserted that Japan's had been a "treacherous" attack. Neither the War nor the Navy Department had been able to communicate with its commanders in Manila.
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson ordered the entire United States Army to be in uniform by today. Secretary Frank Knox followed suit for the Navy. They did so after President Roosevelt had instructed the Navy and Army to expect all previously prepared orders for defense immediately.
United States naval craft are expected to operate out of Singapore as soon as possible in protecting the vital rubber and tin shipments necessary to our national defense program.
Despite these preliminary defense moves, however, it was clear that further detailed discussions would soon take place between officials of the United States, Great Britain, China, the Netherlands and Australia to devise a total scheme of limiting the activities of the Japanese Fleet.
Immediate steps will be taken also to meet the increased menace to China's lifeline, the Burma Road. Reliable information indicates that the Japanese are preparing a large-scale assault on the road in the hope of cutting off American supplies before the Allies can transport sufficient forces into defensive positions.
Censorship was established on all messages leaving the United States by cable and radio.
In Tokyo United States Ambassador Joseph C. Grew obtained a reply to Secretary Hull's early message, according to dispatches from the Japanese capital.
The attack on Pearl Harbor and Honolulu began "at dawn," according to Stephen Early, Presidential secretary. Because of time difference, the first news of the bombing was released in Washington at 2:22 P. M. Subsequently it was announced at the White House that another wave of bombers and dive bombers had come over Oahu Island, on which Honolulu is situated, to be met by anti-aircraft fire again.
An attack on Guam, tiny island outpost, subsequently was announced. The White House at first said that Manila also had been attacked but, after failure to reach Army and Navy commanders there, President Roosevelt expressed the "hope" that no such attack had occurred. Broadcasts from Manila bore out this hope.
The Japanese took over the Shanghai Bund. Japanese airplanes patrolling over the city dropped some bombs, reportedly sinking the British gunboat Peterel.
Hawaii Attacked Without Warning
Reports from Hawaii indicated that Honolulu had no warning of the attack. Japanese bombers, with the red circle of the Rising Sun of Japan on their wings, suddenly appeared, escorting by fighters. Flying high, they suddenly dive-bombed, attacking Pearl Harbor, the great Navy base, the Army's Hickam Field and Ford Island. At least one torpedo plane was seen to launch a torpedo at warships in Pearl Harbor.
A report from Admiral C. C. Bloch, commander of the naval district at Hawaii, expressed the belief that "there has been heavy damage done in Hawaii and there has been heavy loss of life."
This was subsequently confirmed by Governor Joseph B. Poindexter of Hawaii in a telephone conversation with President Roosevelt. The Governor also said that there were heavy casualties in the city of Honolulu.
At the White House it was officially said that the sinking of the Army transport carrying lumber and the distress signal from another Army ship "indicate Japanese submarines are strung out over that area." Heavy smoke was seen from Ford Island near Honolulu.
In the raids on Hawaii Japanese planes were shot down, one bomber hitting and bursting into flames just behind a post-office on the Island of Oahu. It was reported without confirmation that six Japanese planes and four submarines were destroyed.
The second attack on Honolulu and its surrounding bases occurred just as President Roosevelt was talking to Governor Poindexter at 6 o'clock last evening.
There was no official confirmation of Untied Press reports from Honolulu that parachute troops had been sighted off Pearl Harbor.
Many Japanese and former Japanese who are now American citizens are in residence in Hawaii.
Saburo Kurusu, special Japanese envoy who has been conducting "peace" negotiations while Japan was preparing for this attack, and Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura called at the State Department at 2:05 P. M. after asking for the appointment at 1 P. M. They arrived shortly before Secretary Hull had received news Japan had started a war without warning. Mrs. Roosevelt revealed in her broadcast last night that the Japanese Ambassador was with the President when word of the attacks was received.
The two envoys handed a document to Mr. Hull, who kept them waiting about fifteen minutes. Upon reading it, he turned to his visitors to exclaim that it was "crowded with infamous falsehoods and distortions."
President Roosevelt ordered war bulletins released at the White House as rapidly as they were received. A sentence or two was added to the story of the surprise attack every few minutes for several hours.
Cabinet members arrived promptly at 8:30 last evening for their meeting in the White House Oval Room. President Roosevelt had been closeted with Harry L. Hopkins in the Oval Room since receiving the first news. He had conferred with Secretaries Stimson and Knox by telephone and also with General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff. Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, was too busy to talk to the President even by telephone.
The first to arrive was Secretary of Commerce Jesse H. Jones. Secretary Knox came last. Secretary Hull was accompanied by two bodyguards.
Congressional leaders joining the Cabinet in the Oval Room at 9 P. M. included Senator Hiram Johnson of California, hitherto an isolationist and for long the ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Others present were Speaker Rayburn, Representative Jere Cooper of Tennessee, representing Representative John W. McCormack, the House Majority Leader, who was not able to reach Washington in time for the conference; Chairman Sol Bloom of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Representative Charles A. Eaton, ranking minority member; Vice President Wallace, who flew here from New York; Senator Allen W. Barkley, majority leader; Senator McNary and Senator Warren R. Austin, ranking minority member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Cheering crowds lined Pennsylvania Avenue to see them arrive, another evidence of the national determination to defeat Japan and her Axis allies which every official is confident will dominate the country from this moment forth.
Senator W. Lee O'Daniel of Texas, of hillbilly band and hot biscuits fame, added a touch of inadvertent comedy to the scene when he arrived uninvited. He said he had come to "try to learn a few things" and "to make sure Texas is represented at this conference," thus ignoring the presence of Senator Connally.
Senator Barkley, who arrived in Washington by automobile about 7 P. M., said he did not find out about the Japanese attack until nearly 6 o'clock.
The formal positions of the United States and Japanese Governments toward the war were officially set forth by the release at the White House of the text of President Roosevelt's message of yesterday to Emperor Hirohito and by the Japanese document handed Ambassador Grew in Tokyo.
President Voiced Hope for Peace
The President's message expressed a "fervent hope for peace" and outlined the dangers of the situation.
"We have hoped that a peace of the Pacific could be consummated in such a way that the nationalities of many diverse peoples may exist side by side without fear of invasion," the President told the Emperor.
The President, recalling that the United States had been directly responsible for bringing Japan into contact with the outside world, said that in seeking peace in the Pacific "I am certain that it will be clear to Your Majesty, as it is to me, that * * * both Japan and the United States should agree to eliminate any form of military threat."
The Japanese document, despite the obviously carefully prepared attack on American bases, insisted that:
"On the other hand, the American Government, always holding fast to theories in disregard of realities and refusing to yield an inch on its impractical principles, caused undue delay in the [peace] negotiations."
Late last night, the United States Government announced that all American republics had been informed of the "treacherous attack" by Japan. It was stated that "very heartening messages of support" were being received in return.
The State Department statement on this matter said:
"All the American republics have been informed by the Government of the United States of the treacherous attack by Japan upon the United States. Immediately upon receipt of word of the attacks on Hawaii and other American territory, wires were dispatched to the American diplomatic missions, instructing them to inform the Foreign Offices at once. This government is receiving very heartening messages of support from the other American republics."
Senator Connally, as head of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, predicted that world- wide war involving this nation probably depended on European developments within the next few days, according to The United Press.
Connally Promises Reply to "Treachery"
As Roland Young, committee clerk, took to Senator Connally's apartment drafts of the war declaration of April 2, 1917, Mr. Connally said:
"Professing a desire for peace and under the pretext that she coveted amicable relations with us, Japan stealthily concealed under her robe a dagger of assassination and villainy. She attacked us when the two nations were legally at peace.
"With rare and tolerant patience our government has striven to adjust our differences with Japan.
"Japan has now declared war upon the United States and on Great Britain. We shall resist this cruel and unjustifiable assault with naval power and all the resources of our country. We shall wreak the vengeance of justice on these violators of peace, these assassins who attack without warning and these betrayers of treaty obligations and responsibilities of international law.
"Let the Japanese Ambassador go back to his masters and tell them that the United States answers Japan's challenge with steel-throated cannon and a sharp sword of retribution. We shall repay this dastardly treachery with multiplied bombs from the air and heaviest and accurate shells from the sea."
Late last night American officers at the Mexican border were detaining all Japanese attempting to enter or leave the United States, according to a United Press dispatch from San Diego.
New York City, Chicago and other police forces acted to control Japanese nationals and with regard to consulates.
James L. Fly, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and the Defense Communications Board, said further activity by amateur radio stations would be permitted only upon special governmental authorization.
He said he has been in constant touch with heads of all important communications companies with relation to execution of preexisting plans for cooperation during any emergency.
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domingo, 14 de julho de 2013
Saving Italian art, from Nazis and from Allied bombs - book review
‘Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis’ by Robert M. Edsel
By Andrew Nagorski
The Washington Post: July 12, 2013
By Robert M. Edsel
Norton. 454 pp. $28.95
Wars routinely destroy not just lives but cultural treasures. Yet Robert M. Edsel keeps demonstrating that, for all its horrors and destruction, World War II included unprecedented efforts to preserve Europe’s artistic masterpieces as the Allies retook the continent.
In his earlier book “The Monuments Men,” Edsel focused on the American and British museum directors and art historians who were assigned that task in northwest Europe. (George Clooney is now directing and starring in a film based on that volume.) In “Saving Italy,” he zeroes in on members of the same unit sent into the field during the Italian campaign that started in 1943, when the Allies mounted their drive to topple Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime and expel the country’s German partners-turned-occupiers.
And what a dramatic story it is, given the extent of Italy’s artistic heritage, the looting of the retreating German forces and the intrigues within the German high command as they recognized they were fighting a losing battle. At the heart of Edsel’s lively narrative are the two most important art specialists dispatched to Italy in 1943: Deane Keller, 42 that year, a Yale art professor with an in-depth knowledge of Italy, and Fred Hartt, 29, a rising star of the Yale University Art Gallery. Because Keller was self-effacing while Hartt was expansive and attracted publicity, the two were occasionally at odds. But they shared the same passionate commitment to their mission.
During a nighttime raid on Milan in August 1943, the Royal Air Force offered an object lesson about how much was in jeopardy. A bomb landed 80 feet from Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” destroying the wall of the refectory of a Dominican monastery. Thanks to strategically placed sandbags and scaffolding, the painting survived, but initially no one dared risk digging through the debris to see whether it really had.
Such episodes compelled Allied commanders, from Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower on down, to pay more than lip service to the notion that their offensives should seek to minimize the destruction of cultural treasures. While the safety of their troops always came first, much could be done to that end, whether it was a matter of keeping troops from billeting in architectural jewels or of more selective targeting.
Most of the art specialists, as Keller put it, saw themselves as engaged in “a personal crusade” to save whatever they could. Their biggest frustration was that they often felt like bystanders, able to move in only after the destruction had taken place. After assessing the American bombing of Padua, which included a direct hit on the Chapel of Mantegna with its famed frescoes, Hartt despaired, “I should characterize the situation as desperate.”
The other source inducing high anxiety: the looting of the art treasures by retreating German forces. Ironically, the Germans had learned some lessons from World War I and enlisted their own art specialists to avoid the kind of wholesale destruction that had been evident at Louvain. But they wanted both to claim credit for preserving the treasures and to send them home.
Most infamously, Hermann Goering demanded a steady flow of priceless objects from Monte Cassino, Florence and elsewhere. Keller, Hartt and their Italian counterparts were continually trying to trace the Germans’ stunning hauls, and how they largely succeeded makes for a riveting read. So do some of the other spectacular successes in undoing the damage of warfare. In Pisa, a city hit hard by American bombers and German artillery, Keller orchestrated a massive effort to save the gorgeous frescoes of the Camposanto, with a team of engineers and workers erecting protective covering while they also gathered up countless specks of painted plaster for reassembling later. For his role in returning a vast trove of art to Florence, Hartt was named an honorary citizen of that city after the fighting ended.
Edsel’s larger point in this and his previous book — and through the work of his Monuments Men Foundation — is that the achievements of both men and their colleagues should be “a source of pride for all Americans.” While he was deployed, Keller did not think that such a moment of recognition would ever come. He suspected that the larger narrative of the global conflagration would overshadow everything else. At a time when millions were dying, the fate of Italy’s masterpieces could easily be seen as a mere footnote. “I wonder if this whole story will ever come out for people to know about and to realize — I doubt it,” Keller wrote in a letter to his wife.
On that particular point, Edsel’s book proves him dead wrong.
Andrew Nagorski is vice president of the EastWest Institute and the author of “Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power.”