The Charge of the Light Brigade v2

In case any of you are unaware of what the Charge of the Light Brigade was about, here’s some historical background:

The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Brigade, led by Lord Cardigan, mounted a frontal assault against a Russian artillery battery which was well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire. The charge was the result of a misunderstood order from the commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, who had intended the Light Brigade to attack a different objective for which light cavalry was better suited, to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns from overrun Turkish positions. The Light Brigade made its charge under withering direct fire and reached its target, scattering some of the gunners, but was forced to retreat immediately.

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade

To put it bluntly, it was a massive military disaster. Some people are under the illusion that the military top brass learn from past mistakes, including those that go way back in history. How touchingly naive some people are… Some people may also labour under the illusion that the military top brass, being closer to the reality of combat than most politicians, might be able to exert some behind the scenes influence on those who presume to rule over us in order to rein in their bombast and posturing. Again, a touchingly naive but ultimately, fatally flawed belief. As can clearly be seen from this recent outpouring of hubris and utter bullshit from one Lt. Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British Defence staff:

“If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight," Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British defense staff, told the House of Commons defense committee. "I don't think anybody in this room should be under any illusion that if the Russians invaded Eastern Europe tonight, then we would meet them in that fight.”

UK army chief: We’re ready to fight Putin in Eastern Europe - Noah Keate | Politico | 21.11.24

The US, Britain and now France have allowed Ukraine to fire missiles they’ve manufactured and supplied into Russian territory. It’s been stated by some commentators that the Ukranians can’t do this without technical assistance from the NATO countries supplying the missiles. So, technically at least, it would appear that we’re now at war with Russia. Do you remember during the election campaign back in the summer being asked if being dragged into World War Three was on your wish list? I sure as heck don’t remember being asked. So, here we are, in a very dangerous and frightening situation. Not least because of the psychopathic f**kers who presume to rule over us and, the military top brass willing to do their bidding, even if it ends up as the Charge of the Light Brigade v2 on steroids.

Some people have done what they can to call out the idiocy of the powers that be - here’s one example of this as reported here: Jeremy Corbyn calls out Starmer for taking us to brink of World War III - Anti-imperialist Nexus | 21.11.24:

I don’t think the neoliberals cheering on escalation get the point. If Storm Shadows are being fired into Russia, they are being fired with our direct participation. Ukraine doesn’t have the technology or expertise to fire these rockets alone. This means we are at war with our most powerful adversary without any parliamentary discussion, let alone a vote. It seems the prime minister has snuck his way into war without notifying the British people, who he will expect to fight for him.

The potential consequences of escalation include food shortages, a deep recession, attacks on our soil, conscription (that will not include politicians or their children), and the entire economy shifting to a war footing in which you are either a soldier or a slave in a bomb-making factory. Is the reality hitting home yet?

Sadly to no avail… The government, their mates in the mainstream media, what has been described as an ‘opposition’ and last but by no means least the military, are all ramping up the rhetoric of war. There’s a lot of bombast and posturing but f**k all in the way of any serious consideration as to what the consequences of a direct war with Russia would involve. There sure as heck hasn’t been any mention of what has been put in place in the way of civilian protection and contingency planning in the event of an all out war. That’s probably because these psychopathic bastards would be only too happy to throw a significant proportion of the UK population under the bus. Reducing the number of so called ‘useless eaters’ and all that…

Don’t kid me that the government, the military and the intelligence services haven’t gauged the mood of the populace before embarking on a strategy of bombastic posturing. Rest assured, the intelligence services do monitor social media and have a pretty shrewd idea of who does and who doesn’t support an escalation of aggression against Russia. They know that it breaks down on class lines, with support for escalation coming from the self righteous middle class, while the working class, whose men will be expected to go to the front line in the event of all out war, are pretty hostile towards any escalation. So, should things ever go towards a land war on the European mainland, the powers that be must be aware that they’ll have a problem in recruiting working class men to act as cannon fodder on the front line.

All of this begs this question - why, when they know the people they’ll need to do the fighting are hostile to the idea of any further escalation against Russia, are they continuing with their bombastic posturing? It’s almost like they’re trolling us. So, if they’re trolling us, what’s the motive and reasoning behind it? Are they deliberately winding people up to get a reaction? A reaction they can then use as a justification for a further clampdown on our freedoms and rights. There are a lot of questions to answer, that’s for sure. I’m not going to pretend I have the answers to them because I don’t. The only thing I can be certain about is that the powers that be are not idiots as some people have made out - they know exactly what they’re doing. The question is, what’s their thinking?

What the heck can we do in the face of all of this? Again, I don’t pretend to have the answers. All I do know is that signing petitions calling for a general election or putting any faith in the system to find the off ramp is naive beyond belief. At the risk of an early morning knock on the door from the cops, all I can suggest is finding some creative ways of making this country ungovernable. That involves a combination of fairly immediate tactics of disruption and the longer term project of prefigurative action involved in building the world we want. That project of prefigurative action is something that the At the grassroots blog in its own modest way sets out to achieve.

I cannot emphasise enough that there’s no one with any vestige of power or influence that we can look to in order to stop the slide towards all out war. If anyone with a vestige of power or influence appears to be concerned about the escalation of the conflict, question their motives. Are they genuine or are they merely controlled opposition put in to deflect our anger at the bastards who are openly trolling us while planning to throw us under a bus for a pointless war? A war that will only benefit the likes of Blackrock who will find many lucrative opportunities in the re-building of war ravaged nations. That’s assuming it remains a conventional conflict as opposed to one that goes nuclear because of a toxic combination of miscalculation and bombast.

It’s down to everyone of us at the grassroots, in our communities, to kickstart the groundswell of opposition that will bring these psychopathic bastards down, once and for all. It’s down to every one of us to lob as many spanners as we can into their poxy war machine. It’s down to everyone of us to make sure that power never again gets concentrated in the hands of a ruthless minority of psychopaths who despise us. It’s time for revolt…