A very good analysis. I would suggest that readers look at the Canadian contribution to WW1 and WW2. The miners tunnelling under Vimy Ridge in WW1, leading to a rapid victory rather than the blood bath that occurred prior. The reason that the Netherlands to this day sends 20,000 tulip bulbs to Canada to be planted in Ottawa (They sent 1.1 million bulbs in 2024 for viewing this year) . The reason that Dutch children light candles at the graves of fallen Canadian soldiers buried there. I could go on. Others were in the fight long before the Americans came in.
Australia gets a place of honour in that poster with the Statue of Liberty on it
Probably didn’t hurt that Curtin made one of the most important foreign policy speeches in Australian history in 1942 saying that Australia would now look to the US not Britain for its key strategic security relationship
This speech given less than 3 years after Menzies announced Australia’s entry into the war using the term ‘consequently’ as in ‘Chamberlain has declared war on Germany so consequently Australia is also at war’
Not a decision to join the war based on Australian values or strategic reasons, not the talk of an independent nation as part of an alliance, but the talk of a colony having its decisions made for it in the metropole , Curtin was the man who decided Australia was its own independent nation and would join the alliance as an independent nation
The American Memorial Day, at the end of May, originally memorialized the dead of the Civil War. It was marked by solemn processions, led by surviving veterans, to local graveyards to tend graves of fallen soldiers.
First, imagine World War II without America, the arsenal of democracy. Not a pretty sight. No American soldiers, no victory over Japan (would China alone have defeated Japan?). No D-Day, so if the USSR had won, no democratic Western Europe. No American military support to the Soviet Union, which frightened German soldiers in the East. Second, the postwar order was built on continuing American trade deficits as rising powers grew reach through exports, like China today. Not sustainable.
Imagine World War II without Britain: Hitler wins before the US even enters the war.
Imagine World War II without the USSR: Hitler wins whether the US enters or not.
Imagine... You get the point. It really was a collective effort, which is why American leaders always spoke of it as such, and it's foolish to frame it as Trump does.
As to your last statement, the United States ran trade surpluses until the mid-1970s, and the idea that trade deficits are unsustainable for the US over the long term is based on a misunderstanding of what trade deficits are and that conclusion isn't supported by mainstream economists. The bottom line: The post-war order has allowed the American economy to thrive to an astonishing extent, and over the last couple of decades the gap between the US economy and others has actually widened as the US performed better.
What IS unsustainable is endless federal deficits, and the ever-growing income canyon, but they are the product of a political system that refuses to raise taxes to pay for what the political system wants to buy, not the the international order. America does face big troubles. But those problems, and their solutions, all lie at home.
You pointed out the significant difference between trade deficits and government deficits, a distinction that eludes Trump and even commentators I expected would know better. As we've been informed by those who know our trade, the deficit is in the US's favour except for the oil and gas we sell at a discount to the US.
On the other hand, government deficits increase debt, a worryingly large amount being held by China. If Trump were a truly competent president, that would outweigh his sense of victimhood.
As for his bombast, if it were only occasional flashes, it wouldn't be nearly as disgusting as the relentless stream he spews.
By December 1941, the RAF, RCAF and other allied Air forces were dropping far more tonnage than the other way around. The German Army was facing their first strategic defeat in front of Moscow. The Bismarck was at the bottom off the sea and the RN & RCN and were ramping up their defences on the Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC).
The German war machine was increasingly pressured by the lack of critical raw resources and partisan uprisings in Yugoslavia, Greece and just about every other country to different degrees.
Hollywood has not produced movies that show this perspective for the last 40 years - A Bridge Too Far & The Longest Day come to mind. The average American that is even interested in WW2 in the first place have their views shaped by productions such as Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and Greyhound since the 80s.
I know that there will be a lot of but, but to this argument. One quick point, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the lack of fuel impacted that Operation and every action after that. Japan lost the War on the first day as the they did not have the capacity to ramp up military production at scale. Bangkok & Singapore did fall to be sure, but I would argue that they did not have the logistical ability to fight the British empire and China at the same time. The British empire alone was producing more warships than Germany & Japan combined. Add better electronics and unlimited raw resources, the Allies, less the US, would prevail, perhaps one year later.
We are at a similar inflection point now as 80 years ago, only this time it seems that Trumerica plans to own/extort the "free" world, not lead it. Or at least to control it via the evolving US-based broligarchies.
I guess the opening salvo of the new order was economic warfare based on tariffs. The second (?) salvo was fired May 7 and it's name is "OpenAI for Countries", part of the $500B "Stargate" project announced at the Whitehouse on January 21. See https://openai.com/global-affairs/openai-for-countries/ for the details. Presumably supported by Altman's Orb project to own/control the biometric identity of humans around the world.
When I first saw the OpenAI announcement I thought it must be a miss-timed April Fool's joke! How could they possibly think any other country in the world would trust a US-based company with managing and setting policies for their AI future, given the current level of trust around the world for anything American?
And things like Musk's play for global control of communications and Zuckerberg/Meta's request that US foreign policy support forcing other countries to allow Facebook's evil privacy and other practices in their jurisdictions.
I'm hopeful PM Carnie will also say "never, never, never", to having Canada's AI future owned and controlled by the US Broligarchy. Just as he replied to Trump's "Never say never" jibe during this week's oval office press event.
Interestingly, China may lead the way for actual global AI for good for humanity. It seems to have encouraged an environment of open source AI, which in turn might lead to its international development but still allow for national control. So it looks like the game is afoot for nothing less than the future of humanity. At least if you believe some of the AI pundits.
And the US might be trying to follow both an isolationist and internationalist agenda at the same time. Really looking forward to the time when sanity returns to America, they put teeth into supporting their constitution, and we can all work together in the name of humanity and not the dollar.
Yet again- becoming far too frequent- I wonder at the voters (and even worse those who didn't exercise their democratic prerogative) who decided this man should be their leader.
Thanks for this, well done. I would also posit the Atlantic Charter signed by Churchill & Roosevelt August 14, 1941 off Newfoundland as a declaration of liberal democratic ideals including its eight key principles. Thanks again. Cheers.
Note that Russia is the one country that both calls the relevant holiday "Victory Day" and uses it to have a cheap uptick of patriotism. (It also celebrates it on 9th of May not 8th, but that's beside the point.) Can there have been some influence on Trump here from his dear friend in Kremlin?
Yes, you’re right that it was a collective effort. I am not supporting American bombast and counterfactuals are a mug’s game, but one cannot deny the enormous contribution of the United States as Churchill well knew. As for trade deficits, the United States and the West in general are trading their way to irrelevancy. As Draghi said of the EU, a museum if it doesn’t change.
Sure, it's undeniable that the US made a giant contribution. But there's a world of difference between saying that and what Trump said. (Trump also said the same of the First World War, which is eye-gougingly dumb for a conflict the US mostly sat out.)
The EU's problem isn't trade deficits. Neither is America's, which has the most dynamic economy among developed countries by a large and growing margin.
What seems to be rarely mentioned is that the US wartime industry wasn't significantly hampered by the war itself, because the US wasn't under direct attack, Pearl Harbor aside.
A very good analysis. I would suggest that readers look at the Canadian contribution to WW1 and WW2. The miners tunnelling under Vimy Ridge in WW1, leading to a rapid victory rather than the blood bath that occurred prior. The reason that the Netherlands to this day sends 20,000 tulip bulbs to Canada to be planted in Ottawa (They sent 1.1 million bulbs in 2024 for viewing this year) . The reason that Dutch children light candles at the graves of fallen Canadian soldiers buried there. I could go on. Others were in the fight long before the Americans came in.
Had been hoping to have your thoughts on this very important day in history, Dan. Thank you. Am sharing as widely as I can
Excellent. And super use of posters!
Australia gets a place of honour in that poster with the Statue of Liberty on it
Probably didn’t hurt that Curtin made one of the most important foreign policy speeches in Australian history in 1942 saying that Australia would now look to the US not Britain for its key strategic security relationship
This speech given less than 3 years after Menzies announced Australia’s entry into the war using the term ‘consequently’ as in ‘Chamberlain has declared war on Germany so consequently Australia is also at war’
Not a decision to join the war based on Australian values or strategic reasons, not the talk of an independent nation as part of an alliance, but the talk of a colony having its decisions made for it in the metropole , Curtin was the man who decided Australia was its own independent nation and would join the alliance as an independent nation
The American Memorial Day, at the end of May, originally memorialized the dead of the Civil War. It was marked by solemn processions, led by surviving veterans, to local graveyards to tend graves of fallen soldiers.
First, imagine World War II without America, the arsenal of democracy. Not a pretty sight. No American soldiers, no victory over Japan (would China alone have defeated Japan?). No D-Day, so if the USSR had won, no democratic Western Europe. No American military support to the Soviet Union, which frightened German soldiers in the East. Second, the postwar order was built on continuing American trade deficits as rising powers grew reach through exports, like China today. Not sustainable.
Imagine World War II without Britain: Hitler wins before the US even enters the war.
Imagine World War II without the USSR: Hitler wins whether the US enters or not.
Imagine... You get the point. It really was a collective effort, which is why American leaders always spoke of it as such, and it's foolish to frame it as Trump does.
As to your last statement, the United States ran trade surpluses until the mid-1970s, and the idea that trade deficits are unsustainable for the US over the long term is based on a misunderstanding of what trade deficits are and that conclusion isn't supported by mainstream economists. The bottom line: The post-war order has allowed the American economy to thrive to an astonishing extent, and over the last couple of decades the gap between the US economy and others has actually widened as the US performed better.
What IS unsustainable is endless federal deficits, and the ever-growing income canyon, but they are the product of a political system that refuses to raise taxes to pay for what the political system wants to buy, not the the international order. America does face big troubles. But those problems, and their solutions, all lie at home.
You pointed out the significant difference between trade deficits and government deficits, a distinction that eludes Trump and even commentators I expected would know better. As we've been informed by those who know our trade, the deficit is in the US's favour except for the oil and gas we sell at a discount to the US.
On the other hand, government deficits increase debt, a worryingly large amount being held by China. If Trump were a truly competent president, that would outweigh his sense of victimhood.
As for his bombast, if it were only occasional flashes, it wouldn't be nearly as disgusting as the relentless stream he spews.
By December 1941, the RAF, RCAF and other allied Air forces were dropping far more tonnage than the other way around. The German Army was facing their first strategic defeat in front of Moscow. The Bismarck was at the bottom off the sea and the RN & RCN and were ramping up their defences on the Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC).
The German war machine was increasingly pressured by the lack of critical raw resources and partisan uprisings in Yugoslavia, Greece and just about every other country to different degrees.
Hollywood has not produced movies that show this perspective for the last 40 years - A Bridge Too Far & The Longest Day come to mind. The average American that is even interested in WW2 in the first place have their views shaped by productions such as Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and Greyhound since the 80s.
I know that there will be a lot of but, but to this argument. One quick point, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the lack of fuel impacted that Operation and every action after that. Japan lost the War on the first day as the they did not have the capacity to ramp up military production at scale. Bangkok & Singapore did fall to be sure, but I would argue that they did not have the logistical ability to fight the British empire and China at the same time. The British empire alone was producing more warships than Germany & Japan combined. Add better electronics and unlimited raw resources, the Allies, less the US, would prevail, perhaps one year later.
Thanks for writing this
Thanks for writing this
Thanks Dan for reminding us - Lest we Forget.
We are at a similar inflection point now as 80 years ago, only this time it seems that Trumerica plans to own/extort the "free" world, not lead it. Or at least to control it via the evolving US-based broligarchies.
I guess the opening salvo of the new order was economic warfare based on tariffs. The second (?) salvo was fired May 7 and it's name is "OpenAI for Countries", part of the $500B "Stargate" project announced at the Whitehouse on January 21. See https://openai.com/global-affairs/openai-for-countries/ for the details. Presumably supported by Altman's Orb project to own/control the biometric identity of humans around the world.
When I first saw the OpenAI announcement I thought it must be a miss-timed April Fool's joke! How could they possibly think any other country in the world would trust a US-based company with managing and setting policies for their AI future, given the current level of trust around the world for anything American?
And things like Musk's play for global control of communications and Zuckerberg/Meta's request that US foreign policy support forcing other countries to allow Facebook's evil privacy and other practices in their jurisdictions.
I'm hopeful PM Carnie will also say "never, never, never", to having Canada's AI future owned and controlled by the US Broligarchy. Just as he replied to Trump's "Never say never" jibe during this week's oval office press event.
Interestingly, China may lead the way for actual global AI for good for humanity. It seems to have encouraged an environment of open source AI, which in turn might lead to its international development but still allow for national control. So it looks like the game is afoot for nothing less than the future of humanity. At least if you believe some of the AI pundits.
And the US might be trying to follow both an isolationist and internationalist agenda at the same time. Really looking forward to the time when sanity returns to America, they put teeth into supporting their constitution, and we can all work together in the name of humanity and not the dollar.
Yet again- becoming far too frequent- I wonder at the voters (and even worse those who didn't exercise their democratic prerogative) who decided this man should be their leader.
Thanks for this, well done. I would also posit the Atlantic Charter signed by Churchill & Roosevelt August 14, 1941 off Newfoundland as a declaration of liberal democratic ideals including its eight key principles. Thanks again. Cheers.
Note that Russia is the one country that both calls the relevant holiday "Victory Day" and uses it to have a cheap uptick of patriotism. (It also celebrates it on 9th of May not 8th, but that's beside the point.) Can there have been some influence on Trump here from his dear friend in Kremlin?
And you know Trump just loves the big parade with all the uniforms and guns and tanks…
Yes, you’re right that it was a collective effort. I am not supporting American bombast and counterfactuals are a mug’s game, but one cannot deny the enormous contribution of the United States as Churchill well knew. As for trade deficits, the United States and the West in general are trading their way to irrelevancy. As Draghi said of the EU, a museum if it doesn’t change.
Sure, it's undeniable that the US made a giant contribution. But there's a world of difference between saying that and what Trump said. (Trump also said the same of the First World War, which is eye-gougingly dumb for a conflict the US mostly sat out.)
The EU's problem isn't trade deficits. Neither is America's, which has the most dynamic economy among developed countries by a large and growing margin.
What seems to be rarely mentioned is that the US wartime industry wasn't significantly hampered by the war itself, because the US wasn't under direct attack, Pearl Harbor aside.