Harleyman

Sooner or later I believe.

I don't believe there's a scrap of truth in Churchill having fore knowledge of Pearl Harbour. He was half American himself and by his own admission worshipped his American mother. He would not have wished death and destruction on American sailors whatsoever. He may have had his faults but underhanded treachery wasn't one of them

Hitler behaved like the absolute dictator he was. After the attack on Pearl Harbour he decided only four days later to declare war on America. Hitler neither consulted nor asked the advice of his ministers in this matter. The decision was his and his alone. He had an utter contempt for America, calling them a mongrel race run by Jews. Nazi propaganda films at the time show black Americans doing the jitterbug, grinning at the camera, cartoonish drawings of Jews with the features exaggerated to the point of the grotesque and in his opinion a nation that had no taste or stomach for war. He also believed in his cockeyed way of thinking that America would be so absorbed in the war with Japan that any aid to the British or Russians would be nothing more than a trickle. What he didn't know of was the bond that existed between Roosevelt and Churchill and Roosevelt's abhorrence of Hitler and the Nazis. This mutual feeling between Churchill and Roosevelt paved the way for the agreement they later reached to give priority to the war in Europe. The Russians may have had a network of spies in Britain as you say but obviously not so much in Germany since Hitler's attack on Russia came as a complete surprise to Stalin By late Autumn 1941 most German Generals involved in the Russian campaign with the exception of that "master military strategist Hitler" knew that the German army was in big trouble and that the campaign to conquer that vast nation was going to be extremely costly and difficult. Hitler at the beginning promised the German people that Russia would be conquered in six weeks

They really don't know what they're talking about. I think some them believe that "whites only" and "colored" drinking fountains are still around and seating on buses is assigned according to color. You have to laugh though. My eldest son's wife is Mexican-American, a beautiful young woman in every way

The Soviet Union didn't have single spy worth a damn in 1941. Stalin didn't even know that Germany planned an invasion in May or June 1941. The British knew through Enigma, warned him but Stalin wouldn't believe it. Claimed it was a cunning ploy by Churchill to get Russia into the war

Failure to integrate? An exaggeration indeed. Have the Muslims in Britain fully integrated with the non Muslim population or are they living more or less separately in Little Beirut type neighborhoods like in Bradford and Birmingham ?

The assumption being that when the Americans were attacked by the Japanese this would automatically get America into a war with Germany. If Germany had not declared war on America would America have declared on Germany ? No sure answer to that. There was no legal reason for America to declare war on Hitler. There had been a few minor incidents between American destroyers and German U-Boats in the Atlantic but nothing anywhere near enough to start a whole shooting war. Roosevelt I believe would have had no power to declare war on Germany without the approval of congress.

Although Hitler honored his agreement with Japan to declare war on America the Japanese on the other hand signed a non aggression pact with Russia which left Stalin free to transfer thousands of fresh well equipped ready for combat troops from the far east to the eastern front. The Germans who were already suffering losses from old man winter got a nasty surprise when these Siberian troops, trained for winter warfare launched a very successful counter attack which halted the Germans in their tracks.

Japanese spy work and intelligence operating out of Honolulu were either stupid or ineffective. Nobody seems to have informed the Japanese high command that the US Navy's aircraft carriers were all out at sea when preparations for the attack were completed and ready to take place. Being a sea faring nation with a very modern navy it seems odd that the Japanese leaders were ready to overlook this fact Admiral Yamamoto was one Japanese leader who was aware of what this oversight would cost

I don't hate the poor. I think some of them tend to have a number of kids they're not able to adequately support without help from the state... but that's all.

No doubt then that those opposed to the idea have a vision of what role the UK will play outside a united Europe in the future?

Where are you broadcasting from? Russia or China? Perhaps Hong Kong. Your completely negative view of Europe smells to me of propaganda

I agree and I think that there's too much expectation that a successful , solid union of so many countries with different languages and cultures can be achieved in a short period. it will take time and patience and there will always be the nationalist element who can only see the negative side of such an idea.. Europe isn't a broken continent. It's just going through a cycle of change as it always has. The middle east fits the description far better. I don't know where the OP lives. She claims she's British but she started another thread not long ago about the UK which was negative and now Europe

China's prosperity is closely tied to that of Europe and America. A major economic collapse in either or both of the latter and China's economy and prosperity would dissolve like snow in July ---------- Post added 12-07-2015 at 22:19 ---------- Considering hundreds of years of wars and rivalries the situation in Europe has to be much better today

Yes I've heard that doomsday scenario before but if the worst scenario were to happen it would have happened already in the tumultuous days of the civil rights protests when the attitude towards black people by whites was by comparison with today far less tolerant. That generation are either very old or are already dead. I happen to have lived here for many years, seen the changes which have occurred. The country is in process of change just as Europe is. Hispanics have now outnumbered blacks in percentage of minority population I don't see any sense in your remark that blacks in America should have returned to Africa Why would someone who was born and grew up in say Alabama have any feeling of connection with a country that his grandfather was brought from? He or she might have heard stories of Africa that were passed down from generation to generation but that's a long way from anyone feeling the urge to fold tent and move to another country that is far different in every way from that which they are living in and accustomed to Don't forget that it was the English who first started the slave trade from Africa with the co-operation and help of Africans themselves and Arab slave traders. They needed manual labour for the English colonies in Virginia and the Carolinas to help harvest the lucrative cotton and tobacco trade. More shame that after independence it took the Americans another 80 years to finally abolish that shameful trade.

You forgot to mention that Lawrence died later on in England after a motor cycle accident. In the film version at the end of the war with the Turks Lawrence attempted to bring the various Arab tribes together to form some sort of united Arab nation but it all failed and came to nothing One hundred years later nothing seems to have changed in that respect

The moon rocks. Is anyone daft enough to believe that the moon rocks are not the real thing? Would anyone be stupid enough to display some rocks that were from this planet and try to fool the rest of the world that they were from the moon.

Peter O'Toole was never effeminate in the slightest way but in the movie there are moments when Lawrence seems to act as such. Was the real Lawrence a gay blade? I have never heard that he was. That Turkish lad seemed to think so in one scene

But naturally ignored by the SF Boob Toob surfers who just look for the kind of stuff to trash America with

I was only joking about Scarborough Beach. I didn't know it was really like that :o Must x it off my places to visit bucket list You've been there yourself I take it ? I prefer our Zuma Beach up near Malibu. Naked girl sightings. But that's just me....always was a bit of a non conformist

If the inland revenue service is anything like the US internal revenue service I'm sure nobody gets away with tax dodging

The Chinese are planning their moon landing sometime in the not very far distant future. When they land and see the US flag in place some of you conspiracy nuts are going to look pretty stupid For the benefit of the poster who remarked that it must be fake because the flag looks as though it's fluttering in a breeze the flag in fact was manufactured to look like that. It would have been pretty dumb to have left a cloth flag just hanging down on the pole wouldn't it ? Duh ! ---------- Post added 10-07-2015 at 23:01 ---------- Is Scarborough the beach where the boys all flash their dickies at each other ? erm i mean

:hihi:

What's that got to do with Greece's current situation? :loopy: It's you, the British taxpayer who are bailing them out every few years or didn't you even know that?

Bottom line is that Greece needs to stop acting like the family deadbeat. Always borrowing money and never able to pay it back. The government does not appear to have any system for collecting taxes even. They need to wake up, get their act together or get out of the EU