Red Army History, and Rochdale

When  Russia’s Culture Minister and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church unveiled their new memorial statue to Mikhail Kalashnikov which came along with millimetrically-accurate outlines of all of Kalashnikov’s world-class killing machines, it was soon pointed out that the sculptor had included, in amongst all of the AK-47’s variants, a perfect replica outline of a German StG 44 machine gun, designed in 1944.

Moscow-based military historian Yuri Pasholok revealed Thursday in a Facebook post that the rifle diagram etched into the plate is an exact replica of the diagram for the StG rifle. “Just don’t say that this was an accident,” Pasholok wrote. “One should be beaten, painfully and publicly, for something like this. These are boy-sculptors, dammit!”

Scherbakov acknowledged the discrepancy the same day, admitting that it was a mistake. “This is a very small background thing,” the sculptor was quoted saying by the RBC news outlet. “I even wonder how they noticed it. We took [the image] from a source where it was written ‘Kalashnikov assault rifle.”

So, the grinding wheels came out pretty quick, the sculptor was suitably advised to get his weaponry library overhauled; or something very similar; the offending StG machine pistol disappeared, the mistake was acknowledged, and the world shrugged and moved on.

I bet Rochdale Council wished it could as easily erase the past events which spread over two decades with the allegations of abuse at Knowl View School and Cambridge House Hostel: allegations which, despite the mounting list of allegations against both staff members and the late Cyril Smith MP, the CPS decided that there would be no further actions, and the case files were closed: a decision which even the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd called ‘shameful’. Rochdale Council have ‘apologised’; but Richard Scorer, a solicitor for some of the the victims, claimed the independent inquiry which opens on 9 October and will examine abuse allegations about Cambridge House and Knowl View, is the real reason for the apology.

So Rochdale adds yet another place-name to the sordid list; upon which one commentator stated:- If the List gets any longer, Prof. Jay will probably be the first Centenarian Inquiry Leader.

‘Standing Room’ only!

There are messages, and statements aplenty, on the efficacy, content and outcome of the ‘kneeling’ protest against America’s Flag, Anthem and indeed ethos of the America which I have come to understand and respect for more years than I can either count or indeed remember. I have written of the ‘Sounds’; I have written of the ‘Warriors’, men who fought their B-17 bombersacross the death-laden skies of Occupied France, and the other Nazi-held nations of Europe, and into the enemy bastion of Nazi Germany; to deliver yet another message to Berlin: a message with just two words. Those words? Unconditional Surrender. I give a link to a blogsite which holds one man’s reply to the swaggering bloated millionaires as they kneel in a disrespect which goes against everything that I believed America stands for. True, they are perfectly entitled to protest against anything and anyone, they are perfectly at liberty to do just that; but to state that ‘Your Country is not Worthy’! This action is beyond parody, and is itself unworthy.

I would finish this short (for me) statement by posting a YouTube  video from a group who holds views which many acclaim, many abhor, but deserve to be heard: because this is where they stand on ‘Kneeling’!