VE Day, the military, gratefulness, intervention, neutrality
Date: May 8, 1945 (Victory in Europe Day)
Scene: VE Day celebrations, Ireland
“Yay! The Nazis surrendered!”
“And no thanks to us!”
Scene: VE Day celebrations, Sweden and Switzerland
“Yay! The Nazis surrendered!”
“In spite of us!”
“And I hope no one noticed how we aided them while maintaining the façade of neutrality!”
The Canadian military has a history of being uniquely selfless. During both world wars there were periodic U‐boat attacks along the Atlantic shoreline (many of which were directed at Newfoundland so technically not even Canada). Apart from these, the last international conflict fought on Canadian soil was the War of 1812. Time after time, our loyalty to the Empire and other allies has seen our young men and women being sent to all corners of the globe. And that “women” part is key, too, as we possess one of the unfortunately few completely integrated militaries in the world.
Observing recent ceremonies in the Netherlands it was heartwarming to see how much respect our military can still command in light of the ungratefulness exhibited by more recently liberated peoples. I guess some people just aren’t big on democracy. Not that the liberation of Europe was seamless: there were plenty of people upset with the post‐war status quo both legitimately (Forest Brothers, cursed soldiers) and not so much (Red Brigades, EOKA). But nobody as persistent or as popular as the Taliban. Those guys reeeealy like their theocracy.
In the future I propose we only intervene in countries that have been democratic within the last 20 years and/or have significant cultural ties with us. First stop: Fiji!
P.S. Oh, to add to that bit at the beginning. I reserve a special kind of loathing for neutral states. To be neutral is to say there is no right or wrong.