Words at War: Combined Operations / They Call It Pacific / The Last Days of Sevastopol
The Siege of Sevastopol took place on the Eastern Front of the Second World War. The campaign was fought by the Axis powers of Germany, Romania and Italy against the Soviet Union for control of Sevastopol, a port in Crimea on the Black Sea. On 22 June 1941 the Axis invaded the Soviet Union under Operation Barbarossa. The Axis land forces reached Crimea in the autumn, 1941, and overran the area. The only objective not in Axis hands was Sevastopol. Several attempts were made to secure the city in October and November 1941. A major attack was planned for late November, but bad weather and heavy rains delayed the Axis attack until 17 December 1941. Under the command of Erich von Manstein, the Axis forces were unable to capture Sevastopol in the first stage of operations. The Soviets launched an amphibious landing on the Crimean peninsula at Kerch in December 1941, to relieve the siege and force the Axis to divert forces to defend their gains. The operation saved Sevastopol for the time being, but the landing was checked and repulsed in May 1942.
At Sevastopol the Axis opted to conduct a siege until the summer, 1942, at which point they attacked the encircled Soviet forces by land, sea and air. On 2 June 1942, the Axis began their operation, codenamed Störfang (Sturgeon Catch). The Soviet Red Army and Black Sea Fleet held out for weeks under intense Axis bombardment. The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) played a vital part in the siege. The Luftwaffe made up for a shortage of Axis artillery, providing highly effective aerial bombardment in support of the ground forces. Finally, on the 4 July 1942, the remaining Soviet forces surrendered and the Axis seized the port. Both sides had suffered considerable losses during the siege.
With the Soviet forces neutralised, the Axis refocused their attention on the major summer campaign of that year, Operation Blue and the advance to the Caucasus oil fields.
Liberty Betrayed
Probably, like me, you are feeling horrified by the attacks on police now under way across America. These attacks are undoubtedly making all Americans, regardless of ethnicity, less safe on our streets.
It is somewhat mystifying that this is happening at this point in time. While nobody would dispute that racism against African Americans has been a part of American history, all the data seems to support that great strides have been made, and continue to be made, in this arena. In fact, the data suggests that racism by police officers is presently at the lowest level it has ever been, and virtually no longer exists at any measurable level. Following are some facts to support that. First, there's this:
In 2013, racial or ethnic minorities comprised 27 percent of local police officers, the Bureau of Justice Statistics(BJS) reported Thursday morning. That’s up from 15 percent in 1987, the first year the periodic study was conducted, and 25 percent in 2007, the last year it was conducted. In terms of raw numbers, there were 130,000 minority local police officers in 2013. That’s an increase of 78,000 officers from 1987 and 13,000 from 2007. [Newsweek, 5/14/15]
We have never had more racial diversity in the police departments of America than we do right now. As of the 2010 census, the population at large identified as white amounted to 75% of the population of America. Yet, the quote above tells us that 27% of local police officers are from racial minorities. In other words, minorities actually have a higher statistical representation among the police than do whites. In fact, some cities, New York City being one example, have police departments comprised of over 50% racial minority officers, with white officers actually being the smaller part of the force. Further, it is not uncommon for minority officers to be promoted to chief of police, with white officers serving under their command in a professional manner. None of this squares with the notion of racism as a major problem among the police.
But what of the Youtube videos of black men slain by police? If you dig deeper you will find that in the overwhelming number of cases more is involved than the spin promoted by the liberal press. In most if not all cases the person shot has a criminal and/or drug history and has presented a threat to police officers. Of course, mistakes happen. But they happen just as often, or more often, with white people being shot as compared to black people. Consider this:
“It is the most surprising result of my career,” said Roland G. Fryer Jr., the author of the study and a professor of economics at Harvard.
Mr. Fryer is the youngest African-American to receive tenure at Harvard and the first one to receive a John Bates Clark medal, a prize given to the most promising American economist under 40.
The study examined more than a thousand shootings in 10 major police departments, in Texas, Florida and California.
In officer-involved shootings in these cities, officers were more likely to fire their weapons without having first been attacked when the suspects were white. Black and white civilians involved in police shootings were equally likely to have been carrying a weapon. Both of these results undercut the idea that the police wield lethal force with racial bias.
The result contradicts the mental image of police shootings that many Americans hold in the wake of the killings (some captured on video) of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.; Laquan McDonald in Chicago; Tamir Rice in Cleveland; Walter Scott in South Carolina; Samuel DuBose in Cincinnati; Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La.; and Philando Castile in Minnesota. [The New York Times, 7/11/16]
The facts do not support the contention that police are shooting black men in large numbers because of racism. Then why has this become such a huge issue in America today?
The answer is simple. There is big money stoking and hyping all of this up. This is part of the globalist agenda to destroy liberty and to take down America.
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