It was reassuring to read that, almost two years after Russia invaded the Ukraine, Cyril Ramaphosa has finally gained a ‘better understanding’ of Moscow’s blatant aggression and expansionism:
Though it is tempting to mock him for this belated (and probably insincere) ‘Damascene Conversion’, at least it took Ramaphosa less than two years to (apparently) change his tune, and for him to now ‘understand’ that invading a neighbouring country is not a terribly nice thing to do.
In stark contrast, there are plenty in South Africa – including so-called ‘academics’ – who gleefully drank the Apartheid-regime Kool-Aid, and thus are still yet to understand / admit that the 1899 Boer invasions of Natal and the Cape Colony were very ‘shameful’ acts too.
To maintain their preferred, self-pitying fiction, these Kruger-apologist buffoons have to tie themselves in knots, desperately pretending that the republican invasions of British territory which started the Boer War somehow don’t count as ‘real’ invasions, and are completely and utterly different from every other invasion ever… because… err… well… the Boers did them… and, err, concentration camps, or something.
Can we ever hope for the scales to fall from their eyes?
Or, more accurately, for them ever to remove their National Party issue blinkers?
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I agree with the facts, especially historical facts that are presented and documented from several sources.
Russia invasion of Ukrainian territory. The Boers invading British territory in 1899. The Argentinian’s invading the Falkland islands. The Natzi’s invading Poland, France, Norway etc. Not to forget Jameson and his band of brothers.
It is thus evident the tribes all over the world are always restless, never at peace seeking to gain from another tribe.
At the risk of splitting hairs, I would suggest that the Jameson Raid was not an invasion as such, and more of an attempted coup. It was certainly not aimed at conquering / seizing a nation: the objective of the Reform Committee was simply to gain a fair franchise for people who had built the Transvaal, and paid virtually all the tax there, but were discriminated against by Kruger’s self-appointed Master Race.
The Kruger Fan Club are a blinkered lot with the “We had no choice but to strike first” … Erm … yes they did, but the selfish preservation of the minority, backed up with a corrupt government, ensured war would be the cover to continue to fill their pockets even more. The Kruger Gold mystery is a fine example; Kruger’s Gold was the peoples gold, not his to take, yet its still seen as an act of Kruger’s heroic nature as is abandoning his family! Such a man of honour!
Oh yes, the old ‘but we were forced to attack! it was pre-emptive!’ excuse…
It astounds me that anyone still even tries to peddle this rubbish – though it has been a favoured excuse by unpleasant regimes throughout history to explain away their aggression.
Of course, no one of these idiots can ever explain:
a) what exactly it is claimed to have pre-empted, given that no British invasion was being planned or prepared for
b) how this self-serving claim fits with the inconvenient reality that Kruger had been pushing the OFS to join him in an attack against the British Empire since 1887
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