Gary Sheffield: 'A Short History of the First World War'

Every war has been a disaster and led to bitterness, revenge and more war. And to the killing of people like me who understand the immorality and pointlessness of it all.

The First World War is a good example of futility and of the most unfortunate consequences. "It sowed the seeds of fascism in Italy and Germany."  Again, "It killed millions and brought the world, albeit not directly, to an even greater conflagration."

Gary Sheffield:  'A Short History of the First World War'

War is a human catastrophe but is still so popular.  The First WW was like what is said of foxes.  'They get a scent of blood and go on a killing spree.'  For humans this is so true: 1914 to the present.  The First WW was 'The War that Ended the Peace', the title of a Margaret Macmillan history book.  No peace, courtesy of the Judeo-Christian nations, ever since.  Shameful.

Britain's disastrous involvement in Iran - from 'The Making of the Modern Middle East' by Jeremy brilliant Bowen

Extracts from chapter 10, 'In the Name of God'

Many Iranians are suspicious of the intentions of foreign governments.  At the top of the list are America, Israel and Britain.

The UK's long history of meddling in Iran's affairs.

Iranians learn about British imperialism at school.  Iran's dysfunctional relationship with the Western world is rooted in the interventions of Britain and America.  As always with powerful nations, their actions were designed to protect and promote their own interests.

Britain took control of the waters of the Gulf between Arabia and Iran in the 1820s to stop pirates attacking shipping on the route to India.  The discovery of oil in southern Iran in 1908 changed everything, putting the Middle East front and centre in the minds of the leaders of the great powers, where it has stayed ever since. ... oil was a strategic resource as important as steel or coal had been in the 19th century, much too precious to be left to the people who lived on top of it.

Churchill regarded Britain's near monopoly of Iranian oil as one of his greatest achievements.  The deal D'arcy had made in 1901 netted him another fortune as well as providing bundles of money for Britain's exchequer and cheap oil for the Royal Navy.  It was a disaster for Iran, and not just financially; Britain's outsize influence distorted Iranian politics for decades.

The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, paid more in taxes to the UK government than it paid in royalties to Iran. ... Iranians were not trusted to do the company's big jobs. ... Senior Europeans lived in re-creations of English suburbia on the coasts of the Gulf ... while workers had terraced houses with high walls and tiny courtyards.  The worst place was a shanty town known as 'Paper City' (officially Abadan) which was without electricity or running water and was a haven for rats.

The Iranian oil industry created Iran's first industrial working class.  In the winter of 1978-79, Abadan was one of the cities that rose against the Shah.

In 1941, the British and Soviets invaded and removed Reza Shah - they suspected he was a Nazi sympathiser - replacing him with his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.  The young shah was not invited to the dinner or the conference.

Britain's domination of Iranian oil was an obvious target for Iranians fed up with meddling foreigners making fortunes at their expense ... Losing control of Iranian oil would kick away another leg of Britain's rickety pretensions to world power.

Despite their fierce disagreements

Genuine, pure religion includes resisting coercion, force, violence, war

"PRAYER, PRAY, ACT today and every day - for our leaders to have sound minds, to uphold international law and to resist war, to renounce all illegal actions and, in particular, to stop the killings of non combatants.  Instead, to try diplomacy, conciliation, empathy from understanding the other side's point of view, with friendship and following the Good Samaritan and Sermon on the Mount teaching (Matthew 5,6,7).  I've just re-read the 3 chapters to make quite sure!"

Unsound minds and wrong thinking are drivers of conflict:

The BBC 'Sunday' programme, this morning, had a Melbourne's Deakin University Muslim research fellow saying that an Iranian Shia fatwa ("about twenty years ago") had been in place for Iran not to build more than 2,000 Km long range ballistic missiles and a nuclear bomb.  The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had complied.  If Iran had had a nuclear bomb, they would not have been attacked twice in a short time by Israel/USA.  Like N Korea has not been attacked because of its nuclear programme.  This second attack by the West (USA/Israel) in a short time is taking Iran to civil war.  It is clear that Washington has misunderstood the Islamic Republic of Iran.    LISTEN on BBC Sounds from 07.20.14 to check.

"North Korea is the tenth country to develop and most recently to openly test nuclear weapons."  Wikipedia

"Ignorance can be bliss"

Letter to the Times:

Why does Professor Richard Dawkins begrudge us our delusions?  Knowledge is not necessarily a solution.

If I believe that my husband adores me, whereas in fact, he regards me as a part of the furniture, who benefits by having this explained to me?

There is universal benefit in a simple thought that there is a last resort to which one appeals when desperate.  Millions do this and have this need.

Mary G Evans, Devon

Jude Weller-Redfern wrote: "An interesting view on the belief in God.  Pragmatism par excellence!"

Britannica on Western Judeo-Christian world's violent and criminal behaviour on Iran

from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Reza-Shah-Pahlavi

"After centuries of misrule by its former rulers and the ravages of the war waged by foreign belligerents on its soil from 1914 to 1919, Iran in 1921 was prostrate, ruined, and on the verge of disintegration.

"The cabinet was weak and corrupt. Patriotic and nationalist elements had long been outraged at the domination of Iran by foreign powers, especially Great Britain and Russia, both of which had strong commercial and strategic interest in the country.

In 1928 he put an end to the one-sided agreements and treaties with foreign powers, abolishing all special privileges. He built the Trans-Iranian Railway and started branch lines toward the principal cities (1927–38). He emancipated women and required them to discard their veils (1935). He took control of the country’s finances and communications, which up to then had been virtually in foreign hands. He built roads, schools, and hospitals and opened the first university (1934). His measures were directed at the same time toward the democratization of the country and its emancipation from foreign interference.

His foreign policy, which had consisted essentially of playing the Soviet Union off against Great Britain, failed when those two powers joined in 1941 to fight the Germans. To supply the Soviet forces with war material through Iran, the two allies jointly occupied the country in August 1941.

Iranian Revolution, popular uprising in Iran in 1978–79 that resulted in the toppling of the monarchy on February 11, 1979, and led to the establishment of an Islamic republic. It involved the participation of a wide range of Iranians—from the secular left to the religious right—who sought an end to the shah’s autocracy and Western interference in the country’s policies.

-------------------------------------------------------------

from https://www.britannica.com/topic/US-Iran-Relations-A-Timeline

To say that the relationship between the governments of the United States and Iran has been volatile over the last 80 years is to master the art of understatement.

The U.S. installed and propped up a highly unpopular leader, endured the trauma of having citizens held hostage by the government that ousted him, surreptitiously sold arms to that same government less than a decade later, and branded Iran as part of an “axis of evil” before trying to solidify a global deal for nuclear restriction. Then, in 2026, Pres. Donald Trump ordered attacks on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

The dizzying nature of these events can leave anyone wondering, “How did we get here?” Here’s a look at how a once-promising international relationship devolved into one defined by searing images, hostile rhetoric, and bloodshed.

The coup, backed by the CIA and British intelligence, overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, August 1953.

1950s–1970s: Largely unfettered U.S. support

1979: Revolution comes to Iran

1979–1981: The Iran hostage crisis

1980–1988: Iran-Iraq War

1983: Beirut barracks bombings

1985–1987: Iran-Contra Affair

1990s: Economic sanctions

1998–2001: A thaw in relations

2002: “Axis of evil” speech

2013–2018: The Iran nuclear deal that was, until it wasn’t

2020: Killing of Soleimani

2022: Woman, Life, Freedom protests

2025: U.S. and Israel strike Iranian nuclear sites

2026: U.S. and Israel attack Iran, kill supreme leader

Sat 8 August 2026 at Himley Plantation car park

Thanks, Dave for telling me.  Great to meet you.  Even greater if you would like to come and join the bike ride at 10 am on Sat 8 August at Himley Plantation car park - but no pressure!  I will post something on Strava and Facebook.

Remember, the Black Country Cycle/Walk Active Travel Route is the UK's top cycle-walkway for

• its length - 20 Km
• its location
• its convenience for W Mids 2.8 pop
• the major urban-rural-urban commuter, business, leisure route - longer than Bath to Bristol.

This route and the Netherton Tunnel towpath upgrading is all part of Chris Barnett's circular 40 Km route in the Black Country.  But it must be made more popular from being able to be used!  Like, the 96 m Edgbaston Tunnel towpath, which is now wonderful!

Ditch the car and the mud and the flooded potholes in the Netherton tunnel!

Dear Stuart

You and your team would be so welcome to attend, for the first time (!), please, our annual walk or cycle the UK's most important and longest, urban-rural-urban cycle-walkway in the heart of England.

Do put it in your diary, for 10 am on Sat 8 Aug at Himley Plantation car park to cycle north to stop at every tea room or coffee shop on the route - if you wish!  And turn back when you wish.  To highlight the disgraceful state of the mudway in Dudley's section, only.  Brilliant in S Staffs and OK in Wolverhampton.  Dreadful and dud and deadly - and for mudlarks only in Dudley Borough.

OBJECTIVE - to ditch the car and ditch the Dudley mud on their section of the 20 Kms business, commuter and leisure active travel route.

With your important and powerful post as Director of Black Country Transport, are you able to influence the upgrading of the Netherton Canal Tunnel towpath from slum disgrace to something we can actually use - PLEASE?  Remember, cycle commuters as I was for years up to retirement, would like to use it to get to work.

Best wishes

The tragedy of Jews v Arabs when they are all descended from Abram/Abraham

Here is the proof of the crucial part the Bible plays in reinforcing Israel's intention never to share the Land with any other tribe, faith or faction.  No Palestine, ever.  And, ideally, no Iran to threaten God's nation of Israel by its (Iran's) very existence - 1,074 miles away in a straight line.

I have read all of Bibi Netanyahu's 654 page magnificent tome and enjoyed it: 'Bibi: My Story' (pub 2022).  He believes that his ancestor Abram/Abraham, was given the land after he moved (1900 BCE) from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, or the Levant, at the Mediterranean end of the Fertile Crescent.  Bibi is convinced Abram got there first to claim the land in Canaan - "north, south, east and west, as far as you can see" - to be his and his descendants who would become a great nation, Israel and, "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."  (Genesis 12)  What a way for the Jews/Israelis to be a blessing to their neighbours - by slaughtering them!

Our great ally and friend Bibi, conveniently overlooks that the Bible says that there were other tribes in Canaan when he finally arrived.  The Jews' ancestors did not move into an empty land.  The Canaanites were one tribe already there - Genesis 12 v 6.  In the next verse, the Lord told Abram, "To your descendants I will give this land."  And it was and is always by coercion, force and violence, apart from the first, with Abram's family arrival about 1900 BCE - like today perhaps, as unwelcome immigrants.

For Bibi the Bible is historically correct, with no anachronisms or even areas of uncertainty, with the Jewish tribe as only the legitimate claimant to the Levant/Canaan.  Bibi has the support of the evangelicals who are equally convinced.  It is crucial in the current thinking and behaviour of Israel's leaders. They are on a mission.  They got there first, gained it by aggression for a second time in winning wars over the indigenous tribes, like the Canaanites, Moabites and Ammonites under Joshua, and were duly rewarded by their God in keeping it.  Until the Exile.

The  Bible is written by about forty Jews and Christians, of how Abraham's son Isaac and his descendants, from Jacob/Israel, have considered themselves as being blessed by the One and Only God who has chosen them to be His Chosen and honoured People and the only Rightful heirs to, and owners of, the Greater Promised Land.

The other son of Abraham is Ishmael who was actually the first born.  He was born out of wedlock to slave woman, Hagar and was cast out of the family along with his mother and, against the custom of the day.  Ishmael was also to become the father of a great nation - the Arabs.  "Jewish and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael to be the ancestor of Arabs.^[26]" Wikipedia

No wonder divided humankind is unable to live in peace and harmony despite the promise to Israel to become a great nation and mediating blessings to other peoples.  Instead, constant resort to mutual recriminations and violence.

The Bible is crystal clear that it is the Jews/Israelis who alone must have the Promised Land of Canaan. Not the Arabs or Palestinians. Hence, our friend Bibi is so intransigent that his lot are the only Rightful Owners of the unHoly Land. He will forever fight and war over it - into eternity.  For the present, he lives in paranoiac fear that his country will be attacked and overrun by Iran with its ballistic missiles and, one day, nukes.  "It only takes one nuclear bomb to land on Israel for it to be all over", claim the Israelis to justify their forever war on Iran and its proxies.  No attempt at conciliation, friendship and the Good Samaritan approach!  They are far more comfortable living with fear of attacks and regular wars (lawn mowing) to control the upstart Arabs, than peace, harmony and goodwill among all their neighbours.

It is so tragic. But it goes to the heart of the human condition  - we can never share, equitably, the earth and its resources.  Forever wars.  Forever divided in hatred and fear.  There is unlikely to be a happy ending when the evangelicals are longing for Armageddon and the return of Christ to well and truly End everything.  They and Bibi are going the right way about it.

(Sources: Bible; 'How Did We Get Here' on BBC Sounds; and 'The Lion Handbook to the Bible')

THE ONLY RESPONSE:

Further to your email from this morning, it may be worth pointing out to the Evangelicals, that should there be a Second Coming, Christ would almost certainly condemn the actions of Israel & The USA. There actions are a complete contradiction to the teachings of Christ. 

Such is the fervour of some of the confused & befuddled, they now believe that Trump is Christ's earthly messenger!! God help us.

War is a monstrous crime perpetrated by the violent West

War is a monstrous crime perpetrated by the violent Judeo-Christian nations.  Much more than the Muslim nations who have spewed radical men of violence like Osama bin Laden and the Islamists but, have otherwise suffered at the hands of Judeo-Christian nations desperate to have maximum control over Iran, in particular and Muslim oil for more than 100 years.

America and the Western/EU countries as wealthy nations can easily afford all things military and aggressive and, then are so easily tempted to throw their weight around using their vast piles of conventional weapons and WMD.  Exactly what we have seen over the last 100 years.

Green Party takes Gorton and Denton - from Jonathon Porritt

"Finally, the ongoing genocide in Gaza was a massive issue – and not just for the 30% of voters in Gordon and Denton who are Muslims.

"Keir Starmer – Yvette Cooper – David Lammy – Shabana Mahmoud: their complicity in the destruction of Palestine gets clearer and clearer for all to see. This obscene moral failure will continue to haemorrhage votes away from Labour until it changes its position."

God is on the side of the most military aggressive and powerful and victorious

It is unacceptable that over 3,000 years ago one group of Arabs or semites(?) used God's command "to go and possess the land", to justify a war of aggression and subjugation against the original inhabitants of Canaan.  The victorious group said God was on their side, had given them the victory, that they were His Chosen Nation, alone and, had given them and them alone the Promised Land in a glorious, aggressive war.  This is obscene and deluded.

It means that our friend and ally, Bibi might is right Netanyahu is saying that the Israelis and only the Jewish Israelis are entitled to occupy the full area of the unHoly Land from the River to the Sea.

Two very different High Streets!

How can Stourbridge High Street be turned from a popular car parking centre into a pleasant shopping centre to rival the lovely traffic free High Street in heavenly Halesowen?

How would you prioritise/choose these options?

1. Strictly enforce the present car parking arrangements in High St.

2. Extend the underground car park in Stourbridge to take High St cars.  Negotiate with Tesco.

3. Use the government billions for 150 miles of tramway for the planned conversion of buses and trains, instead, to extend Fare-free Public Transport to beyond my old geezers age group.

4. Extend the Shuttle to bring shoppers in from edge of town car parks at Jct sta and at Birmingham Street, near the Household Recycling Centre. 

5. Only allow residences and blue badge holders to park in the High Street, with strict enforcement.

6. Maintain car parking in Lower High St which works well.

Your idea?  Please put the numbers in your order of importance and send to:

dudleycouncilplus@dudley.gov.uk

and, to me at timweller1@gmail.com

It is preposterous ...

 ... that the one God of the world should have tiny Israel as His Chosen Nation and that we are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for no other capital city.

Not just this but, Israel alone, being given the whole of the unHoly Land from the River to the Sea, as written in the Likud Charter.

It is outrageous that this extremely violent and aggressive nation should be allowed every highly expensive, high Climate/resource impacting material blessing, including WMD and ballistic missiles which can wipe out every Arab country which surrounds it.

It is unacceptable, that God should be on the side of Israel and the Devil or Allah has Iran for his nation.

My God, the JC of Nazareth, is a god of non-violence and justice and of sharing equitably.  Especially towards and with the other children of Abraham, Muslims and all other races.

Since 1945 ...

Since 1945, the country which does the most killing in the world is the one in charge!  This is America.  After the USA and the Soviets/Russia, Israel must be the third country at the top  of the Slaughter league table.

In addition, Israel must be the country which has been the most violent throughout its short history.  The most violent and the most unsuccessful in stopping the intermittent warfare.

Indeed, the culmination of 80 years of violence towards its enemy was the most revengeful, audacious, violent and largest attack by its enemy of 80 years.  All because of violence and aggression to win territory that it previously had nearly two thousand years ago.  This had also been won by violence and aggression when, with God commanding them, they had first murdered and massacred the previous inhabitants!

"Hamas set back at least a decade" ... THE 654 PAGES FROM BIBI

"Hamas set back at least a decade" ... THE 654 PAGES FROM BIBI

... Bibi in his book, 'Bibi: My Story', pub 2022.  But in the very next year, Hamas struck to make their attack the biggest failure of security in Israel's 78 year history.

Hence, these famous last words: "Hamas set back at least a decade", p 647 out of 654, in chapter 64 covering 2019 to 2022. Pride comes before a fall.  Complete complacency and total disbelief that the military wing of Hamas, from Gaza of all places, could ever carry out such an enormous and audacious attack.​  But any fleeting thought of honourable resignation never crossed Bibi's mind!

The biggest failure of Israeli intelligence in eight decades - AND, when they knew something was going on over the border, they did nothing; they let it happen, such was their ​incompetence, over​-confidence and their arrogance.

Here is violence, aggression, one-sided genocide and such a total and complete 'David v Goliath' scenario of extreme asymmetric warfare for 78 years that the world has ever seen.  Bibi says that Israel is like David standing up to the most enormous military of the many Arab nations surrounding it.  So how does he explain that his poor little 'David' has slaughtered many times more humans than the Goliath of Hamas/Fatah/PLO has done over the eight decades​?

Bibi is a one trick pony.  All he ever understands is that happiness, peace and security can only ever come down the barrel of a gun.  And worse, by WMD being held only by his country and no-one else in his region.  He lives for violence and aggression.

Winning by violence only ever results in evermore violence, as we saw on 7.10.23 which was bad enough but that was followed by a holocaust of many tens of thousands massacred in Gaza.

Israel must be the biggest failure of any country the world has ever seen because it has to rely on coercion, force and violence.  Might alone is Right.  The Iron Fist is all that matters in life.  Israel Rules OK from the River to the Sea.

The book is well worth reading for how not to live with your neighbours in love and peace.​  So entertaining!

Let's hear it for Jonathon Porritt - extract

I’ve been in this world of radical campaigning, on and off — from Friends of the Earth and the Green Party back in the 70s and 80s  — for 50 years. I’ve never experienced anything quite like this. It has moved and inspired me in a way I still can’t quite make sense of.

Which is why I’m not unduly worried about the possibility that Friday’s High Court judgement (that the Government acted unlawfully in proscribing Palestine Action) may well be overturned in the Appeal Court, or ultimately in the Supreme Court.

Indeed, a bit of me, after a weekend of cautious celebration, is saying “BRING IT ON”. If Ministers still don’t understand the determination and the power of this community, which their own continuing genocide-denying moral depravity has brought into being, then……

Jonathon Porritt

Rebuild for Civilisation, Co-operation and an Enduring Peace

Dear friends - please tell me what you think.

I have now finished reading Bibi Netanyahu's massive but revealing, 654 page book, 'Bibi: My Story' (published 2022).  Triumphant to the end but - all undone on 7.10.23.

I now realise that the Zionists, the Jews, Israelis, Gazans, America and the West, wealthy Arab countries must all rebuild Gaza in their image.  But not as the Riviera of the Middle East but in the image of a multi-racial, Jew and Arab Palestine/Israel.  Gaza as another even tinier state with modest, energy efficient, solar powered homes and buildings for the two million Gazans - and for Israelis who wish to move back there, in due course.

Trump's Board of Peace must include the regional nations and the EU - and Tony Blair is already a member.  The military option has failed over the 80 years since the end of the holocaust of mainly Jews in 1945.  And, spectacularly, for all concerned, so tragically, in the more than two years of pointless extermination of well over 70,000 fellow humans (the large majority being women and children) since 7.10.23.

I think the only option remaining is the Israel/Palestine based story of the Good Samaritan to be tried.  You treat the Gazans/Palestinians royally and generously to buy their goodwill and co-operation.  You heap metaphorical coals of burning fire on their heads so that they are almost embarrassed by Israel and the West's new found change of heart of sympathy and empathy for their plight - and so active, constructive, solidarity.  And include them in rebuilding their homeland in Gaza.  Mainly a Palestinian homeland but one closely connected and partly reliant on Israel.

Perhaps, the new tiny state might be called Palestine/Israel to emphasise the importance of co-operation, of unity with diversity and the interdependence of Jew and Arab on each other - as we all are in putting our humanity first.

There must be an internal security force of Jews and Muslims/Arabs and that must include IDF/Hamas to ensure law and order and the rebuilding to go ahead at the fastest possible pace.  Security must minimise bureaucracy and prevent corruption.  But a joint IDF/Hamas/Arab/Muslim force working together is intelligent enough to oversee the rebuilding and to stamp out or minimise revenge killings.

Added on 21.2.26

The people who wrecked the place, IDF/Hamas, must work together to put everything back together again.  They have to learn to live with each other in peaceful co-existence - in construction.  To learn from the wonderful children's story, 'The Squabbling Squirrels'.  Every killer must lay down his weapons, be searched every morning before work and learn a trade from the professionals to rebuild the Gaza they have destroyed.

There must be a multinational, peacekeeping force to ensure compliance and law and order, of course.

Gaza - the new Palestine/Israel - can indeed be the new model of humans of all faiths and of none being able to live and work together in harmony.

Bibi's 654 pages book ... of making deadly enemies instead of foreigners into friends

 ... does make a good read.  He comes out of it very well, with nothing much left out but it means he tells us the good, the bad and, ugly mistakes which makes him more human.  But he doesn't act with humanity towards his neighbours.  Instead he wants to exterminate Hamas (perhaps just the military wing?) and to take over all of the unHoly Land from the river to the sea.  Always using coercion, force and violence.  No attempt to win them over with generosity, sacrifice and justice.  Nor, to recognise that Arabs and Jews all have Abraham as their one ancestor 4,000 years ago and they all need to live together as a family of humanity.

It is always bull in a china shop approach.  Of always the iron fist and none of the velvet glove to win friends and influence people.

Berlinale Film Festival

They cited the refusal of more than 5,000 film workers, including several major Hollywood names, to work with “complicit Israeli film companies and institutions”. The letter also noted that the Berlinale had made “clear statements” in the past about other “atrocities” including in Ukraine.

“We call on the Berlinale to fulfil its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians, and completely end its involvement in shielding Israel from criticism and calls for accountability,” they said.

Gaza death toll in early part of war far higher than reported, says Lancet study

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/19/gaza-death-toll-higher-than-reported-lancet-study?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other 

​Dear Adrian and Stewart - and Churches Together in Halesowen along, sometimes, with Life Central Church in Halesowen

You all have a duty to get our MPs to raise this matter in the House, to ask questions and to challenge the PM and Cabinet members responsible for their silence, let alone their responsibility for their cold blooded murder and inhumanity.  This is our, Judeo-Christian side behaving despicably, immorally in both Gaza and, in Judea and Samaria towards Palestinians.  This disgrace comes from our supposedly, morally upstanding Bibi Netanyahu, Trump and Keir Starmer who are all directly responsible for the most disgusting, inhumane conditions that you and I have made and, are making, Gazans to have to live in.

The inhumanity and disgrace of the unHoly Land has steadily worsened over the last 100 years and is the most despicable example of man's inhumanity to man in that time - courtesy of pretty rotten ethics by the Judeo-Christian world following some Old Testament ethics more ardently than the glorious ethics of the Jewish founder of Christianity.

Many other areas are equally shameful thanks to our iniquitous international arms trading.

Please act in the only way we can.  The pen and cogent, respectful argument are mightier than the sword so beloved by our leaders.