The World Peace Treaty: A Look Back on the Kellogg-Briand Pact

December 26th, 2013

I got one of the most amusingly ridiculous pieces of political spam in my email box recently:

DEAR SANTA

please can be seated in your nice wormchair and email to the rest off the world to forward the red note to their head of state, if the world peace treaty ever take place (with your help and those that read this), there are enough monie spent on each country on defend budgets (that %30 off our taxes monie) we can all have 3 presents each every day for the rest of our lives the and also our great great great grand children lives, not including the ten year early retirement which we should have

together we can kindly ask the world top 20 leaders to sign a world Peace treaty
please can you copy and paste the message in the red below then email it to your local Members of Parliament (MPs) or someone who s head of state
in your country or county
do this once (mean you r a true beliver))
copy and email all the text to a hundred people (mean this will happen, 100x 100 x 100x 100= 1 bilion people

Etc. etc. etc., at great length.

It would be the height of laziness to take potshots at a naive piece of badly-spelled spam, but since it’s the day after Christmas, and I’m feeling very lazy indeed, let’s grab the pump-action Remington and stroll out to the pike barrel, shall we?

Putting aside the fact that this particular email seems to have been dictated by a Nigerian Prince to someone for whom English was not their first (or even second) language, let me concentrate on the underlying idea animating the missive, namely a world peace treaty to end war.

Hate to tell you sparky, but it’s been tried. It was called the Kellogg-Braind Pact:

WHEREAS a Treaty between the President of the United States Of America, the President of the German Reich, His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the President of the French Republic, His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, His Majesty the King of Italy, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, the President of the Republic of Poland, and the President of the Czechoslovak Republic, providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy, was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotontiaries at Paris on the twenty-seventh day of August, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight, the original of which Treaty, being in the English and the French languages, is word for word as follows:

THE PRESIDENT OF THE GERMAN REICH, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN IRELAND AND THE BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, EMPEROR OF INDIA, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF ITALY, HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND THE PRESIDENT OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC,

Deeply sensible of their solemn duty to promote the welfare of mankind;

Persuaded that the time has, come when a frank renunciation of war as an instrument of na tional policy should be made to the end that the peaceful and friendly relations now existing between their peoples may be perpetuated;

Convinced that all changes in their relations with one another should be sought only by pacific means and be the result of a peaceful and orderly process, and that any signatory Power which shall hereafter seek to promote its ts national interests by resort to war a should be denied the benefits furnished by this Treaty;

Hopeful that, encouraged by their example, all the other nations of the world will join in this humane endeavor and by adhering to the present Treaty as soon as it comes into force bring their peoples within the scope of its beneficent provisions, thus uniting the civilized nations of the world in a common renunciation of war as an instrument of their national policy;

Have decided to conclude a Treaty and for that purpose have appointed as their respective Plenipotentiaries

[List of Plenipotentiary signatories omitted]

who, having communicated to one another their full powers found in good and due form have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I

The High Contracting Parties solemly declare in the names of their respective peoples that they condemn recourse to war for the solution of international controversies, and renounce it, as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another.

ARTICLE II

The High Contracting Parties agree that the settlement or solution of all disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them, shall never be sought except by pacific means.

ARTICLE III

The present Treaty shall be ratified by the High Contracting Parties named in the Preamble in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements, and shall take effect as between them as soon as all their several instruments of ratification shall have been deposited at Washington.

This Treaty shall, when it has come into effect as prescribed in the preceding paragraph, remain open as long as may be necessary for adherence by all the other Powers of the world. Every instrument evidencing the adherence of a Power shall be deposited at Washington and the Treaty shall immediately upon such deposit become effective as; between the Power thus adhering and the other Powers parties hereto.

It shall be the duty of the Government of the United States to furnish each Government named in the Preamble and every Government subsequently adhering to this Treaty with a certified copy of the Treaty and of every instrument of ratification or adherence. It shall also be the duty of the Government of the United States telegraphically to notify such Governments immediately upon the deposit with it of each instrument of ratification or adherence.

IN FAITH WHEREOF the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed this Treaty in the French and English languages both texts having equal force, and hereunto affix their seals.

DONE at Paris, the twenty seventh day of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight.

The brainchild of French foreign minister Aristide Briand and U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg, the Pact was conceived as a way of constraining future German aggression and eliminating the horrors of war for all time.

Didn’t work out so well.

Like all Utopian schemes, the Kellog-Briand Pact failed because it assumed human beings were both perfectible and rational in large numbers, neither of which is the case. Forged in a time of relative economic prosperity, when Hitler was an ex-con running the fringe National Socialist German Workers’ Party, no one could foresee the Great Depression and the conflagration of World War II just around the corner.

Wars happen for a variety of reasons, none of which can be derailed solely because the countries involved signed a piece of paper saying war is bad and naughty and they’re having none of it. Treaties work when they either benefit both nations (see, for example, the Rush-Bagot Treaty, which demilitirized the Great Lakes), or because one party to the treaty has the obvious ability to completely beat the snot out of the other.

Treaties with non-democratic regimes are only as good as the obvious willingness of democratic nations to use force to back them up. Which is why I have little-to-no faith that the recent treaty with Iran will have the slightest effect on Iran’s nuclear program beyond accelerating it…

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Posted in Foreign Policy, Military | No Comments »

Merry Christmas!

December 25th, 2013

Enjoy the traditional Christmas music of my people:

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Posted in video | No Comments »

LinkSwarm for December 24, 2013

December 24th, 2013

Merry Christmas a day in advance!

  • Obamacare’s popularity hits new lows. If you want to save yourself some time, just save that phrase; you’ll be able to use it lots next year as well…
  • Even the uninsured hate ObamaCare.
  • ObamaCare is falling apart before our very eyes. Good.
  • The harsh truth is that the advertising machine behind the Obama administration seems not to really know what normal human beings are like.
  • Medicaid + ObamaCare + Estate Recovery = The feds get to seize your estate. (Warning: DailyKos) But think of the future! Medicaid + ObamaCare + Estate Recovery + Death Panel = Ka-Ching! State government need but speed up your shuffling off this mortal coil to help close those pesky budget deficits to pay for public employee union pensions! It’s a win-win-win! (Well, for everyone but the poor schmuck getting the state equivalent of a pillow over their face…)
  • Via Moe Lane comes the heartening news that ObamaCare stinks so badly that Democratic gubernatorial candidates in deep blue Maryland are trying to distance themselves from it.
  • ObamaCare, like Obama himself, is a miserable failure:

  • ObamaCare brand heroin. Well, they’re both being pushed by people who want to get you hooked and make you dependent for their benefit. But I’m given to understand that a junkie can tell whether the smack is good within seconds; we injected Obamacare into our body politic four years ago, feel horrific side effects, and we’re still waiting for the high…
  • Even Colorado college students are losing their jobs due to ObamaCare.
  • Liberals have a reality problem.
  • Senators Coburn and Feinstein introduce bill to eliminate corn biofuels mandate. It’s a start. They should eliminate all biofuels mandates and agribusiness subsidies.
  • Nancy Pelosi says that being an illegal alien is no cause for deportation. Evidently the purpose of the border patrol is to hand out free lemonade along with ObamaCare application forms and membership cards for the Democratic Party…
  • Job;less claims jump to the highest level since March. “Unexpectedly!”
  • “The country needs jobs, not more jobless benefits.”
  • Wisconsin Democrats conduct with your tax dollars.
  • Speaking of Wisconsin, 70 unions there deceertify. Funny how many union “members” will escape if given a chance.
  • Good: reheated turkey. Bad: Reheated Huckabee Presidential run, which would be the wrong kind of turkey…
  • “If there’s anything that makes women unequal to men, it’s the need to be treated like pieces of china.”
  • Mack Brown goes out with class. Asked his biggest regret, you’d think he’d say Colt McCoy getting injured in the national championship game against Alabama. Nope. “They’d be two things. I would want Cole Pittman back, and I would want the bonfire [tragedy] not to have happened at A&M.” It was time for Brown to retire, but he always conducted his program with class and respect.
  • Outed black supremacist finally out of federal government job. (Previously.)
  • Remake Gilligan’s Island? “Michael Cera as Gilligan.” Die in a fire.
  • Robbie Cooper is hanging up his blogging gloves at UrbanGrounds.

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    Posted in Border Control, Economics, ObamaCare, Texas, unions | 3 Comments »

    The Black Citiziens of Chicago Are Mad As Hell; Are They Going To Take It Anymore?

    December 23rd, 2013

    Saw this over on Ace of Spades, and thought it worthy of much wider distribution. Essentially, black voters in Chicago are tired of a political machine (including black aldermen and preachers ) that does nothing but screw them over.

    Caveat: These are obviously excerpts, so we don’t know what the rest of the meeting was like.

    But certainly black Americans in most American cities have real complaints about a welfare state that’s left them behind and made their lives worse rather than better, and those in Chicago, with one of the heaviest Democratic machines and the highest murder count in the country, have more cause for complaint than most. And it’s absolutely true that the Democratic Party takes them for granted, and will continue to do so as long as they blindly vote 9-1 straight ticket Democrat in every election. Why shouldn’t Democrats take them for granted if they continue to reap lockstep votes without having to exert any effort. (And whenever it waivers, they seem to feel they need only shout “Trayvon!” or some other race card distraction to continue their grip.) And the Great Obama Recession has consistently been worse for black America than white America.

    (It also needs to be noted that at the state level, many Illinois Republicans are just guilty of ignoring voter needs as part of the corrupt bipartisan Combine that runs the state.)

    But at least Chicago’s black community has made the first step of speaking out about how the Democratic machine has been harvesting their votes and handing out welfare, but otherwise neglecting them and taking them for granted. There’s no guarantee they’ll take the next step, be it actually talking to Republicans, consider abandoning the failed liberal welfare state model that’s destroyed their community, or even form a new political party (maybe The Urban Party) rather than demanding a bigger share of the corruption (as so many black politicians have). But at least the recognize there’s a problem.

    Finally, I still think Al Sharpton is among the lowest of race-hustling poverty pimps, but let’s give him one cheer here for setting this up and actually letting people speak.

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    Posted in Democrats, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »

    Charles Krauthammer Nails ObamaCare

    December 20th, 2013

    This is far from the first time Charles Krauthammer has taken the wood to ObamaCare, but this piece provides an admirable takedown for column length:

    In fact, Obamacare is a full-scale federal takeover. The keep-your-plan-if-you-like-your-plan ruse was a way of saying to the millions of Americans who had insurance and liked what they had: Don’t worry. You’ll be left unmolested. For you, everything goes on as before.

    That was a fraud from the very beginning. The law was designed to throw people off their private plans and into government-run exchanges where they would be made to overpay — forced to purchase government-mandated services they don’t need — as a way to subsidize others. (That’s how you get to the ostensible free lunch.)

    It wasn’t until the first cancellation notices went out in late 2013 that the deception began to be understood. And felt. Six million Americans with private insurance have just lost it. And that’s just the beginning. By the Department of Health and Human Services’ own estimates, about 75 million Americans would have plans that their employers would have the right to cancel.

    Also:

    Three years ago I predicted that Obamacare would turn insurers into the lapdog equivalent of utility companies. I undershot. They are being treated as wholly owned subsidiaries.

    Read the whole thing.

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    Posted in ObamaCare, Welfare State | No Comments »

    PajamaBoy Update

    December 19th, 2013

    It turns out that PajamaBoy is not an unsuspecting pajama model, but an actual OFA minion named Ethan Krupp. So if you worried that all this ruthless mockery was unjustified, worry no more! He bought the ticket, he can take the ride.

    I snarkily referred to PajamaBoy’s “Canadian Girlfriend.” It occurs to me that you could make a good case for “Truth,” “Transparency” or “Competence” being Obama’s Canadian girlfriends. He sure talks about them a lot, but no one has ever seen them in the same room with him…

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    Posted in Democrats, ObamaCare | No Comments »

    Enter PajamaBoy

    December 18th, 2013

    If ObamaCare weren’t destroying the lives of millions, you could almost feel sorry for their colossal ineptitude at every aspect of ObamaCare.

    Almost.

    But the most recent of Obama’s risible “Sell ObamaCare to your relatives at holidays” gambits is far and away the most mockable:

    And thus #PajamaBoy was born. There are topics that just cry out for my special brand of sensitivity, and PajamaBoy is one of those topics:

    Eventually I started channeling #PajamaBoy himself:

    Others, of course, were right there in the trenches of derisive mockery with me:

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    Posted in Media Watch, ObamaCare | No Comments »

    District Judge Strikes Down ObamaCare’s Contraceptive Mandate

    December 17th, 2013

    U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan struck down the ObamaCare contraceptive mandate. If you read the actual decision, it’s a smackdown of both the mandate itself and the Obama Administration’s position on same;

    As for the self-certification requirement, the Court rejects the Government’s position that plaintiffs may be compelled to perform affirmative acts precluded by their religion if a court deems those acts merely “de minimis.” This argument – which essentially reduces to the claim that completing the self-certification places no burden on plaintiffs’ religion because “it’s just a form” – finds no support in the case law. As discussed, where a law places substantial pressure on a plaintiff to perform affirmative acts contrary to his religion, the Supreme Court has found a substantial burden without analyzing whether those acts are de minimis.”

    Cogan ruled against some of the plantiff’s arguments on other technical issues, but on the central issues of the case he ruled “the Mandate burdens plaintiffs’ religion by coercing them into authorizing third parties to provide this coverage through the self-certification requirement, an act forbidden by plaintiffs’ religion.”

    On his Facebook page, Ted Cruz hailed the ruling as a “Major victory for religious liberty.”

    Gabriel Malor of Ace of Spades has analyzed the ruling in more detail.

    Cogan’s ruling deals specifically with religious non-profits covered by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and as such does not directly affect the Hobby Lobby case the Supreme Court will be taking up (“none of these cases bear directly on the issue at hand”). However, his overall reasoning, if applied to that case, could very well lead to ruling that the contraceptive mandate is an unconstitutional burden on freedom of religious conscious as well.

    Remember, the fervor with which Nancy Pelosi refused to remove the contraceptive mandate and taxpayer-funded abortion from ObamaCare, even when it cost most of Bart Stupak ostensibly “pro-life” Democrats their seats, indicated that liberals regarded those sections as one of act’s most important features. If Cogan’s ruling is upheld, this is not only a major victory for religious liberty, but also a huge blow to ongoing Democratic attempts to marginalize religion in American life.

    Also remember that ObamaCare has no severability clause. If Judge Cogan’s ruling is upheld, there’s still a chance (though by no means a guarantee) that the rest of the act can be found unconstitutional as well.

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    Posted in ObamaCare, Supreme Court | No Comments »

    Instead Of Real Content

    December 16th, 2013

    Instead of real content, enjoy some of this:

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    Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    New York City Liberals Shocked To Find ObamaCare Screws Them As Well

    December 14th, 2013

    This New York Times piece linked by Instapundit is too good not to give its own post.

    Many in New York’s professional and cultural elite have long supported President Obama’s health care plan. But now, to their surprise, thousands of writers, opera singers, music teachers, photographers, doctors, lawyers and others are learning that their health insurance plans are being canceled and they may have to pay more to get comparable coverage, if they can find it.

    “Hey, wait a minute! ObamaCare was never supposed to screw me! It was only supposed to screw other people!”

    It’s like that scene in Aliens where the backstabbing corporate weasel corporate weasel who betrayed the rest of the crew gets a face-full of xenomorph, but with ObamaCare as the alien and liberals playing Paul Reiser.

    For years conservatives have issued unheeded warnings about how big government ruins peoples lives, but it took Democrats shoving ObamaCare down the country’s throat to make liberals feel the pain.

    It is not lost on many of the professionals that they are exactly the sort of people — liberal, concerned with social justice — who supported the Obama health plan in the first place. Ms. Meinwald, the lawyer, said she was a lifelong Democrat who still supported better health care for all, but had she known what was in store for her, she would have voted for Mitt Romney.

    And that’s why the Obama-friendly media lied about it for four years.

    ObamaCare is a bad law for most Americans, a bad law for the country as a whole, and should be repealed.

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    Posted in ObamaCare | No Comments »

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