mistaken identity - bombing of the Bezuidenhout

How good were the British – certainly far away from being merciful and kind. .. . and will  there not  be a reparation for a gross mistake causing killing of innocents !  why did not the World call them killers but instead, swept a gross injustice under the carpet – that gruesome incident -  this day 77 years ago !!- Bezuidenhout ("South of the Wood") is the neighborhood southeast of  The Hague in the Netherlands.   

1)   The movie begins with the secne of  Solaimalai’s eldest baby daughter getting kidnapped. The baby eventually is saved by passerby and raised as his own daughter  .. ..  movie starring MGR and Jayalalithaa -  Thedi Vandha Mappillai, produced by BR Panthulu, co-starring Ashokan, Major Sundararajan, Cho, released in 1970 – it was remake of Panthulu's own 1967 Kannada film Beedi Basavanna.

 

2)   Christopher Emanuel "Manny" Balestrero (Henry Fonda), a down-on-his-luck musician at New York City's Stork Club, needs $300 for dental work for his wife Rose (Vera Miles). When he visits the office of a life insurance company to borrow money against Rose's policy, he is mistaken by the staff there for a man who had twice held them up.

Mistaken identity is a defense in criminal law which claims the actual innocence of the criminal defendant, and attempts to undermine evidence of guilt by asserting that any eyewitness to the crime incorrectly thought that they saw the defendant, when in fact the person seen by the witness was someone else. The defendant may question both the memory of the witness (suggesting, for example, that the identification is the result of a false memory), and the perception of the witness (suggesting, for example, that the witness had poor eyesight, or that the crime occurred in a poorly lit place).

World War II  lasted from 1939 to 1945, and involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers.  Underline : India was not involved nor directly impacted in both the World wars.  In a total war directly involving more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the only two uses of nuclear weapons in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, a majority being civilians. 

The bombing of the Bezuidenhout took place on 3 March 1945, when the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in the Dutch city of The Hague. At the time, the neighbourhood was more densely populated than usual with evacuees from The Hague and Wassenaar; tens of thousands were left homeless and had to be quartered in the Eastern and Central Netherlands.

The British bomber crews had intended to bomb the Haagse Bos ("Forest of the Hague") district where the Germans had installed V-2 launching facilities that had been used to attack English cities. However the pilots were issued with the wrong coordinates so the navigational instruments of the bombers had been set incorrectly, and combined with fog and clouds which obscured their vision, the bombs were instead dropped on the Bezuidenhout residential neighbourhood ! – abject failure of systems and warfare one must call that blunder.

 

On the morning of that fateful day -  medium and light bombers of the North American B-25 Mitchell and Douglas Boston types from No. 137 and No. 139 wings of the Second Tactical Air Force took off from Melsbroek near Brussels and Vitry in Northern France. Between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning the bombers dropped 67 tonnes of high explosive bombs on the Bezuidenhout,[9] wreaking widespread destruction. Due to insufficient fire engines and firemen (as many of them had been either called up for forced labour in German industry or had gone into hiding to prevent being signed up) the resulting fire was largely unchecked, killing 511 people, including eight firemen.  i.e., British killed more than 500 people with no rhyme or reason – coldblooded killing

As soon as the British realized the extent of the damage, they dropped fliers over the neighbourhood apologizing for the error.  Trouw, the Dutch resistance newspaper, reported !!    The bombing is commemorated every year on the first Sunday after 3 March. In 2011 Mayor Jozias van Aartsen  of The Hague as well as the Mayors of Wassenaar and Leidschendam-Voorburg (residents of both towns helped with firefighting and caring for the survivors) were present at the remembrance ceremony.  

How gruesome, what a blunder – yet the kind British just retorted with dropping of fliers ! .. .. History still has a great place for the United Kingdom !

1)    Thedi Vandha Mappillai is a tale of mistaken identity, with an innocent man, like the plot of Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest.  North by Northwest is a 1959 American spy thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is a tale of mistaken identity, with an innocent man pursued across the United States by agents of a mysterious organization trying to prevent him from blocking their plan to smuggle microfilm out of the country, which contains government secrets.  

2)   That you read at the start is storyline of ‘The Wrong Man’ another Alfred Hitchcock film released in 1956  -   starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film was drawn from the true story of an innocent man charged with a crime, as described in the book The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero by Maxwell Anderson and in the magazine article "A Case of Identity", which was published in Life magazine in June 1953.     

Gruesome killing by UK that deserves strong condemnation.

 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
3^rd Mar 2022. 

Black-rumped Flameback spotted !!

Birders spotted 236 species of birds in the 10th edition of Coimbatore Bird Race, the Coimbatore chapter of HSBC-India Bird Race, which was held on Sunday.A total of 26 teams of bird watchers took part in the dawn-to-dusk event, spending an entire day spotting and identifying birds to record as many species as possible.

For long I could only differentiate between a ‘Crow and sparrow’ – now I am seeing Mynahs, Pigeons, Vultures, Parrots, Woodpeckers, and few other tinytots on my terrace !! 

Birdwatching,  the observing of birds,  is indeed interesting. You might spot an odd one with naked eye but more difficult to capture them with a camera.  As you stand in the early hours of morning, there would be so much of interesting sounds of various birds that attract .. ..  that is for common man. Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds. They study various aspects of bird life - evolution, behaviour, food habits, migration, mating patterns, and more. 

This morning saw a beautiful bird that resembled a woodpecker and because of its colour wrote it as - Red-crested woodpecker !!  - not to be, friend Sundaraparipooranan nambi corrected it to be : Black-rumped Flameback.

Woodpeckers are part of the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except  Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specialises in exploiting cacti.Members of this family are chiefly known for their characteristic behaviour. They mostly forage for insect prey on the trunks and branches of trees, and often communicate by drumming with their beaks, producing a reverberatory sound that can be heard at some distance.

The black-rumped flameback (Dinopium benghalense), also known as the lesser golden-backed woodpecker or lesser goldenback, is a woodpecker found widely distributed in the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the few woodpeckers that are seen in urban areas. It has a characteristic rattling-whinnying call and an undulating flight. It is the only golden-backed woodpecker with a black throat and a black rump.  

The black-rumped flameback is a large species at 26–29 cm in length. It has a typical woodpecker shape, and the golden yellow wing coverts are distinctive. The rump is black and not red as in the greater flameback. The underparts are white with dark chevron markings. The black throat finely marked with white immediately separates it from other golden backed woodpeckers in the Indian region. Like other woodpeckers, this species has a straight pointed bill, a stiff tail to provide support against tree trunks, and zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward

This flameback is found mainly on the plains going up to an elevation of about 1200m in Pakistan, India south of the Himalayas and east till the western Assam valley and Meghalaya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is associated with open forest and cultivation. They are often seen in urban areas with wooded avenues.  They feed on insects mainly beetle larvae from under the bark, visit termite mounds and sometimes feed on nectar.   

Interesting !

 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
2^nd Mar 2022. 

79 year old Grandma trains to shoot - vows to protect Nation

Photos of a 79 year old - Valentyna Konstantynovska went viral a fortnight back .. .. at a time when it was speculated that a war could start between Soviet Union and Ukraine !   A war is never good for any Nation and people – thousands would get killed and Country could end up facing severe economic crisis – yet History is replete with wars, invasions, and more ! – reading media reports, one may never understand the background, the occurrence, more so, the impact !!

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine and Russia maintained close ties. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to abandon its nuclear arsenal by signing the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, on the condition that Russia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) would provide assurances against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. In 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, then Prime Minister of Ukraine, was declared the winner of the Ukrainian presidential election, despite allegations of vote-rigging by election observers. The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, and widespread peaceful protests challenged the outcome in what became known as the Orange Revolution.

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a large-scale military invasion of Ukraine, marking an escalation to a conflict that began in 2014. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity in 2014, Russia had annexed Crimea and Russian-backed separatist forces had seized part of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, leading to an eight-year war in the region. It perhaps is the largest conventional warfare attack in Europe since World War II.  Fortunately, there has not been much of International repercussions in the sense that countries have not teamed up causing escalation.

On 21 February 2022, Russia officially recognised the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, two self-proclaimed states controlled by pro-Russian forces in the Donbas.The following day, Russia's Federation Council unanimously authorised Putin to use military force outside Russia's borders, and Russia openly sent troops into the breakaway territories. On 24^th February, Putin announced a "special military operation"in eastern Ukraine; minutes later, missiles began to hit locations across Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv. The invasion saw new sanctions imposed on Russia, triggering a financial crisis.

With the crisis brewing and the possibility of a military conflict becoming more real, by mid-Feb 2022, photos of a 79-year-old great-grandmother taking  part in civilian combat training in Ukraine went viral and was flooded with praise as  Ukraine braced itself for invasion from Russia.Valentyna Konstantynovska was taught how to use an AK-47 assault rifle by the country's national guard in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine.  

She was shown how to use the gun by the Special Forces Unit Azov — who have previously faced accusations from Western journalists that they are a neo-Nazi group — in a training exercise for civilians.It was one of several drills that were carried out across the country to build up a rag-tag army ahead of the 'imminent' invasion by Russian troops.Ukrainians described Ms Konstantynovska as a 'hero' for taking part in the drills, which have also seen children as young as four put through their paces.

Ms Konstantynovska  was taught how to use an AK-47 assault rifle by the the country's national guard in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, who released the photos too that motivated the Nation and its people.   Speaking during the exercise, she told an NBCNews reporter: 'Your mother would do it too.'She told local media: 'I am ready to shoot if something happens. I will defend my home, my city, my children. 'I will do this because I think I’m ready for it. I don't want to lose my country, my city.‘Ms Konstantynovska added: I underwent this training but I probably won't be a very valid soldier because my body doesn't serve me that much anymore. .. .. and the weapon is too heavy for me !  Neighbours described her as 'the example of Ukrainian' after she was pictured aiming down the sight of the gun while prone.

Ms Konstantynovska is not the only Ukrainian woman aiming to defend her country this week, with the country's deadliest female sniper Olena Bilozerska, 42, telling MailOnline she would be at the front lines again within hours to face the Russians.She is credited with at least 10 confirmed ‘kills’ in the trenches of Donbas and is part of the Ukrainian Marine Corps.Mrs Bilozerska said she has no qualms about any of the men she has killed or wounded in battle.‘When the enemy crawls towards our position to kill me, does he think if I have a husband, parents, or kids?’ she said.‘In real life, anyone who thinks along those lines in battle is already as good as dead.’The sniper, from Kyiv, is something of a celebrity in Ukraine, having written a best-selling book called ‘Diary of an Illegal Soldier’, referring to the fact that for the first few years of her service, volunteers like her were not technically allowed to fight on the front lines, but that law was changed in 2016.She was well-known even before the war as her oppositional journalism found her under threat of imprisonment by the old hardline regime of Viktor Yanukovych, deposed in the 2014 Maidan Revolution. She went on to explain that the Zbroyar Z-15 is a hunting rifle, but that she has no intentions of hunting.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
2^nd Mar 2022. 

UN Court orders Uganda to pay $325m in reparations

On Jan 22,2022, in 22^nd match of   ICC Under-19 World Cup - Opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi struck 144 and No. 4 Raj Bawa smacked 162 to give India the second-biggest win in the history of Youth ODIs as the Covid-hit team trounced Uganda by 326 runs in their final Group B encounter in Tarouba. The pair's partnership of 206, that propelled India to post the tournament's first 400+ total, was also the highest third-wicket stand in Under-19 World Cup history. 

Western World depicts most African countries as suffering from poverty, disease and lawlessness.  Have near heard or read of this place as named the Pearl of Africa because of it’s a unique natural destination as compared to other African countries basically because of its large forested area composed of national parks and wildlife reserves giving home to a large numbers of primates including chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, butterflies and birds.  The country has more than  10 national parks with a number of wildlife and forest reserves ~ that is Uganda

 

Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country, including the capital Kampala. The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country.   Beginning in 1894, the area was ruled as a protectorate by the UK, who established administrative law across the territory. Uganda gained independence from the UK on 9 October 1962. The official languages are English and Swahili. The previous ruler was notoriously known across the globe - Idi Amin Dada Oumee,  a Ugandan military officer who served as the President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Popularly known as the "Butcher of Uganda," he is considered one of the most brutal despots in world history. During his years in power, Amin shifted from being a pro-western ruler enjoying considerable support from Israel to being backed by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. As Amin's rule progressed into the late 1970s, there was increased unrest against his persecution of certain ethnic groups and political dissidents, along with Uganda's very poor international standing due to Amin's support for the terrorist hijackers in Operation Entebbe. During his regime,  many Indians fled Uganda  and came back to India. 

Uganda is in news ! – the  UN’s top court recently  ordered Uganda to pay the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) $325m in reparations over a brutal war between the African neighbours that began in the late 1990s.“The court notes that the reparation awarded to the DRC for damage to persons and to property reflects the harm suffered by individuals and communities as a result of Uganda’s breach of its international obligations,” the court’s president, US judge Joan E Donoghue, said. 

The compensation order came more than 15 years after the UN court ruled in a complex, 119-page judgement that fighting by Ugandan troops in DRC breached international law. In 2005 the ICJ ruled that Uganda had to pay reparations, but they were never paid. The sum awarded was well below the request for more than $11bn in damages DRC had demanded for the occupation of its volatile northeastern Ituri region.

The court broke down the compensation into different categories of damages. It assessed $225m for “loss of life and other damage to persons” that included rape, conscription of child soldiers and the displacement of up to 500,000 people.Ugandan soldiers who had been fighting Ugandan rebels in DR Congo for the previous three years, cross back into Uganda.  It assessed another $40m for damage to property and $60m for damage to natural resources, including the plundering of gold, diamonds, timber and other goods by Ugandan forces or rebels they supported. 

The ruling by the Hague-based court is a blow to DRC after a long legal battle for compensation over the devastating 1998-2003 conflict that left thousands of people dead.Judge Donoghue said there was “insufficient evidence to support the DRC’s claim of 180,000 civilian deaths for which Uganda owes reparation”.“The court considers that the evidence presented to it suggests that the number of deaths for which Uganda owes reparations falls in the range of 10,000 to 15,000 persons,” she added. 

At its height, the conflict drew in nine African countries, with Uganda and Rwanda backing rebel forces against the Kinshasa government as they jostled for control of the mineral-rich Ituri region.

 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

2^nd Mar 2022.