December 29, 1917 -- Don Martin arrives in London, England

Don Martin's diary entry for Saturday, December 29, 1917: In London.

Left Liverpool for London at 11 with Russell. My room in Adelphi cost 3/6 – not bad. Shared carriage on train with Russell, an army and navy officer and a nurse returning to France. Arrived London 3:45. Darkness already fallen. Got trunks and other luggage to Savoy Hotel in taxi. Room awaiting. Is very fine one. Has all comforts of N.Y. hotel. Had dinner in Savoy alone. Then went to our office at 130 Fleet Street. Had some difficulty finding it. Saw Champion, in charge, and had visit with him. He seems a pleasant chap. Looks very much like Bennett. London a weird place at night. Fully half the persons on streets or anywhere else are soldiers or sailors. Quite a few Americans. Met Phelps, Frohman’s manager here. He seems to be a devoted follower of J. Barleycorn. Went to my room at 9 to rest up _ fell asleep at once and so at 10:30 went to bed. Don’t know whether I shall like London or not but think not. However there is much to see and I shall improve my time. Shall do nothing till I hear direct from Mr. Bennett who is in Beaulieu.

Weather damp – of course.

Don Martin had reached London and his European adventure would begin!

Comments

‘New war with Israel at any moment’, ‘still digging through rubble’

The news about Iran has taken an ominous tone in the last couple days. Here is some reporting and commentary. Newsweek on August 18, 2025, reported that Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said ‘ We are not in a ceasefire; we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation, or agreement has been written between us and the U.S. or Israel. A new war with Israel could break out at any moment .’ Yonah Jeremy Bob commented in The Jerusalem Post on August 19, 2025, that ‘ Khamenei can either “drink from the poisoned chalice” of diplomatic concessions … or face more airstrikes, possibly next time some targeting him directly ’. Bob also noted that ‘ right now Iran is still digging through rubbl e’. The U.S. attacked Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan on June 22. Two months of digging. No surprise that there has been no public news about that.

U.S. Sanctions, Middle East views

Trump’s special envoy Witkoff has hit the capitals again; in Tel Aviv Netanyahu probably told him to tell Trump that he will take over all of Gaza; in Moscow Putin probably told him to tell Trump that Ukraine will be destroyed and forget the sanctions. Witkoff didn’t get to number 3 on his list, Iran. But Trump played another ‘ getting to a deal ’ with Iran card, adding sanctions he can later get credit for removing. And the Middle East commentators are worriedly reacting to the Iran situation. Here are some highlights. From Newsweek: The U.S. announced on July 30 the largest Iran-related sanctions since 2018 , targeting entities and vessels linked to the country's petroleum sector: 20 oil firms, 5 vessel management companies, 1 wholesaler, and over 115 individuals in 17 countries and regions, including the U.K., Italy, Switzerland, India, the UAE and Hong Kong. U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: "Today's Depar...

Assessing possible outcomes of the snapback mechanism

The initiation by the E3 of the 30-day snapback mechanism in the UN Security Council makes everything more difficult and there is great uncertainty about the outcome. Will it be peaceful with a new nuclear deal with Iran, negotiated by the U.S., endorsed by the UNSC and verified by IAEA, or will Iran withdraw from NPT with further military action by Israel and the U.S.? To perhaps shed a little light on what the outcome will be, here is my analysis of how the players - Iran, U.S. and E3 - may be assessing the acceptability of the range of outcomes. Four levels of acceptability were used: 1 Fully acceptable; 2 Less acceptable; 3 Just acceptable; and 4 Not acceptable. Four near term 30-day outcomes are listed, and two optimistic outcomes with an interim U.S.-Iran agreement reached within a 6-month extension. For the 30-day near term, the best outcome would b...

Search This Blog