January 15, 1918 - Worst weather Don Martin ever saw

Don Martin diary entry for Tuesday, January 15, 1918: Called on Mr. Blumenfeld, owner of the London Express and presented letter from Mr. Bennett. Blumenfeld was very pleasant. We visited for an hour and he assured me he will be very glad to do everything he can for me. Visited Col. [John] Buchan [Director of Information] with the other correspondents. He says America will not have much of a fighting force before the latter part of the year and that he thinks the English and French can hold the line till U.S. is ready. Looks to me like studied pessimism. Dinner at Simpson’s again. Rained all day. The very worst day I ever saw. Dictated to Baird a couple of stories for N.Y. and letters to London hotels about news we ought to get from them.

Rain – rain – rain – Not cold though.

Don Martin handwrote a short note to Dorothy that night, including news about James Gordon Bennett and the Herald London office.

... I have had several letters from Mr. Bennett and he wants me to reorganize the London bureau from top to bottom. It needs it too. So I guess the old Commodore is not so crazy as most people think. Everyone does things in an old fashioned way in London and I have rather startled the old fogies in the office here by the programme I have outlined to them.

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