Republican Debate Issue: Ukraine

At one point in the recent Republican debate one of the moderators asked the eight participants to raise their hands if they favored sending $77 Million dollars of military aid to Ukraine. Except for outsider Vivek Ramaswamy, they all raised their hands in favor. In effect, they were in favor of escalating the conflict which after 18 months seems mired down in a kind of stand off. 

Not one of these politicians spoke of working for peace in the war torn area. Ramaswamy primarily objected because he thought the money would be better used to ward off the invasion of our own southern border. In this respect they are supporting the Biden administration's failure to use the office of the Presidency to take the lead and work for peace.

Both Ukraine and Russia are members of the United Nations, but so far President Biden has failed to address that body and make an impassioned plea for peace. As far as I know, only Pope Francis has been trying to bring the parties together and negotiate an end to the bloodshed although his efforts have gone largely unnoticed in American media. 

A year and a half ago I put up a post on this blog most of which I believe is still relevant. 

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I do not know what the outcome of the Russian invasion of Ukraine will be, but I do believe that the war and its terrible consequences could have been avoided. Faced with Russian warnings over the past few years, the government of the Ukraine only had to pledge that it would never join NATO or the European Union, or allow foreign troops on its soil.

In other words, while affirming its independence of both Russia and the West, Ukraine would have opted for neutrality in the same way that Switzerland has done for hundreds of years. This pledge would have retained Ukraine’s independence as well as its ability to deal politically and financially with both Russia and the West. A pledge of neutrality would not have been appeasement. It would have allowed the people of Ukraine to live in peace and shape their own destiny. It was worth a try especially now that we see the mounting devastation and loss of life on both sides.

 

The war in Ukraine is a tragic failure of diplomacy on all sides. It is easy to blame President Putin of Russia and call him insane as our media likes to do, but leaders in the West are also to blame for the diplomatic failure.

 

On 3/22/22, the Wall Street Journal, always hawkish on Ukraine, published an interview with Robert Service, a respected historian and analyst of Russian affairs. In the interview he pointed out that in November of last year, President Biden dismissed Russian objections to NATO expansion. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted from two immense strategic blunders; Robert Service says. The first came on Nov. 10, when the U.S. and Ukraine signed a Charter of Strategic Partnership, which asserted America’s support for Kyiv’s right to pursue membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The pact made it likelier than ever the Ukraine would eventually join NATO—an intolerable prospect for Vladimir Putin. “It was the last straw,” Mr. Service says. Preparations Immediately began for Russia’s so-called special military operations in Ukraine.

 

People will remember President Biden’s history of meddling in Ukrainian affairs as Vice President during the administration of President Obama. He even bragged about bullying the government of Ukraine by threatening to cut off U.S. aid unless it agreed to dismiss a prosecutor investigating corruption in the Ukrainian energy company whose board of directors included his own son, Hunter, who somehow got the high paying post with no experience or qualifications. Ironically, President Trump was impeached by Democrats because of a phone call to Ukrainian President Zelensky asking him to investigate corruption.

 

The Biden administration can now add the war in Ukraine to its growing list of failures which are too numerous to recount here. Any policy that results in war with its attendant destruction, loss of life, and displacement of millions of people must be regarded as a failure despite the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people.

 

I also blame Democratic politicians in this country for spending the four years of the Trump administration constantly harassing the President over a Russia collusion hoax that effectively hindered the President of the USA from coming to any kind of peaceful arrangement with Russia over the status of Ukraine. ***

Remember that President Trump was a critic of NATO and its expansion. He even went so far as to question its existence especially since the European partners seemed unwilling to bear the financial burden. Nevertheless, NATO went so far as to include tiny countries on Russia’s border like Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania as members. Does anyone seriously believe that the USA will go to war if those countries are invaded?

 

Of course, Vladimir Putin of Russia must bear the lion’s share of the blame for the tragedy in Ukraine no matter how the war turns out. It seems to me that he could have used Russia’s vast energy reserves as a much more potent weapon than his military. Ukraine and Europe are dependent on Russia for energy. Despite the long-standing animosity between Russia and Ukraine, they still could have worked together for each other’s benefit.

 

Despite his heroism in the current crises, President Zelensky could have and should have found a peaceful resolution to allay Putin’s fears. Looking at things now, what did he gain by signing the Strategic Partnership Pact with the USA last November?

 

 

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***Note. The publication of the Mueller and Durham reports have demonstrated that not only was the charge of Russian collusion on the part of Donald Trump a hoax, but also it was a charge fabricated by his Democratic opponents.

The Killers

An article in the Wall Street Journal this week about young black men caught my eye. Barry Latzer, an emeritus Professor of criminal justice at New York’s John Jay college, traced the alarming increase in murder rates in the United States to a combination of “big cities, guns, and young black men.” 

Latzer noted new statistics that showed that while violent crimes like rape, robbery, and assault declined somewhat during the pandemic, the murder rate skyrocketed especially among young black men. Black males were victims of homicide at a rate five times that of white or Hispanic men, and the great majority of these murders were committed by other young black men. Often, the killings seemed to be over trivial matters, or affronts to “honor.”

 

Latzer attributed this type of killing to a holdover from Southern culture of 150 years ago, that blacks have carried into Northern cities. I trained as a historian many years ago, and one of the things I learned was to look for proximate causes of events, that is, causes closest in time to the event. I don’t think there is a need to go back a hundred years or more to find an explanation of why young black men are killing each other at alarming rates today. I think we have only to look at the education these young men received in their own brief lifetimes.

 

I am not referring to the formal education they have received in school. In my opinion, the low scores and poor results black young men achieve in school are not due to a lack of brain power but to a lack of motivation. Outside of school they have been educated to distrust and despise school. Their real education takes place on the street or on their phones. What do they learn there?

 

In a recent news story in my local newspaper, a Bridgeport gang member pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. He was a member of a notorious gang that “robbed drug dealers, customers and others, sold narcotics, and stole cars from inside and outside Connecticut, often using the cars to commit crimes.” In addition, they “frequently used social media to promote and coordinate their criminal activities.” Social media posts and text messages revealed that he “possessed firearms, including firearms with extended magazines, and that he sold a variety of drugs. … he also participated in the theft and possession of stolen vehicles, some of which were used to commit shootings.”

 

Over his 20 years this young man had obviously acquired the considerable education and skills necessary to compete in his chosen profession. He was part of a skilled band with their own code of ethics. His formal education in school must have seemed like mere child’s play, totally irrelevant to life in the real world. In other words, he and others like him are uncivilized. They are ruthless barbarians. 

 

 I do not say this is so because they are black. I think the color of their skin, or their race has little to do with it. After all, there is only one race, the human race, and we all have the same human nature. We can find examples of uncivilized young men all over the world today. Just look at images of members of Mexican drug cartels wielding AK-47s while ferrying migrants over our southern border. Remember the young men of ISIS cutting off the heads of captive victims. Are the Taliban in Afghanistan any different? Looking back on our own history, every wave of immigrants brought with it young, uncivilized young men who formed gangs and thought nothing of killing to avenge the slightest insult.

 

For thousands of years it has been parents, family, religion, customs and traditions that have civilized young men. The breakdown of these institutions in the past 50 years has been catastrophic in America. Coincidentally, this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of hip hop music. In the same week that Professor Latzer bemoaned the high murder rate among young black men, Jason Riley, a black man who is a regular columnist for the Wall Street Journal, bemoaned the effects of the musical genre that has been the most powerful educational tool among young black men.

 

“A-list hip-hop artists… became fabulously wealthy trafficking in racist gutter lyrics and ugly stereotypes about black people. For decades, black parents have devoted an inordinate amount of time—with mixed success—to shielding their children from the materialism, drugs, promiscuous sex and thuggery behavior that pervades the songs of some of hip-hops most popular artists. ... decades of glorifying the gangsta-rap lifestyle and, worse, presenting it as the only authentic black experience, have come at a cost.”

 

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Slavery in Westport CT

 

  

                       

The debate over slavery and reparations continues to go on, and so I thought it appropriate to repeat a post from two years ago. 

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Westport, Connecticut, has long been one of the wealthiest towns in Connecticut. It probably still ranks as one of the wealthiest towns in the country, especially given the recent migration of New Yorkers fleeing the chaos in nearby New York City. 

A page 1 article in my local newspaper, the CT Post, indicated that  a complaint had arisen about a “Eurocentric” historical marker outside Westport’s Town Hall. The complaint was lodged by Ramin Ganeshram, executive director of Westport’s Museum  for Culture and History, who noticed that the marker referred to the “first white settlement here in 1648,” but did not mention “the contributions—or explanation—of indigenous people or enslaved Africans.”               

Ganeshram went on to explain that the marker omitted the fact that “the town was built largely through the forced labor of indigenous and African slaves.”

According to Ganeshram there may have been indigenous people in southwestern Connecticut for 7500 years. Nevertheless, in all that time they built no town or Museum of Culture and History.  Even if indigenous natives were captured in battle, they were of no use as slaves or laborers. Sad to say, the colonists resorted to exchanging them for slaves of African descent in the West Indies.

There is no doubt that there were African slaves in Connecticut during the Colonial period, but it is a ridiculous over-statement to say that Westport or any town in Connecticut was built on the forced labor of African slaves. Not only were most of the slaves household servants, but also there were not enough of them to build a town. 

The late Dr. Vincent Rosivach of Fairfield University created a database of slaves in Connecticut that listed only nine slaves of African descent in Westport during the whole eighteenth century. 

Imported in small numbers from the West Indies to serve as household servants,  there can be no doubt that their life in Connecticut was far better than what it was in the sugar cane fields of the West Indies.

To say that Westport or any other town in Connecticut was built on the forced labor of indigenous people or African slaves is not only a gross distortion of history, but also a disservice to the waves of immigrants from Europe who built Westport and most other Connecticut towns. 

For example, perhaps a marker should be placed on the Westport Town Hall to commemorate the role of Italian immigrants in building the town. During my working career I had clients in all of the towns along Connecticut’s Southwestern coastline.  Practically every town along the coastline had its Italian section where the workers lived who actually did most of the construction work.  Even super-rich Greenwich had its Byram section, centered on St. Roch’s church. Saugatuck was the Italian section of Westport whose annual Italian festival attracted thousands during its heyday.

A chess buddy of mine came to this country from Italy after World War II. He had been born in Fiume before the war, but the city was taken over by Communist Yugoslavia after the war. Eventually, his family managed to flee to Italy, and he spent his teen years in a refugee camp. Finally, they managed to emigrate to the USA where he got a job as a laborer with a small construction company. After a while, he decided to go out on his own and become his own boss. 

Against all odds, he made the transition and eventually his company became one of the largest construction and home renovation companies in the area. He built thousands of homes and condos throughout Fairfield county. Westport was his prime location and his work can still be seen throughout the town.

It was people like my friend who actually built Westport. They worked for profit but usually harder than any slave. Moreover, their work profited generations to the point where now towns like Westport are exclusive showcases that can afford the luxury of a Museum of Culture and History.

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Greta Garbo: Ninotchka

 

Many film critics and historians regard 1939 as the Annus Mirabilis or greatest year of American film. In that year Hollywood produced Gone with the Wind which swept practically all the Academy Awards; The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland in an iconic role; Stagecoach which made John Wayne a star; and Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Worthy to be included in this pantheon is Ninotchka, a charming comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and starring the great Greta Garbo.

Garbo had come to America from Sweden in the 1920s and became an immediate silent film sensation. When “talkies” arrived, she made the transition with ease, despite her accent, in Anna Christie. Film publicists merely relied on two words: “Garbo talks!” Her first words were “Give me a whiskey” spoken to a waiter in a dingy waterfront bar.  She went on to star in dramatic blockbusters Grand Hotel, Mata Hari, Queen Christina, Camille, and Anna Karenina. Ninotchka, however, would be her first attempt at comedy. This time publicists again used only two words to hail the film: “Garbo Laughs.”

Garbo plays a frowning, no-nonsense Soviet agent sent to Paris to complete the sale of jewels confiscated by the Communist regime to raise funds for the faltering Russian economy. Actually, she is sent to take over the job from three bumbling Soviet bureaucrats who had quickly become corrupted by the charms and luxury of Paris. It turns out that the jewels were formerly the property of a Russian Grand Duchess living in exile in Paris, and whose lover is a French nobleman, played by Melvyn Douglas, obviously a “kept” man who will eventually fall for Garbo. 

Communism was still enjoying a springtime in Hollywood in 1939. Despite Stalin’s show trials and purges, and his recent non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, many in the film industry still regarded Communism as the wave of the future, the solution of America’s problems, and the savior of the downtrodden and oppressed. 

Nevertheless, director Ernest Lubitsch, a German émigré, and the film’s writers which included Billy Wilder, another German émigré, continually poked fun at the failures of the Soviet system. At one point, Garbo even refers to Stalin’s show trials: “There will be fewer Russians, but better ones.” Compared to Paris, Moscow is drab, cold, and dreary. However, despite the political satire, this film is really a love story and Garbo plays it beautifully.  

She initially appears at the train station wearing a drab Soviet outfit most likely designed by Adrian, her favorite costume designer.  During the film she brilliantly transforms herself into a beautiful woman falling in love not only with Paris but also with Leon, the French Count.

In one famous scene set in a neighborhood café he tries to make her laugh by telling one lame joke after another, but she sees nothing funny. Only when he gives up and falls to the floor after leaning too far back in his chair does she break out into prolonged laughter along with the other patrons. He joins in and the ice is broken. She is a woman.

Later, he takes her to a fancy nightclub. She has shed her Soviet attire and wears an evening gown. He introduces her to champagne, something she thought was only used to launch warships, and we see her slowly get high and then outright drunk. She plays it beautifully as she goes through the various stages of inebriation. Finally, he takes her back to her hotel room where she collapses. Later, we discover that he just put her to bed and left her sleeping. He is in love with her and would never take advantage of her. That was the way a man was supposed to act in those days, and that is one of the reasons why films like Ninotchka are part of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

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Note: clink on this link for a brief clip from the film, or see the video below.