Category: Politics – Wartime

Peter the Great

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The Book of the Week is “Peter the Great, His Life and World” by Robert K. Massie, originally published in 1980. In this hodgepodge of a volume, the author recounted in great detail, from the mid-1600’s to the first quarter of the 1700’s: the territorial conquests of various European countries’ leaders with their infantry, artillery, cavalry and navies, including those of Tsar Peter of Russia; the book’s title was thus misleading.

Russian Tsar Alexis’ wife died giving birth to their fourteenth child in March 1669. In February 1671, the tsar, at forty-one, found another wife. She, nineteen, was raised by a foster royal-family whose wealth and power rivaled the first wife’s. In May 1672, she gave birth to Peter. The tsar died of illness when Peter was three and a half.

Peter’s older sister Sophia became Peter’s regent, a surrogate tsar, until Peter was old enough to lead Russia. There ensued a power struggle for which heir would become tsar, as the other two candidates had health issues. Peter eventually became co-tsar with his older half-brother Ivan. Sophia had military protection from the Streltsy, about twenty thousand soldiers. She was a power-grabber, and for her time and place, afforded opportunities and a well-rounded education unusual for her gender.

When Peter was fourteen, he formed an army of about six hundred of his peers, called the Preobrazhensky Regiment. They were trained and paid like real soldiers. He acquired battle-smarts, rather than academic smarts. His mother hoped to produce a male heir to increase his family’s power, by marrying him off. She also felt the need to rein him in, as he was off learning the design and carpentry of warship-building instead of following protocol by attending royal ceremonies. His arranged marriage took place in January 1689.

At the dawn of the 1700’s, Peter imposed a draconian policy of a mandatory twenty-five years of military service for all young men. By June 1701, one quarter of all the church bells in Russia had been melted down to be used to make cannon because time was too short to refine new metals for arms-making. After the Russians defeated the Swedes in Poltava, many nations tried to curry favor with Russia.

In winter 1711, Peter considered himself the liberator of the Balkan Christians. He tried to solicit the assistance of soldiers of various religions to fight the Muslim Ottomans in Arabia. After losing that war, he transferred his military resources from the Black Sea region to the Baltic Sea, trying to preserve his namesake city, St. Petersburg, at all costs.

Read the book to learn about the shifting alliances and wars among and between Peter’s Russians, the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Tatars, Ukrainian Cossacks, Swedes, Danes, Saxons, Poles, Hanoverians, Prussians, French, Scottish, etc.

Strongmen – BONUS POST

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The Bonus Book of the Week is “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present” by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, published in 2021. In this hodgepodge of a volume, the author described the traits and behaviors of a “strongman” through a few real-life examples of dictators of the past hundred years.

A strongman is a male leader who finds ways (that happen to be nefarious) to maximize and maintain his power; including: causing needless deaths and ruined lives in the forms of propaganda (repeated scapegoating, generating crises and other brainwashing techniques), waging war, engaging in sexual conquests, seeking political dominance and enriching himself, usually through looting resources from the territory or territories he rules.

In October 1922, in an Italy of about forty million people, approximately thirty thousand people comprising the Fascist Party appointed Mussolini as prime minister. In the next two decades, in order to rule by fear and force, Mussolini formed various political and military groups, and passed laws that violated human rights. He incited excessive violence, and had dissidents killed.

In July 1925, Mussolini pardoned all political criminals (those who would help him stay in power). But by 1926, he had run out of money. Fortunately for him, he had friends in high places. Thomas Lamont– his contact at the American financial institution, J.P. Morgan, arranged a loan of one hundred million dollars for him. At that time, Hitler actually looked up to Mussolini and eventually got friendly with him, in order to get mentored. By 1933, the German industrialists had fallen for Hitler’s populist rhetoric.

In 1965, Mobutu, who engaged in drugs and arms sales, (with the help of the CIA) came to power in Zaire. He, along with a number of other dictators, had been war heroes, so they had military backing. Beginning in 1969, oil money allowed Gaddafi to give his government a socialistic bent– funding Libyans’ education, housing and other basic needs.

In 1994, Italy’s Berlusconi controlled very nearly all the messaging heard and seen by his people. He crafted laws to: give himself a get-out-of-jail-free card, and his businesses, to weasel out of legal and financial trouble. His propaganda screamed that immigrants were criminals. Gaddafi and Berlusconi (who should have been enemies) became besties– keeping their friends close and their enemies closer. Libya got weapons from Italy, and Italy got oil from Libya.

In Trump’s United States, “Women advance their careers by making it easier for the leader and his inner circle to harm other women.” Another strongman technique Trump uses is to put his assets in foreign bank accounts. In 2014, Eric Trump said, “We [Trump Organization] don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need from Russia.”

Like Berlusconi, Trump and his media outlet, Fox News, have repeatedly, emphatically smeared immigrants as criminals, and he has used his military, ICE, to detain or deport them. The author named locations of various detention camps that had inhumane conditions: in Florida– Homestead, and in Texas– Clint, McAllen, Rio Grande, and El Paso del Norte.

In sum, once the strongman has stolen all he can get from his citizens, his next tricks are to negotiate a peace treaty and schedule elections.

Read the book to learn much more about how the above-named and a few others have used strongman tactics to turn into not-so-benign dictators.

ENDNOTE: Here’s a song that describes Trump’s strongman tactics.

MODERN STRONGMAN

sung to the tune of “Modern Woman” with apologies to Billy Joel and to whomever else the rights may concern.

You see Trump on the idiot box touting his high-tech war-toys of his cronies’ design.

With his continual cruel smears he aggravates the tension. Tries to save face while losing his mind.

Now Trump’s in trouble. He fired all the intellectuals. He always figures voters aren’t very smart.

Or maybe he hopes his hype covers up his conflicts. Oh, he’s got to use PR tricks ’cause his wrongdoing’s off the charts.

He always puts on an ACT of ranting-frat-boy modern strongman. And he’s an old fascist man. He understands just what he’s doing. He’s a modern strongman.

His mean streak is exceptionally unprofessional. He’s got a lot of cockiness, it’s easy to see. You don’t want to be rude but you get so furious when he’s so injurious to American democracy.

He’s got bile and he’s got billionaires’ money and lots of attorneys so his-foes, he quickly disarms. His slow rise means you may not realize, YOU’RE jeopardized by his gradual harm.

He’s got his plan of attack and got the power-play knack of modern strongman. And he’s an old fascist man. He understands just what he’s doing. He’s a modern strongman.

The king won’t die. There is no president. He says he loves you but he treats you unkind. In the morning he detains you. You’re accused by your neighbors. It’s a cagey situation for an old fascist guy.

Times have changed, and you cry in vain, lately. He’s become extreme in his bad attitude. His cock-and-bull just used to be for kicks. But now he controls your politics. After 2026, you might get a clue.

You can’t relax and face the facts of modern strongman. And he’s an old fascist man, he forces your hand in the things he’s doing.

He’s a modern strongman. He’s a modern strongman.

He’s got the sociopathic zip that allows the grip of the modern strongman.

Personality – BONUS POST

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Unsurprisingly, this is what American president Donald Trump is singing now.

PERSONALITY

sung to the tune of “Sloop John B” with apologies to the Beach Boys and to whomever else the rights may concern.

We’ve got the same person-al-ITY, Netanyahu and me.

Retaliating, reaping bounties. We can gloat.

We think might makes right. As a team we fight.

Well, WE’RE so stoked up. But no one will help.

So you’ll be sorry for this betrayal.

See how I won’t quit. I’m the captain of the world.

I set the TONE. I set the TONE. The world I own. yeah yeah yeah

Well, WE’RE so stoked up. But no one will help. I set the TONE.

NATO is talking bunk. I got Iran in a funk.

I need to come and take their nukes away.

Sheriff Donald Trump. With my base I fist-bump. yeah yeah

Well, WE’RE so stoked up. But no one will help. I set the TONE.

So you’ll be sorry for this betrayal.

See how I won’t quit. I’m the captain of the world.

I set the TONE. The world I own.

I set the TONE. As I said, I set the TONE.

So you’ll be sorry for this betrayal. So you’ll be sorry for this betrayal.

Well, WE’RE so stoked up. But no one will help. I set the TONE.

The Democrats are in a snit. But they know I won’t quit.

They’re trying to take away all of my power. I set the TONE.

The world I own. Still on top, I make them cower.

So you’ll be sorry for this betrayal. See how I won’t quit.

I’m the captain of the world. I set the TONE…

A German Generation

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The Book of the Week is “A German Generation, An Experimental History of the Twentieth Century” by Thomas A. Kohut, published in 2012. This hodgepodge of a volume alternated essays with personal stories of Germans coming of age during the Nazi Era.

After WWI, the German government brainwashed people into thinking the Versailles Treat was outrageously unfair to Germany. The government pushed extreme nationalism to make Germany (the “fatherland”) great again by trying to take back the territories (in Denmark, Czechoslovakia and Poland) it had occupied during the war. The Weimar Republic (1919 – early 1933) was chaotic, with lack of strong leadership to quell rioting and appease striking workers in Berlin amid sky-high inflation in 1923.

The Third Reich (early 1933 – May 1945)– father figures– encouraged kids, and former soldiers who were politically right-wing, rabidly anti-union and anti-socialist to join youth and social groups in which ability to withstand hardships would prove their masculinity.

All through the 1920’s, and 1930’s, both boys and girls in those groups, mostly middle class, went hiking and camping together, but shunned sex, alcohol and tobacco. The groups sang mostly military and hunting songs, played games and danced. Every couple of years, numerous groups got together, marching in uniforms, flying flags. They thought of themselves as self-starters, but nonpartisan. However, in 1932, all bets were off, as the Hitler Youth swallowed up all the other youth groups. Some people quit their group, as they recognized what a power-hungry megalomaniac Hitler really was, and didn’t like him.

There were various political factions, each with a different ideology: the two major factions wore brown (Nazis) or red (Communists). The National Socialist (Nazi) Party initially encouraged the cooperation of economic classes, and rewarded people pursuant to their accomplishments rather than pursuant to their good luck when they were “to the manor born.”

People volunteered to live communally, doing farm or household chores at work collectives in the countryside for a few months at a time. Teenage boys who had completed apprenticeships but couldn’t find work were sent there to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. Eventually, a stint in a collective became mandatory for everyone until 1933, when the collectives were disbanded. The Hitler Youth encouraged fierce competition in sports, music and work, and demanded blind obedience to rigid rules in a tattle-tale environment. There was extreme societal pressure to join the Hitler Youth, and when one got older, the Nazi Party.

In the first half of the twentieth century, there were paradoxes with regard to females’ roles in German society. They got the vote in 1919. In the mid-1930’s, they took on domestic responsibilities of the men who were drafted into the military. But the women were still expected to do housework and child-rearing. Through the 1930’s, the Nazi Party gave monetary incentives to encourage Aryan Germans to get married and have children, to help perpetuate the “master race.”

“The Gestapo strategy of focusing on target groups and leaving ordinary Germans alone continued during the war, although the pressure on ‘enemies of the people’ and on ‘community aliens,’ especially Jews, was increased.” Sounds familiar.

Read the book to learn many more details about: the experiences and mentalities of the Germans from the 1920’s onward; the yawning generation gap after the war; how the Germans were brainwashed by propaganda into cooperating among themselves while behaving fiercely competitively toward their perceived enemies (which included specific individuals in their own communities!), to coming together again, while rationalizing away their lack of courage in communication and action to stem the hatreds in their society.

The Long Gray Line

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The Book of the Week is “The Long Gray Line, The American Journey of West Point’s Class of 1965” by Rick Atkinson, published in 1989. The author followed a handful of men who happened to attend West Point in the thick of the Vietnam Era. He detailed their adventures during and after their military training.

The nation’s situation in the early 1960’s, economically, politically, philosophically, and socially were described thusly:

  • At the end of Fiscal Year 1962, which ended at the end of June, the federal deficit totaled more than $7 billion.
  • Influential national and military leaders such as JFK, LBJ, Douglas MacArthur and William Westmoreland inspired an eagerness in the young American male to risk his life for his country in fighting America’s enemies. “A West Pointer’s place was at the front, even in a conflict [such as Vietnam] where there was no front…” West Point taught him to trust the nation’s leaders and be nonpartisan; he wasn’t even registered to vote.
  • “Communism was bad; America, freedom, and West Point were good. That was the extent of his political philosophy.”
  • In early November 1963, West Point (Army) beat Air Force in the football game at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Those athletes who didn’t attend the after-game party, went bar-hopping on Rush Street. Because they were wearing their military uniforms, they were surrounded by adoring young females who bought them beer and bourbon.

The next decade would be one of expensive stupidities and disillusionment. There is insufficient space here to even summarize it all. But read the book to learn much, much more about how radically the nation changed when its leadership fooled a sufficient number of people into behaving in ways that resulted in an unnecessarily excessive amount of death, destruction and protestations.

Our Gang

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The Book of the Week is “Our Gang (Starring Tricky Dick and His Friends)” by Philip Roth, published in 1971.

A satire of the Nixon administration, this was also a book-long rant. Major aspects of the then-political situation are so familiar now. There was an inflammatory passage of Nixon’s dim view of wounded veterans. Trump has taken a dim view of prisoners-of-war. The author wrote what Nixon was really thinking, about various crises he either exacerbated, or brought on himself.

Of all the presidents, Nixon and Reagan were the ones from whom Trump has copied the most. The author claimed Nixon said, “We’ve had foul language, we’ve had the cynicism, we’ve had the masochism and the breast-beating– maybe a big dose of innocence is just what this country needs to be great again.”

No American leader has been innocent, but Carter came close. Nixon’s war crimes were many times more evil than the repeated financial and more-likely-than-not sex crimes Trump has committed.

Deaths directly caused by Nixon’s war criminality cannot be reversed. Trump’s breakage of the American legal system can be reversed, over the next few decades.

But the repetition of Trump’s protestations of innocence have: 1) played a part in convincing some Americans that he’s the victim of witch hunts, and 2) desensitized others into acceptance of reality– quiet desperation over his overwhelming power and influence until his name fades from public memory.

Nevertheless, the author harps on Nixon’s thoughts regarding the anti-war protesters on his enemies list. Nixon called the protesters, “Boy Scouts” (perhaps for irony) but Trump spares no expletives in his labeling of anti-ICE protesters.

The author described Nixon’s method. The president received advice from a legal coach, a highbrow coach, and a military coach– on the three major crimes allegedly committed by the Boy Scouts: inciting to riot, tampering with the morals of minors, and corrupting the youth of the nation.

Then the gang came up with a short-list of people and groups to blame for the unrest: Hanoi, The Berrigans (religious brothers who influenced others to practice pacifism), The Black Panthers, Jane Fonda, and Curt Flood (a baseball player who sued MLB for racial discrimination). Trump has also smeared and retaliated against an endless number of scapegoats in his political career.

Nixon explained how he distracted Americans from his avoidance of addressing the nation’s serious problems. “It never fails– every time they start marching on Washington, I’m the one who has to leave town. Now does that make any sense to you? I’m the President…” Trump does the same thing, and furthers his profiteering, too.

Read the book to learn much more about Nixon’s take on previous administrations, and other dirty tricks in his play book.