In 1918, at the end of four years of World War I’s devastation, leaders negotiated for the guns in Europe to fall silent once and for all on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It was not technically the end of the war, which came with the Treaty of Versailles. Leaders signed that treaty on June 28, 1919, five years to the day after the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand set off the conflict. But the armistice declared on November 11 held, and Armistice Day became popularly known as the day “The Great War,” which killed at least 40 million people, ended.
Thank you. Here in the UK, where I am visiting my WW11 Royal Navy veteran Dad, we honor Armistice Day. This includes 2 minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, even during the Lord Mayor’s Parade. It is a very moving two minutes. My grandfathers fought in WW1, my grandmothers fought at home to sustain the country. I owe them all so much.
Same here in Australia. My grandfather emigrated from England with his young wife and their twelve month old son. When the war began, he enlisted in the First Australian Infantry Forces. His grave is in the huge war graves cemetery outside Caen (pronounced, more or less, "cong"). My father grew up in the care of a sorrowing English widow taken under the wing of a friendly family. There's a school in a small town near Amiens, which has a banner inscription: "Never forget the Australians". And they don't, to this day.
And in Canada. Those who fought are honoured on Remembrance Day across the country at cenotaphs in villages, towns and cities, with most Canadians wearing lapel poppies in the 2 weeks leading up to Nov. 11. My British grandfather fought and was gassed in the Great War, and my Canadian great-uncle was killed at the age of 20 at Ypres. My father fought in WWII. Canadians paid a heavy price in both world wars and in Korea, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan, South Africa and the Persian Gulf.
Here in War Memorial Central, Indianapolis, I remember Poppies were being distributed on the downtown streets. Even us small ones realized what the red flowers meant.
Then, came Malls. Many businesses moved their workforces out of the City center. Now Malls are gone - and many of the labor intensive businesses.
The wearing of the Poppies is now an endeavor only an Amazon could replace ... by sending every Customer a couple of Poppies before the 11th.
In Reading, Pennsylvania in the 40's after WWII when I was in elementary school an elderly woman came into our grade school class with a bunch of artificial poppies which she was selling for 10 cents each. We knew ahead of time she would be stopping by so we were sure to have a dime with us. She always gave us a little talk on the significance of Veteran's Day. The money raised went back to our local veterans organizations.
Here in Los Angeles, we have a large veterans' cemetery. The Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and other organizations put flags on the graves every Veterans's Day. It's a beautiful and moving sight to see them putting them out and seeing all those flags waving in the breeze. I have a great uncle who is buried there.
I look at our small town cemetery and think-how many men have served their country. trump couldn't be bothered to visit the American Cemetery in France: it was raining.
I remember seeing poppies from when I was growing up in Indiana, but none since. I have posted several poppy displays from Britain and pictures of those wonderful post box covers that people do there. Here I personally thank several people who I know are veterans and who consider their service important. My grandfather was in the Navy in WWI and had stories which grew more elaborate as he got older. My father's job was considered crucial to the war effort (where he worked made shell casings), so he did not serve in the military in WWII.
Growing up in Indiana, my mother always donated to the veterans on the streets who sold the poppies. It was considered an honor to the veterans to wear the poppy and show one’s gratitude for their sacrifice. I do wish we still had that tradition.
Jennifer, you are lucky to be with your dad to honour Armistice Day! My father was also a Royal Navy WWII veteran and last year, my brother and I went to St. Nazaire in France where the RN joined with the Commandos to destroy the German dry docks. The French were so appreciative then and are to this day, providing some land for a beautiful small cemetery for the great loss of life in that effort. It was very moving to be there.
I miss not having poppies in the US. We apparently wear them for Memorial Day although I do not remember seeing that.
This poem, written by a Canadian military officer who fought in WWI tells a sad story but one that is inspiring: it is for us, the living, to hold high the torch:
I've been to those fields; the scars are there if you look. Back in the day before we tested kids to death, I had my students in an Enrichment class memorize In Flanders Fields and recite it over the PA. The school stopped on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
My dad used to come home with a small paper poppy from the VFW (?) from time to time. As a kid I didn’t really understand what that meant. But as an adult, I revere my father’s service in WWII. He graduated from high school, turned 19 and was drafted, all in June 1943. Those who participated in wars deserve our gratitude, apart from how we feel about the rightness of the war itself.
MLMin ET, I have a very similar memory of my dad. He passed away two years ago. If he was still alive, he would be eligible to receive free healthcare in a nursing home. Thank you, President Biden !💙
“ Beginning this month, the Department of Veteran Affairs will offer its no-cost healthcare to veterans who live in nursing homes and all those who served in World War II. The department will also cover costs associated with Parkinson's disease.”
We owe so much to so many, and especially to those who gave all. Fathers, grandfathers, fathers-in-law, uncles, cousins, neighbors, and all the mothers who took jobs and raised families alone--those who survived were the heroes who raised us up after WW II. We owe our lives and our country to all of them, especially to those forgotten men and women who didn't survive, to their courage, their honor, their persistence, their perseverance. Like so many others who had visions of peace, Woodrow Wilson's ideals were thwarted by the many political Lodges seeking selfish isolation.
I had three uncles in WWII. One was a sailor who had become a radar specialist in the 1930’s. He told my father that Russia was the real problem, which for him it was. He was not allowed to retire after 20 years of service because of the need for his skills immediately after WWII. He was everything a kid needed as a “sailor uncle.” He got one leave during WWII, which resulted in a family party at the small farm of a Hungarian immigrant, a family friend after the death of my grandfather from “Spanish flu” in 1919. I was 9 and still remember it as the best party ever!
Thanks for this, Richard. The chamber ensemble I play in just got a copy of a piece of music titled "In Flanders Field" that we play for Veterans Day, and will play for Memorial Day. It is a SATB choral piece that we've arranged for 4 voice tuba ensemble.
Amidst the "Thank You, Veterans" posts on my Facebook page, I posted a photo of poppies in Flanders Field that commemorated the centennial of the end of WWI.
I had a fantastic 6th grade teacher (Mrs. Brandenburg) in this small West Texas town (600 population) and she had us memorize many poems. This was one of them. It is touching.
After tens of thousands of years of evolution, two world wars, and numerous other wars, past and present, we humans still haven't learned much. Pathetic.
Allen, I remember your posts from the beginning of the Ukraine war. We appreciated them at that time and felt the reality of what was happening through your words. We were all concerned for your safety, your wife and your dogs. I hope you are doing well now and are safe.
The best way to honor those brave and unselfish family members who sacrificed so much that we might live our lives in peace is to live our lives honorably and without fear. Love and empathy and compassion is the way. “War is over”...if we want it... as John and Yoko said.
Yesterday I honored my grand-uncle Geoffrey Halliday Hewson, who died at the age of 21 in Flanders field in WWI, and who is buried at the Marfaux British Cemetery in Marfaux, Marne, France.
Jennifer, on behalf of my family I thank your family. My father and his brother completed their tours in WWII in the Navy, and my father was called back as a Marine for Korea. Both brothers survived, but my dad 'won' two Purple Hearts in Korea.
Thank Heaven for NATO. I believe that if Ukraine had already been a member nation (not NATO's fault), Pootin would not have invaded to begin with.
You are lucky to have your dad still around. Mine is not and I have so many questions to ask. I do realize soldiers do not want to relive their war moments. Some times the wounds are not on the body but in the mind. My dad never said a word except the bombers he flew were very cold. From actual footages of Normandy and Okinawa, I would prefer to forget, too
So sorry your Dad is not with you in person. And I have not quite dared to ask mine some things. He served in the Pacific on a destroyer, one built in Quincy, Mass I think. When he visited me in the US, he went on board the USS Salem at Quincy Shipyard and said he could hear the voices of his shipmates. I still cry thinking of it.
let's not make ANY more of them - so much of our world has descended into the hells of war, ignoring the commitment that " no country should be able to attack a neighbor, slaughter its people, and steal its lands at will."
I wonder how we as a nation could equally honor vets and educate citizens about how to be peaceful, how to avoid conflict and war? Maybe we need a Peace Day too. A federal hoilday. It would be a day of education and participation for students in school and all adults in communities. There could be five main peace themes: world, national, community, interpersonal and self(within) peace. People could learn: non-violent communication skills, reasons wars start, how they can be more peaceful, how gov't policies promote or deter peace, and develop and participate in community and national peace projects, etc. The topics are endless. Okay, so maybe we need a Peace Week.
M Tree, I totally agree with you. Marianne Williamson recommends that we have a Department of Peace. I was hoping President Biden might establish one and appoint Marianne Williamson as secretary. Then your worthy ideas could be put into practice.
Lysistrata the centuries ago Roman play presents a peace plan... but the pugnacious nature testosterone fueled by men sadly persists in more than the bedroom 😞
Ain’t that the truth. Then there are those “wannabes” who try to compensate with bravado. Phonies through and through. Testosterone without a heart is just a brute.
I've watched her wipe the floor with male celebrity 'big boys" in debates. She is tough enough for the ruling class corporate media to fear her messages of peace to black her out. If she is on a primary ballot, I will vote for her because hers is the only voice for true democracy rather than perpetuating the oligarchy masquerading as democracy that plays keepaway ball with universal health care for our citizens, militarizes our "police" with weapons of war, and perpetually involves the nations in undeclared wars where the primary object is to protect the resources of corporations, not our nation.
We are NOT voting for any third parties in a primary Jeri, so don't try to create "a spoiler" where none exists. We can safely vote for a candidate that is expressing the platform and aspirations we most support. Thereafter we can come together in solidarity for the best option we have at defeating the potential disaster. One thing is certain. After steering past the disaster, we cannot allow this status quo of increasing homelessness, unending undeclared wars, keepaway ball of health care and donothingness about our creating climate change to continue.
She was an Oprah favorite and I really enjoyed her. She made a name by writing about books that I bought years ago called “A Course in Miracles.” Hope my memory is right because I am old and that many years ago.
Jeri Chilcutt, I think your memory is perfect! I know her through interviews with Oprah and others and she did mention "A Course in Miracles" in some of them.
Wow Joseph. Not a rare position with many men I would guess. Fortunately (I guess), we were so poor that my Mom had to work at a hosiery mill while raising eight. My Dad never missed a day of work at his job at a hosiery mill and didn't seem to resent my mother working. She even had a "looper" put in the house when my youngest brother was born so she could nurse him and work from home, it was a joint effort. My Mom did walk on a picket line for mill workers. I am grateful for both of them, despite their flaws. Your Mom must have deserved your support, good on you.
Just researched this, and apparently a desire for a “Peace-Office” can be traced all the way back to Benjamin Rush in 1793. Attempts have been made throughout the past two centuries to establish a way to address peace in our government. Most recently, Rep. Dennis Kucinich in 2001, Sen. Mark Dayton in 2005, and Rep. Barbara Lee in 2013 all introduced bills to create a cabinet level Department of Peace. Marianne Williamson is continuing to push for a US Cabinet of Peace.
Carol T Cox. (NJ to VA to FL), WOW you get the Sunday Morning Award for peace research! That is so interesting. I had no idea about the history. Thank you so much for the info and links. You are the best!
I have to thank you for getting me going this morning when you brought up your ideas for PEACE! So often all the talk is about war, violence, destruction. I'm relieved and grateful to be talking about peace.
Marianne? The woman who cannot keep her election staff because she’s so mean to them?No respect for her splitting votes again. She’s in the same category as Jill Stein. RFK Jr is worse than both of them. My opinion.
M Tree - good idea. This reminds me the IB curriculum. International Baccalaureate (IB) schools were founded in Geneva in 1968 within recent memory of WWII for the children of diplomats. Their mission is “to create a better and more peaceful world through education that builds intercultural understanding and respect.” The programme expanded and now have around 2000 schools for kids ages 3-20 in the US. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Baccalaureate
My niece graduated from high school with an International Baccalaureate diploma from a school she attended in Germany while her Mom was based there (FedEx pilot). In the US, that counts as almost a full year of college credits.
My three are IB grads out of Scottsdale, AZ. They - and their brilliant thinker friends and cohort-mates - impressed me then, and continue to be impressive today. Their educators were dedicated to helping the IB students learn to analyze, to listen, to communicate. Education in the Socratic method yields prepared people. Promote IB education in your community. 👏🏼
I am a grad of the International School of Bangkok class of ‘72. My parents were diplomats, but at the time what was impressive to me was that many of my classmates were military brats due to the fact that the Vietnam war going strong. There is a reunion coming up this January in Bangkok with organized side trips to Laos, Cambodia, and both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
In 1870 Julia Ward Howe initiated a”Mother’s day for Peace, which envisioned much of what you propose. Sadly, with the help of Hallmark, it has become the saccharine, vapid day we currently know as Mother’s Day, with no reflection upon its original intent.
Jeri Chilcutt, yes, what a shift indeed. It has been gaining steam for generations. I think one day it's possible, if we don't all kill each other first with war or rendering our planet inhabitable first.
I keep thinking about the psychological experiment (too many rats in a trap attacking each other) of years ago and the UN warning in the 1970’s about overpopulation coupled with Paul Ehrlich’s writing and speeches about producing food for more and more people, all in the context of climate change and war. If we could “make peace,” by adopting orphans and working to reduce population by love not war and starvation....
Virginia Witmer, I am right there with you. Just read an article by Thom Hartmann about world population growth. It took 300,000 years until the time Jefferson was elected president in 1800, for the world pop to reach 1 billion. In 1930, it was 2 billion. We just reached 8 billion. So in roughly the last 100 years, we added 6 billion people. I agree rational and just policies, as you note need to be discussed publicly.
Yet now there are constant moves to restrict or ban abortion, and China wants women to have more babies! It’s odd how overpopulation discussions have completely fallen off the radar.
Annie Weeks, yes it is. Speaker of the House was honest in a clip I saw of him, saying that women shouldn't have abortions because we need those workers. What the ..... kind of talk is that? Corporate crazy talk I think. The Speaker never expressed concern for women and the difficulty of their decision, their circumstances, their well-being, their families, or society, nope, just how can we control and exploit the situation.
Annie, agree. Population growth outpacing the earth’s carrying capacity is one (among a few) reasons my then husband and I did a “pinkie swear” back in the late 60’s to be child-free, a pact we both kept (although we parted ways, we remained lifelong friends). Young folks are seriously reconsidering having children, or flat out choosing not to, given the tenuous livability future of our “pale blue dot”.
Thank you for those figures! Did you see “Soylent Green”? It is part of my “list,” as is “The China Syndrome.” (I saw nuclear power in France and understand why it works well there. Learned this morning that Illinois legislature has voted to return it to the most corrupt state in the country!)
I was so lucky to have a biology professor who clearly taught the mathematical implications of exponential growth. This was my first class in college after high school. He made it clear that the doubling time was what needed understanding. To this day and with the years behind us, no greater importance could be taught, IMO. I need to find Thom’s article. Thanks for the note.
Thank you for remembering. Every time I write about it I feel terribly alone. As an arts major I was fascinated by what psychologists and anthropologists learned. That particular bit got reinforced by so much I learned later about food and climate.
I have a peace pole in my garden...the lettering is “May there be peace in the world.” All sides have that saying and you can use whatever languages you want. Mine is written in Polish, Gaelic, and Japanese and of course English.
I don't know about Christine's post, but the ones I've seen are 4x4 posts. We made several for Christmas gifts one year, to reflect our friend's interests (painted a Norwegian Elkhound on one, and a bassoon player with the notes from Mozart's bassoon concerto on another). I've seen some locally that are on 6x6 posts, but those are unwieldly and hard to work with. We used 3/8" rebar drilled 10"into the bottom of the posts.
"Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world."
As humans we really have a difficult time living out these concepts: peace, love, hope, forgiveness, honesty....etc
With purpose and with discipline, we must daily focus on these goals for the life of our planet. Of course it all begins within self ....and with the hope and possibility of influencing those close to us and then outward to our community.....country....world.
As many great and good choices for living with our fellow humans and creation itself goes against our selfish nature....it is NOT a small challenge for anyone!!!
Emily Pfaff, well said. It is a challenge to become aware of and understand our human selfish, anti-connectedness conditioning. This seems to be the biggest step.
Nice but under JFK, who was guided by Harvard's best and brightest went into Vietnam, Bush into Iraq on false information, and we tried to remake Afghanistan, the graveyard of civilizations.
George Baum, I see people who evolve over time and people who devolve over time. The former gives me hope and I believe in leaving space open for redemption for those who have erred, including myself.
Well done! How can we start it? Do you have influence over a group of young people who could take your points and get to work, then interest some in power?
Jumping in is what gets things done. I’ve learned that, even in corrupt Chicago. That’s why at 89 I’m still writing postcards and walking 1k to and from Pilates classes carrying my new cane!
Joseph, I like that. Your examples of the sacred days for different religions, points to the idea of rebirth. As in peace is a rebirth of our spirit, our heart, of who we were meant to be. Thank you, Joseph.
Joseph, as a musician, I've created several programs on wars from DC to NYC and also here in Europe. Charles Ives set the poem "In Flanders Fields" to music.
I found Ives' setting on YouTube if you're interested. The singer is Dietrich Fischer Diskau.
".... let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.” A warrior, intent on waging peace. Striking in familiarity with the mission of former President Carter. Thanks for all that to contemplate Dr. Peace.~
'War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.'
Jeri Chilcutt, the song, "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath says it all. Performed in Paris in 1970 is the best, non-commercialized version that hits the heart.
Maybe, but why sully the name of such beautiful creatures? I vote for "War" by Edwin Starr, 1969. My view: War profiteers, oceans upon oceans of tears. Years pass, graveyards amass, and for what gain? Oh, that's right. Money was made, and the undertakers got paid. Their cold bodies down. Into the ground, while this fortunate old Veteran's still hanging around. Jim
As does Dylan's "Masters of War", which I first heard in the 60s on a Judy Collins record, and Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In the Name", which I heard in the 90s when my youngest was a teenager.
I just watched that video on YouTube, and my ears had a "muffled" reaction, just like when I heard it live at the Filmore East in New York in 1971. Aural PTSD, I guess. I went there for the power in the music, and am only learning the lyrics now. A bit late.
The lyrics predict divine retribution to war mongers. We're still waiting 50 years later.
Jerry Helfand, I revisited the song, when Russia invaded Ukraine, and discovered I'd never really heard the lyrics before, either. (I think that has happened with several songs for me.) Regarding us waiting, to quote some more lyrics of another songwriter, "waiting for the sun".
Alas, The League of Nations and President Woodrow Wilson are remembered for the failures of each. What followed 1918 was world wide depression, social collapse in Germany, failure of the German currency, hyperinflation with currency worth less and less in Europe and deflation and depression in the USA, with the dollar worth more and more, fascism led by Mussolini in Italy leading again to German aggression, to Adolf Hitler’s antisemitic Nazis and the destruction of the Holocaust and 12 million people slaughtered by Axis powers in the concentration camps and German crematoriums of Germany with a total 83 million deaths worldwide and formation of The United Nations, another international body aimed at peace that has largely failed.
The Korean War was fought under the UN flag, ending in an armistice, not in peace, with the Cold War and MAD threatening all life on this planet..
The UN General Assembly is powerless, the Security Council is a talk show, with a structure that allows veto by one of five over most anything that matters, with the threat of sanctions to replace wholesale slaughter, as man continues to threaten all life and the threat of nuclear war ever present in a world of eleven nuclear powers and racism that threatens world peace constantly.
In short, Lincoln’s War, our Civil War did not end the banality of racism with emancipation, the Great War led to the Great Depression, and the Great Depression led to the Axis Powers and to the Soviet Union and China, supposedly communist, with the United States and Great Britain leading Europe and the State of Israel hosting what’s left of the Jews - now fighting to survive a new fascism in the region and in the United States... as man demonstrates - Mankind once again shows the intolerance and aggression that knows no end.
Do we need a UN with real power to protect, or is the world dependent entirely upon the United States to maintain the peace with US isolationism threatening and borders overrun with the hoards fleeing warming... and Hamas, Hezbollah and the Jew hating powers committed by the destruction of all Jews and Russia fighting to destroy democracy and take over Europe.
We’ve met the enemy and it’s clear: man is the enemy of man, and the UN is not the answer.
Republicans are again isolationists and WW III threatens in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Lebanon and in Taiwan... to mention a few.
Do we need WWIII to destroy a billion people to learn who and what we are?
Will America allow Trump the fascist thug to rule the White House again?
My view: President Biden is the best we’ve had since Abraham Lincoln, our political parties are essentially dysfunctional, corruption rules with prejudice and dystopia threatens.
We could incinerate a billion or more people and it still wouldn't change the fact that we won't think like a species. We have not evolved enough to employ the amazing brains we have - to find peace and understanding.
If we were to act like a species, we would have a UN with teeth. A UN that would be eliminating Hamas before they could build the tunnels - that would have eradicated Hezbollah as soon as it threatened its neighbor. A UN that would have stopped the "settlers" in the West Bank before they stole that first piece of property.
An intelligent species would have employed a UN that would have created a sectarian Israel - a place of safety for persecuted Jews, Muslims and Christians and "nones". Not a religious state. As soon as religion and government cross paths, people suffer and die.
Your comment was eloquent, S B. Except I vehemently disagree with the last line. We have been praying since we climbed out of the trees. It doesn't work. It is, in fact, one of the root causes of all this carnage. Two cousins in the Middle East. And they each think that the others god is false. "Christians" in the US pray for the destruction of their own fellow citizens and actively undermine democracy.
Of course, there are many fine people (like you) who pray. But I think that approach is hopeless. All that will ever matter is how we treat each other. Prayer may give us some solace. But it hasn't been very effective at finding peace. Sorry for the rant. Just call me disgusted with war being waged in the name of a "god". That's a cover for selfish behavior - evil. We haven't evolved much since the "Crusades" or the "Inquisition".
Other than that, thanks again for another fine post :)
My thanks, Bill Alstrom. We agree, prayer is a private matter.. It’s an individual choice, prayer is private, we hope silent prayer is heard, prayer needn’t be audible. Prayer doesn’t hurt. Tolerance comes first.
Thank you Mr Lewis for a thoughtful survey of the true thread of war to assert beliefs…and greed.
The willful mutual destruction initiated in 1914 was also a cynical attempt to produce national interest benefits by the Empiric Europeans. Knowledge of the potential value of its oil ensured the Ottoman Empire was included.
You are correct that “Mankind once again shows the intolerance and aggression that knows no end…” but through that very carnage the hope for peaceful resolution ran its graceful thread.
The same 1930’s that spawned evil fascism and determined genocide also gave growth to Mahatma Ghandi who showed the world that social and political changes can be achieved not only through violence and terror, but also through love and compassion.
The tradition of nonviolence (ahimsa) in the Indian culture grew into world wide beliefs adopted in America by Martin Luther King.
The UN may not fulfill its potential but like the fragile Democracy of the United States it is for peaceful resolution by the collective body of humanity may well be the only hope for the future. Besides whatever would occur without it? Doctrinal Diplomacy?
Besides I remain hopeful that despite being constantly shelved Eleanor Roosevelt’s “Doctrine of Human Rights,” can become the central reference and guidance to ensure a peaceful future and better world.
I couldn’t agree with you more Sandy. I hope last Tuesday’s elections are a harbinger of next Fall’s elections. The results indicate that a large number of repugnantkins must have crossed over and voted with the democrats, just maybe, sanity is starting to seep into the minds of some of them. One can hope 🙏
Sandy: We ought to know by now that the problem cannot be solved in our lifetimes. When early men crept out of their caves and reached for a rock to throw at a neighbor, they recognized the problem. Prayer doesn't solve problems but does make those praying feel better.
I think your numbers of people dying in the Nazi concentration camps is wildly inflated. It also glosses over the fact that they were kept active and expanded specifically to murder Jews.
I think Biden is a truly decent man, stuck between a rock and a hard place. He doesn't get the luxury of just doing what he may feel in his own heart, although that clearly guides him. He's got to represent ALL the people in his crazy, divided insane asylum to the best of his ability, and he's doing it to the best of his ability.
I loved Barack Obama, but I believe he was constrained by the fact that he felt the burden of being our first Black president and didn't want to be the "angry Black man" that the righties said he would be.
Being president is a thankless job if it's done correctly.
If he felt constrained by that, that’s as big an indictment of his presidency as his capitulations to Wall Street, his war on whistleblowers, and his extrajudicial lust for drone warfare.
Yeah, that was a bad decision, as was the internment of the Japanese during WWII. But comparatively speaking, especially as pertains policy initiatives affecting the working class, and the effective use of the bully pulpit, Biden doesn’t come close.
We thank you, Professor Richardson, for another history lesson that puts current events in perspective as much as the past. American isolationism is not new, nor is American support of autocratic dictators. Hitler had many enthusiastic supporters in the US in the 1930’s and we resolutely “stayed out of European affairs” as he put all of continental Europe under the Nazi boot. We got sucked in anyway, at the cost of many American lives. History is repeating itself with Vladimir Putin’s attempt to annex Ukraine. It should self-evident why we must do all we can to help Ukraine defeat Putin, yet we have many Americans who openly admire him and support Russia’s effort by seeking to cut off US aid to Ukraine.
Some of these same people seek to replace American democracy with a christian theocracy by putting forth the preposterous notion that that is what the framers of the US Constitution intended.
The question is; can we get to the 2024 election in time?
You bet we can, Ralph and the world, not just America will be a better place because of it. The way forward is not a dystopian one but one where more and more of us everywhere will be able to live our lives in peace. Our destiny as human beings is to renounce all war and instead cherish and protect all life. When we elect, and keep electing leaders, who we can help get us all there... yes, that will become our shared reality.
KD, I share your optimism, though mine is guarded. I believe that, in the end, decency and democracy will triumph. It's what we may have to slog through to get there that worries me.
The same Republican gang that kept the United States out of the League of Nations after World War One, and instead settled for 'thanksgiving and prayer' in a nice-sounding 1926 Congressional resolution is still around. Today they call it 'thoughts and prayers,' a polite way of avoiding issues, for a variety of reasons. If the American public is smart enough, they can remedy this on Nov. 5, 2024,
Indeed. There is a school of thought, to which I subscribe, that some people weren’t at all surprised on 12/7/41; that it wasn’t mere coincidence that Pearl Harbor was packed with obsolete battleships that day and not a single aircraft carrier.
Because it is not true ! Thousands of sailors serving on those ships in Hawaii, hundreds of airplanes at Hickman Field and airmen and a civilian population
. People were horrified on Dec 7, 1941 and we went on to fight a war on 2 fronts. Successfully and it ushered in the American Age which we might be able to keep going if we are very careful.
Just stop with the Hitler/Putin appeasement absurdity.
We have wrecked Ukraine in a MIC/NATO proxy war as a result of ‘diplomatic’ stupidity, and a desire to bleed the Russian economy and force ‘regime change’. We scuttled any effort towards a negotiated settlement early on, and now when negotiations are finally on the horizon, Russia will wind up with more Ukrainian territory, a stronger economy, and military.
Disagree all you want. The early settlement offer allowed Russia to keep Crimea, and Ukraine keep the eastern provinces while allowing for concessions, including limited autonomy for the Russian speaking residents, who had been under duress since the U.S.-backed coup of 2014.
If you think that was appeasement, go right ahead. But I ask you, would that have been better than Russia annexing the eastern provinces, in addition to Crimea, and having the country wrecked by an additional two years of war, which is what the result is going to be now? Add that to the fact that Russia will be coming out of the rejection by the U.S./NATO of the earlier settlement offer stronger, both economically and militarily.
If you think no, or that Ukraine is capable of ‘winning’ this proxy war, you’re sadly mistaken.
Not a proxy war. I call that apologizing for Putin. The Ukrainians are not being used to further our ends. They are passionately fighting to remain Ukrainian and run their own country.
Please. Call it whatever you want. It’s a shame that a ranting comedian, and a GOP presidential candidate, has more sense than the government of the U.S. … Watch the video linked below. You’ll hate it, because it will gore some of your sacred cows about this war, but at least you’ll know something about Ukrainian history you obviously don’t have at your disposal at present. You seem to be under the illusion that we don’t do propaganda; just the Russians and Chinese do that. That’s a stupid silo to reside in.
Of course we do propaganda. (Incidentally, propaganda is not necessarily false information.) We have lied, but have also told the truth on occasions, not often enough to suit me.
You seem think it’s useful to accuse people of harboring illusions and being ignorant of Ukrainian history. I was there visiting my Peace Corps daughter in 2005. Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Izmail (whose grain and transport facilities were recently bombed, adding to the world’s hunger crises.) Seeing video of women and children evacuating in nice cars, early in the war, I was surprised at the prosperity compared to 2005. Something was going right.
My daughter worked in a Russian-speaking area. Her friends there are not pro-Russian anymore, that’s for sure.
Tom, no, no, NO! WE have not wrecked Ukraine. It was not our diplomatic stupidity (though I don’t deny it sometimes exists), it was Putin’s desire to reconstitute the former Soviet Union. He called its breakup the worst catastrophe of the twentieth century. Not WWII.
What did Joe have to do with it?
I read Timothy Snyder, actual Ukraine expert, who has made three visits since Putin’s invasion. By chance do you read Jeffrey Sachs?
Carol, no, no, NO! Putin wanted a neutral Ukraine, to make sure he didn’t have missiles on his border. Biden has had a Manichaean view of Russia his entire political career. Just Google Joe Biden interactions with Ukraine. You’ll be reading for a solid week.
I don’t call at any point where Ukraine thought there was a good point for negotiations. I think they wanted, and want, to run Putin’s troops out of their territory. Putin has wrecked Ukraine. Who is this “we” you talk about?
That’s as I remember it, too. And I don’t remember any examples of NATO attacking other countries. (Well, this country attacked Iraq in 2003, but we were not acting as members of NATO.)
NATO attacked the former Yugoslavia, Syria, and Libya. NATO is supposed to be a defensive alliance, which only comes to the aid, militarily, of member states. But anyone with any sense knows NATO, as well as the EU, have become vassal states. What the U.S. wants, the U.S. gets.
Indeed, NATO conducted “military interventions” in those countries. Not in an attempt to annex territory and subjugate local populations, though. But undoubtedly “air strikes” killed people and destroyed infrastructure. I will not weigh in on the appropriateness of those actions, though some were approved by the UN.
Putin refers to Ukrainians who do not want to be Russian as Nazis. He intends to de-Nazify Ukraine and will destroy as much infrastructure, agriculture, Ukrainian culture and people as he can get away with. Maybe destroy them to the extent he did with Chechnya and Syria, or more so.
I am not sure the EU sees itself as a vassal. Particularly after Brexit. The French and others tried to talk W Bush/Cheney out of our war on Iraq. I am sure you remember that.
I do remember that, especially since the progenitor of the faux-patriotic term Freedom Fries in response to the French position was a Congressman from my home state. To his credit, he did a 180 on the Iraq War when the body bags began regularly coming home to his district, which contains a large military base.
Not going to argue with you about the presence of Nazis in Ukraine; plenty of articles on the legacy of Nazi admirers and sympathizers in Ukrainian history, all the way up to the current conflict. Google Stephen Bandera, Azov Battalion, etc. As to the statements Putin may or may not have made regarding non-Russian speaking Ukrainians, it would not be the first time a politician used demeaning group stereotypes as a propaganda tactic.
I don’t know much about Chechnya, but I do know Russian involvement in Syria had nothing to do with destruction; that was the U.S. role, as we were trying to (we’ve heard this story before) do the regime change thing and topple Assad, a Russian ally, and stupidly thought we should enlist the aid of ISIS to do it. Had the Russians not stepped in, Syria would now be worse off, just like Iraq is now post-Saddam; just like practically every country is after our military and/or CIA meddling is done. See Ukraine.
Getting back to Ukraine, I think Putin’s top priority is a secure Russia/Moscow. He sees a Ukrainian alliance with the West (NATO) as a red line that is unacceptable to that end, and yes, would do practically anything in his power to prevent that, including destroying infrastructure such that he cripples the desire of the Ukrainians to be anything but neutral in the East/West political dance. I don’t think, at present, he has any desire to conquer all of Ukraine, as it would be a constant headache for him, as was Afghanistan for us. But he will not allow NATO missiles in Ukrainian territory, and the Russian people seem to be in lockstep with him on that.
Gee, what I remember is that one morning, Russia sent troops into Ukraine, invading a free and sovereign nation because Putin wanted more territory, the rich wheat fields and access to the good ports on the Black Sea. Ukrainian farmers started blocking roads and funneling tanks and troops into cul-de-sacs where the Russian troops, many of them poorly trained and ill-equipped, were picked off as they tried to run away, and the tanks got stuck, and were disabled. And the Ukrainians kept fighting. Putin bragged that he was going to take over the entire country in three days.
I remember someone offered their new and untested President, Zelenskyy, asylum in the US, and his reply was something like, “Why would I leave? The fight is here. I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.” And the Russian invasion rolled on, killing people and destroying property, and the Ukrainians kept fighting, with what they had, and embarrassed much of the free world, and the free world started supporting the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian aggression. And then some people started saying the Biden should negotiate with Putin, to stop the destruction and the killing. But the Ukrainians kept fighting for their land and their freedom, and made those people look like fools. remember that?
Gee, you sound just like the knuckleheads who think the Gaza War started on October 7 with the Hamas attack. After all the propagandized messaging you note, and after turning down a peace/settlement offer just after the war began, because puppet Zelensky, a celebrity politician just like Reagan/Trump, was told he could actually win a war with Russia by U.S. ‘intelligence’, Ukraine is wrecked. They have virtually no army left, much of their infrastructure destroyed, Russia has even more Ukrainian territory, and is stronger, both economically and militarily. Can you say, ‘own goal’. Sure you can, ‘remember that’.
As to wanting more territory, Putin probably looked at what the U.S. is doing in Syria, occupying the wheat fields and oil fields in the western part of a sovereign nation, and thought, I’ll just do what they are doing. American hypocrisy about freedom, liberty, and democracy strikes again! Remember that?
I am looking at a commemorative tableau, in pen and ink, drawn in 1921, memorializing 8 young Belgian soldiers: my husband's great uncle and different cousins who when between 19 and 25 years of age died in Flanders. Five of the eight were killed between the 18th of October and the third of November, 1918. We have a helmet and a belt. It is so, so sad.
November 11 should still be called "Armistice Day". That fact that the end of "the Great War" came at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month was symbolic of how close warring countries had come to destroying the world. But, America learned nothing from it. In 1945 America and France reneged on a promise that had been made to Ho Chi Minh to free Vietnam from colonial occupation and exploitation if the Viet Minh would help the Allies defeat Japanese forces in Southeast Asia. The U.S. supported France's refusual to leave Vietnam by providing 80% of the money to perpetuate France's colonial occupation of Vietnam. After the 1954 defeat of France by the Viet Minh at Dien Binh Phu, the U.S. continued to resist Ho Chi Minh's attempts to make Vietnam a free nation until the fraudulent Gulf of Tonkin resolution signed by Pres. Lyndon Johnson in 1965, led to the U.S. Marines invading the country, landing at Danang, and escalating a conflict that killed almost 60,000 American service personnel and 3 million Vietnamese by the time the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong defeated the U.S. forces in 1975. World history since then shows that America and other countries learned nothing from the 1918 Armistice to end the "War to End all Wars" and bring lasting peace to the world.
PJ, I think some learned and I think that awareness has grown over recent generations . Unfortunately, those who did not or least learned are elected to power around the world. That's the problem. Deadly force is often necessary when under imminent threat. But if we want to avoid unnecessary and immoral conflicts and war, if we want peace, enough of us need to vote more peaceful people into power.
Yes, yes. Totally agree. Less politicians placed in power by Oligarchs. A few of us have learned.
"W" was a puppet. We as a nation learned NOTHING from Vietnam. The companies that became uber rich via trillions of American taxpayer dollars spent on two subsequent stupid totally destructive wars should have been tried and been convicted of grand theft and murder. And since the Supreme Court considers corporations to be "people" the CEOs of those companies should be wearing orange and smashing rocks today.
Imagine what trillions of dollars spent on the destruction of two countries could have done for poverty, healthcare, and education! We could have totally eliminated homelessness. We could have fed every hungry American. We could have cared for every Veteran with troubles from war - no questions asked!
What if we had set aside those 2-3 trillion dollars and bought the Palestinians a country? By funding the establishment of a two state solution - under the supervision of the UN.
We have tons of money. But no creative visualization. We are a dysfunctional species. It's not too late to change. Or is it?
too few people know about the route Ho Chi Minh took, and would be stunned to realize the US was eventually responding to a situation we created. This should be more widely taught. But as a HS social studies teacher, this is not happening due to many many curriculum demands. We are lucky this latest crop of HS students even studies Vietnam at all...
WWI ended with an armistice largely because the soldiers, exhausted, furious for being betrayed by the generals and national leaders, repulsed by the slaughters, w ere mutinying, deserting and becoming revolutionaries - and not just in Russia. English, French and German generals and national leaders had to end the war to stave off revolutions at home. While Veterans Day may be a federal holiday, the way the governments has treated veterans, especially since Vietnam is so terrible; it makes the word disgraceful useless: Veterans Day is now another day to exalt war and US militarism. This country doesn’t honor veterans; but it does create physical and mental, impoverished human beings over and over.
Sad but true, if they survived the carnage, they were left to suffer alone. Wonder if that’s why Harry Patch, last surviving soldier of WW1, said this: “I felt then, as I feel now, that the politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves, instead of organizing nothing better than legalized mass murder.”
Veterans have been ill treated since the country's beginnings. George Washington argued with the Continental Congress about paying the wages they had agreed to pay. He fighting for his soldiers. Congress was trying to weasel out of its obligations.
Thank you. One must hope for and work for peace. Our current administration is doing that and understands how solving root causes of war is the path to peace. You have highlighted those efforts and I appreciate that.
" but it is a concept that is currently under attack as autocrats increasingly reject the idea of a rules-based international order and claim the right to act however they wish."
Dr. Richardson, I think you mean like the United States did in 2003 when we, for no reason other than the lies of George W. Bush and the need of Dick Cheney's Haliburton for no bid contracts, invaded Iraq.
"claim the right to act however they wish".
Yep. That was US the USA.
"so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.”
Aye, but they were anyway were they not?
Around 200,000 innocent Iraqi citizens died in the "Iraq War".
Indeed, we have to bare that knowledge, yet W is treated as an elder statesman instead of a war criminal. And we have worse on the horizon. I could barely survive the shame of that time, and my friends and family were cheering. Propaganda still is the most powerful tool of the rich.
As a boy growing up in the Washington, DC area I remember that on November 11, things just stopped at the 11th hour of the 11th day. Automobile traffic, the DC trolley system, shoppers, workers--all stopped for that sacred minute.
It was Kurt Vonnegut, I believe, who among others has pointed out that Armistice Day was sacred, but Veterans' Day was not. Now it is ads and sales, a prelude to Black Friday, just another US holiday.
I'm not sure the change in nomenclature was the villain, probably more of the change of our culture's trading of sacred memory for sacred dollar, but we have lost something.
Dudley Didwrong, you did right by sharing your memory and your profound words, "...our culture's trading of sacred memory for sacred dollar..." Thank you.
Thank you Heather for writing until the wee hours to teach us the history of our country.
It is absolutely horrifying what is happening in Gaza ! The reality of that war on the civilian population is painful to witness and impossible to ignore.
There’s always been a strong undercurrent of isolationism in this country. Even in the run up to WWII, people were resisting the US involvement in getting enmeshed in the war in Europe. It it took the US getting attacked for the forces of isolationism to agree to US involvement.
All of this is why it’s so important that we assist Ukraine as much as we can to stand up to Russian aggression despite these pitiful naysayers in Congress who claim the funds would be better spent here.
First, we can print more money, so that’s not it. Aren’t the ‘Pubbies always saying that deficits don’t matter when they’re the ones in charge? And second, the last thing the world needs is a third land war in Europe. As will surely happen, if Putin isn’t stopped. If he’s allowed to swallow Ukraine, Poland is next. A member of NATO.
I don't think most people in the US have any concept of how devastating modern warfare can be since we have never fought one in our own country. They don't realize how important US involvement is in the world. I went on a college agricultural tour of The EU, Russia and Poland in 1975. We spent a few days in Chateau-Thierry, France. My grandfather fought in a big battle there during WWI. I mentioned it the first evening since I felt a particular connection to the town, and was stunned at the huge reaction, particularly from our older hosts. I was treated almost as a long-lost relative, with many thanks given and drinks bought.
Putin has no interest in swallowing all of Ukraine, nor invading Poland; unless of course NATO attempts to put offensive missiles on the Russian border. Which I wouldn’t put past NATO doing; its MIC-influenced decision-making process since the Berlin Wall fell is beyond stupid.
Putin's oft-stated goal is the restoration of the former Russian Empire, of which Poland was a part. Suggest you pick up a history book and look at a map of the former Empire. For a long time, Poland didn't exist on maps, as it was part of the Empire, as was Ukraine and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania).
It's critical that Putin be stopped. Had TFG still been in office, he wouldn't have been. Putin would have rolled over Ukraine and then set his sights on Eastern Europe.
If Putin has no interest in taking over Ukraine’s ports and wheat fields, maybe he should pull his troops back to the border that existed before he invaded Ukraine, and stop all this death and destruction? What you say has so little to do with Putin’s actions, I don’t understand where you are getting your information from.
I get my information from lots of sources. Watch the whole interview in the link below, and you’ll be smarter than most Americans when it comes to Ukraine.
Thank you. Here in the UK, where I am visiting my WW11 Royal Navy veteran Dad, we honor Armistice Day. This includes 2 minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, even during the Lord Mayor’s Parade. It is a very moving two minutes. My grandfathers fought in WW1, my grandmothers fought at home to sustain the country. I owe them all so much.
Same here in Australia. My grandfather emigrated from England with his young wife and their twelve month old son. When the war began, he enlisted in the First Australian Infantry Forces. His grave is in the huge war graves cemetery outside Caen (pronounced, more or less, "cong"). My father grew up in the care of a sorrowing English widow taken under the wing of a friendly family. There's a school in a small town near Amiens, which has a banner inscription: "Never forget the Australians". And they don't, to this day.
And in Canada. Those who fought are honoured on Remembrance Day across the country at cenotaphs in villages, towns and cities, with most Canadians wearing lapel poppies in the 2 weeks leading up to Nov. 11. My British grandfather fought and was gassed in the Great War, and my Canadian great-uncle was killed at the age of 20 at Ypres. My father fought in WWII. Canadians paid a heavy price in both world wars and in Korea, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan, South Africa and the Persian Gulf.
Here in War Memorial Central, Indianapolis, I remember Poppies were being distributed on the downtown streets. Even us small ones realized what the red flowers meant.
Then, came Malls. Many businesses moved their workforces out of the City center. Now Malls are gone - and many of the labor intensive businesses.
The wearing of the Poppies is now an endeavor only an Amazon could replace ... by sending every Customer a couple of Poppies before the 11th.
In Reading, Pennsylvania in the 40's after WWII when I was in elementary school an elderly woman came into our grade school class with a bunch of artificial poppies which she was selling for 10 cents each. We knew ahead of time she would be stopping by so we were sure to have a dime with us. She always gave us a little talk on the significance of Veteran's Day. The money raised went back to our local veterans organizations.
Here in Los Angeles, we have a large veterans' cemetery. The Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and other organizations put flags on the graves every Veterans's Day. It's a beautiful and moving sight to see them putting them out and seeing all those flags waving in the breeze. I have a great uncle who is buried there.
I look at our small town cemetery and think-how many men have served their country. trump couldn't be bothered to visit the American Cemetery in France: it was raining.
And he said that the soldiers who were killed were losers.
I remember seeing poppies from when I was growing up in Indiana, but none since. I have posted several poppy displays from Britain and pictures of those wonderful post box covers that people do there. Here I personally thank several people who I know are veterans and who consider their service important. My grandfather was in the Navy in WWI and had stories which grew more elaborate as he got older. My father's job was considered crucial to the war effort (where he worked made shell casings), so he did not serve in the military in WWII.
Growing up in Indiana, my mother always donated to the veterans on the streets who sold the poppies. It was considered an honor to the veterans to wear the poppy and show one’s gratitude for their sacrifice. I do wish we still had that tradition.
It's still around. It was around 2017 or 2018 that I bought an artificial poppy from a vet in front of a Trader Joe's one November.
I remember seeing them selling poppies. I don't know what my parents did.
My son in law is Canadian. Poppies abound in SW BC on Remembrance Day.
How nice that the top 3 commenters are from Australia, Canada, and the UK! Heather's brilliance and wisdom reaches far.
We love Heather in Canada.
Holy Smokes!...who knew?
It is a reminder that we were/are not alone.
🫡🇨🇦❤️
Jennifer, you are lucky to be with your dad to honour Armistice Day! My father was also a Royal Navy WWII veteran and last year, my brother and I went to St. Nazaire in France where the RN joined with the Commandos to destroy the German dry docks. The French were so appreciative then and are to this day, providing some land for a beautiful small cemetery for the great loss of life in that effort. It was very moving to be there.
I miss not having poppies in the US. We apparently wear them for Memorial Day although I do not remember seeing that.
This poem, written by a Canadian military officer who fought in WWI tells a sad story but one that is inspiring: it is for us, the living, to hold high the torch:
In Flanders Fields
BY JOHN MCCRAE
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
I've been to those fields; the scars are there if you look. Back in the day before we tested kids to death, I had my students in an Enrichment class memorize In Flanders Fields and recite it over the PA. The school stopped on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Thank you, Richard. Heart-breaking words.
My dad used to come home with a small paper poppy from the VFW (?) from time to time. As a kid I didn’t really understand what that meant. But as an adult, I revere my father’s service in WWII. He graduated from high school, turned 19 and was drafted, all in June 1943. Those who participated in wars deserve our gratitude, apart from how we feel about the rightness of the war itself.
MLMin ET, I have a very similar memory of my dad. He passed away two years ago. If he was still alive, he would be eligible to receive free healthcare in a nursing home. Thank you, President Biden !💙
“ Beginning this month, the Department of Veteran Affairs will offer its no-cost healthcare to veterans who live in nursing homes and all those who served in World War II. The department will also cover costs associated with Parkinson's disease.”
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/11/1212487962/on-veterans-day-biden-commemorates-the-sacrifice-made-by-soldiers-and-their-fami?fbclid=IwAR0pVKHK0NwzkdfNhaq6lWCVI8uLGoXRJIq-Fg4MGBl2g-kDnQesn4zl8fs_aem_AXQ_D_4wdmxRyvkNe2JsanMuM1Yv0QG5IhzV2Td4svLmEn19clDvbByin6eQ7EaW1hs
I had a poppy on my sousaphone until is shredded after a rainy parade.
Brava, Ally. I didn't know you were out in the rain yesterday am.
We owe so much to so many, and especially to those who gave all. Fathers, grandfathers, fathers-in-law, uncles, cousins, neighbors, and all the mothers who took jobs and raised families alone--those who survived were the heroes who raised us up after WW II. We owe our lives and our country to all of them, especially to those forgotten men and women who didn't survive, to their courage, their honor, their persistence, their perseverance. Like so many others who had visions of peace, Woodrow Wilson's ideals were thwarted by the many political Lodges seeking selfish isolation.
I had three uncles in WWII. One was a sailor who had become a radar specialist in the 1930’s. He told my father that Russia was the real problem, which for him it was. He was not allowed to retire after 20 years of service because of the need for his skills immediately after WWII. He was everything a kid needed as a “sailor uncle.” He got one leave during WWII, which resulted in a family party at the small farm of a Hungarian immigrant, a family friend after the death of my grandfather from “Spanish flu” in 1919. I was 9 and still remember it as the best party ever!
Thanks for this, Richard. The chamber ensemble I play in just got a copy of a piece of music titled "In Flanders Field" that we play for Veterans Day, and will play for Memorial Day. It is a SATB choral piece that we've arranged for 4 voice tuba ensemble.
https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=581711571&sxsrf=AM9HkKn8zuK1ImRiMLu6kGiIlHRK_MzMrA:1699798753822&q=In+Flanders+Fields+song&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiA4qTn076CAxV_MjQIHUvXABUQ1QJ6BAhEEAE&biw=1402&bih=677&dpr=1.37#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e181e0fe,vid:3g-VBcnLdBM,st:0
Amidst the "Thank You, Veterans" posts on my Facebook page, I posted a photo of poppies in Flanders Field that commemorated the centennial of the end of WWI.
Touching.
I had a fantastic 6th grade teacher (Mrs. Brandenburg) in this small West Texas town (600 population) and she had us memorize many poems. This was one of them. It is touching.
Thank you for sharing!
I looked up Flanders Fields (the real one). Found this very interesting site (Univ. of Kansas Medical Ctr.):
https://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/academics/departments/history-and-philosophy-of-medicine/archives/wwi/essays/medicine/in-flanders-fields.html
After tens of thousands of years of evolution, two world wars, and numerous other wars, past and present, we humans still haven't learned much. Pathetic.
That is an interesting report on the matter. In fact, Col. McCrae did not survive the war. He died of pneumonia.
Thank you for sharing this poem with us.
God, that poem gets me every time I read it!
Me, too, Karen. It is very moving and sadly, Col. McCrae did not survive the war, dying of pneumonia in 1918.
"In Flanders Fields" gives me tears.
❤️
Makes me weep every time I read it. Thank you♥️
Allen, I remember your posts from the beginning of the Ukraine war. We appreciated them at that time and felt the reality of what was happening through your words. We were all concerned for your safety, your wife and your dogs. I hope you are doing well now and are safe.
Thanks, to you and your Dad.
The best way to honor those brave and unselfish family members who sacrificed so much that we might live our lives in peace is to live our lives honorably and without fear. Love and empathy and compassion is the way. “War is over”...if we want it... as John and Yoko said.
Yesterday I honored my grand-uncle Geoffrey Halliday Hewson, who died at the age of 21 in Flanders field in WWI, and who is buried at the Marfaux British Cemetery in Marfaux, Marne, France.
It always brings me to tears. And heard it first as child and many years since.
Same in most of Germany, at least here in Wiesbaden.
Jennifer, on behalf of my family I thank your family. My father and his brother completed their tours in WWII in the Navy, and my father was called back as a Marine for Korea. Both brothers survived, but my dad 'won' two Purple Hearts in Korea.
Thank Heaven for NATO. I believe that if Ukraine had already been a member nation (not NATO's fault), Pootin would not have invaded to begin with.
Once again, thanks for your family's sacrifices.
🫡 Grateful for the service and sacrifice of your family…❤️
Thanks.
You are lucky to have your dad still around. Mine is not and I have so many questions to ask. I do realize soldiers do not want to relive their war moments. Some times the wounds are not on the body but in the mind. My dad never said a word except the bombers he flew were very cold. From actual footages of Normandy and Okinawa, I would prefer to forget, too
So sorry your Dad is not with you in person. And I have not quite dared to ask mine some things. He served in the Pacific on a destroyer, one built in Quincy, Mass I think. When he visited me in the US, he went on board the USS Salem at Quincy Shipyard and said he could hear the voices of his shipmates. I still cry thinking of it.
The best way to honour vetersns is to see that we don't make too many more of them.
Our president is working on that. He shares Wilson’s vision. Whatever we can do to help him realize it is a gift to our heirs and to the world.
To everyone: I just found the photo of General Flynn and Jill Stein (running again for president) at dinner with Putin in Moscow in 2015.
I’m wondering if Russia is supporting Jill Stein’s run again
Wouldn’t be surprised. Do you know that Hamas attacked on Putin’s birthday? The connections are everywhere.
She went with 4 GOP senators over the 4th of July...never has been investigated??? We have enemies & supporters of pootin within our own congress.
Yes, we most certainly have Putin supporters in Congress. 3/4 of Republicans in the House voted against certifying the election. Traitors, in short.
let's not make ANY more of them - so much of our world has descended into the hells of war, ignoring the commitment that " no country should be able to attack a neighbor, slaughter its people, and steal its lands at will."
Talia, Amen--thank you!
I wonder how we as a nation could equally honor vets and educate citizens about how to be peaceful, how to avoid conflict and war? Maybe we need a Peace Day too. A federal hoilday. It would be a day of education and participation for students in school and all adults in communities. There could be five main peace themes: world, national, community, interpersonal and self(within) peace. People could learn: non-violent communication skills, reasons wars start, how they can be more peaceful, how gov't policies promote or deter peace, and develop and participate in community and national peace projects, etc. The topics are endless. Okay, so maybe we need a Peace Week.
M Tree, I totally agree with you. Marianne Williamson recommends that we have a Department of Peace. I was hoping President Biden might establish one and appoint Marianne Williamson as secretary. Then your worthy ideas could be put into practice.
I liked her years ago, but found her to be a bit naive and definitely not tough enough to play with the big boys who bring bombs to any discussion.
Lysistrata the centuries ago Roman play presents a peace plan... but the pugnacious nature testosterone fueled by men sadly persists in more than the bedroom 😞
Ain’t that the truth. Then there are those “wannabes” who try to compensate with bravado. Phonies through and through. Testosterone without a heart is just a brute.
I've watched her wipe the floor with male celebrity 'big boys" in debates. She is tough enough for the ruling class corporate media to fear her messages of peace to black her out. If she is on a primary ballot, I will vote for her because hers is the only voice for true democracy rather than perpetuating the oligarchy masquerading as democracy that plays keepaway ball with universal health care for our citizens, militarizes our "police" with weapons of war, and perpetually involves the nations in undeclared wars where the primary object is to protect the resources of corporations, not our nation.
I would too if she had a snowballs chance in hell of winning. I have seen too many spoilers in my long life. Third parties will help chump
We are NOT voting for any third parties in a primary Jeri, so don't try to create "a spoiler" where none exists. We can safely vote for a candidate that is expressing the platform and aspirations we most support. Thereafter we can come together in solidarity for the best option we have at defeating the potential disaster. One thing is certain. After steering past the disaster, we cannot allow this status quo of increasing homelessness, unending undeclared wars, keepaway ball of health care and donothingness about our creating climate change to continue.
I don't know about that. She held her own on the debate stage, as I recall.
She did at times and was lauded for it.
Jeri Chllcutt, I am somewhat familiar with her and so I'll listen for her naivete. It is always good to hear people's different opinions on people.
She was an Oprah favorite and I really enjoyed her. She made a name by writing about books that I bought years ago called “A Course in Miracles.” Hope my memory is right because I am old and that many years ago.
Jeri Chilcutt, I think your memory is perfect! I know her through interviews with Oprah and others and she did mention "A Course in Miracles" in some of them.
Guess old can still function, maybe for me and Joe
I have the book still.
Mine got drowned when our house flooded in 1979. Hated to see my books ruined.
That's.why I like Antony Blinken so much, Joseph, a true Warrior for peace!
Couldn’t agree more. Maybe that’s why republicans love MTG and her ilk so much and want the rest of us to be “Handmaid’s.”
Wow Joseph. Not a rare position with many men I would guess. Fortunately (I guess), we were so poor that my Mom had to work at a hosiery mill while raising eight. My Dad never missed a day of work at his job at a hosiery mill and didn't seem to resent my mother working. She even had a "looper" put in the house when my youngest brother was born so she could nurse him and work from home, it was a joint effort. My Mom did walk on a picket line for mill workers. I am grateful for both of them, despite their flaws. Your Mom must have deserved your support, good on you.
Maybe then she would stop running for president.
I admire Marianne Williamson for her recommendation for a Dept pf Peace, supported her campaign and have her bumper sticker on my car still!
Carol T Cox (NJ to VA to FL), someone posted she had that idea. I love it. How can I find her speaking or writing on her idea?
Just researched this, and apparently a desire for a “Peace-Office” can be traced all the way back to Benjamin Rush in 1793. Attempts have been made throughout the past two centuries to establish a way to address peace in our government. Most recently, Rep. Dennis Kucinich in 2001, Sen. Mark Dayton in 2005, and Rep. Barbara Lee in 2013 all introduced bills to create a cabinet level Department of Peace. Marianne Williamson is continuing to push for a US Cabinet of Peace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Peace
Here is a good place to find info on Marianne Williamson:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Williamson
Carol T Cox. (NJ to VA to FL), WOW you get the Sunday Morning Award for peace research! That is so interesting. I had no idea about the history. Thank you so much for the info and links. You are the best!
I have to thank you for getting me going this morning when you brought up your ideas for PEACE! So often all the talk is about war, violence, destruction. I'm relieved and grateful to be talking about peace.
A very dear friend with her husband, a reform Jew, have been working for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine.
She sent me a quote of Fredrick Buechner: "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid."
YES Carol!
It’s why the powers that be redistricted Dennis Kucinich out of Congress.
War makes too much money for the idea of peace to win.
Many books she has written!
Marianne? The woman who cannot keep her election staff because she’s so mean to them?No respect for her splitting votes again. She’s in the same category as Jill Stein. RFK Jr is worse than both of them. My opinion.
Maybe in a second term?
M Tree - good idea. This reminds me the IB curriculum. International Baccalaureate (IB) schools were founded in Geneva in 1968 within recent memory of WWII for the children of diplomats. Their mission is “to create a better and more peaceful world through education that builds intercultural understanding and respect.” The programme expanded and now have around 2000 schools for kids ages 3-20 in the US. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Baccalaureate
Maria Sheler, thank you! I've never heard of it. Interesting and quite fitting that it was founded for children of diplomats. I will look it up.
My niece graduated from high school with an International Baccalaureate diploma from a school she attended in Germany while her Mom was based there (FedEx pilot). In the US, that counts as almost a full year of college credits.
Ally House (Oregon), that's wonderful!
My three are IB grads out of Scottsdale, AZ. They - and their brilliant thinker friends and cohort-mates - impressed me then, and continue to be impressive today. Their educators were dedicated to helping the IB students learn to analyze, to listen, to communicate. Education in the Socratic method yields prepared people. Promote IB education in your community. 👏🏼
Charlotte Hart - SoCal,
thanks so much for the ringing endorsement. Sounds wonderful.
I am a grad of the International School of Bangkok class of ‘72. My parents were diplomats, but at the time what was impressive to me was that many of my classmates were military brats due to the fact that the Vietnam war going strong. There is a reunion coming up this January in Bangkok with organized side trips to Laos, Cambodia, and both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Scroll down for my endorsement of IB!
In 1870 Julia Ward Howe initiated a”Mother’s day for Peace, which envisioned much of what you propose. Sadly, with the help of Hallmark, it has become the saccharine, vapid day we currently know as Mother’s Day, with no reflection upon its original intent.
Charles P, thank you so much for the history. Yes, not having ideas dismissed, or contorted and distorted has been a historical challenge.
Or year, you mean give up retribution?? What a paradigm shift that would be.
Jeri Chilcutt, yes, what a shift indeed. It has been gaining steam for generations. I think one day it's possible, if we don't all kill each other first with war or rendering our planet inhabitable first.
I keep thinking about the psychological experiment (too many rats in a trap attacking each other) of years ago and the UN warning in the 1970’s about overpopulation coupled with Paul Ehrlich’s writing and speeches about producing food for more and more people, all in the context of climate change and war. If we could “make peace,” by adopting orphans and working to reduce population by love not war and starvation....
Virginia Witmer, I am right there with you. Just read an article by Thom Hartmann about world population growth. It took 300,000 years until the time Jefferson was elected president in 1800, for the world pop to reach 1 billion. In 1930, it was 2 billion. We just reached 8 billion. So in roughly the last 100 years, we added 6 billion people. I agree rational and just policies, as you note need to be discussed publicly.
Yet now there are constant moves to restrict or ban abortion, and China wants women to have more babies! It’s odd how overpopulation discussions have completely fallen off the radar.
Annie Weeks, yes it is. Speaker of the House was honest in a clip I saw of him, saying that women shouldn't have abortions because we need those workers. What the ..... kind of talk is that? Corporate crazy talk I think. The Speaker never expressed concern for women and the difficulty of their decision, their circumstances, their well-being, their families, or society, nope, just how can we control and exploit the situation.
Annie, agree. Population growth outpacing the earth’s carrying capacity is one (among a few) reasons my then husband and I did a “pinkie swear” back in the late 60’s to be child-free, a pact we both kept (although we parted ways, we remained lifelong friends). Young folks are seriously reconsidering having children, or flat out choosing not to, given the tenuous livability future of our “pale blue dot”.
Seriously.
Everyone who wants "more babies" usually just wants more numbers to support their pet issue.
Thank you for those figures! Did you see “Soylent Green”? It is part of my “list,” as is “The China Syndrome.” (I saw nuclear power in France and understand why it works well there. Learned this morning that Illinois legislature has voted to return it to the most corrupt state in the country!)
Virginia Witmer, I haven't heard of the former title you cite. What is Illinois doing?
I was so lucky to have a biology professor who clearly taught the mathematical implications of exponential growth. This was my first class in college after high school. He made it clear that the doubling time was what needed understanding. To this day and with the years behind us, no greater importance could be taught, IMO. I need to find Thom’s article. Thanks for the note.
Randall D Ainslie, your professor was wise! Thom's article was recent, within the last week or two.
I think about that experiment ALL THE TIME these days! :(
Thank you for remembering. Every time I write about it I feel terribly alone. As an arts major I was fascinated by what psychologists and anthropologists learned. That particular bit got reinforced by so much I learned later about food and climate.
How do you do that when the person running for president openly talks about revenge and retribution????
Vote for his opponent
YES. Do everything humanly possible to keep the one speaking of revenge far far away from any levers of power!
Scream to the heavens, would help if MSM focused on the danger.
Jeri, accountability, yes. Justice, yes. Retribution/revenge, no, it just feeds the beast.
never have been for retribution or revenge
I have a peace pole in my garden...the lettering is “May there be peace in the world.” All sides have that saying and you can use whatever languages you want. Mine is written in Polish, Gaelic, and Japanese and of course English.
Christine (Happy Valley, PA), I love that. Did you make it? Is it a 4x something post?
I don't know about Christine's post, but the ones I've seen are 4x4 posts. We made several for Christmas gifts one year, to reflect our friend's interests (painted a Norwegian Elkhound on one, and a bassoon player with the notes from Mozart's bassoon concerto on another). I've seen some locally that are on 6x6 posts, but those are unwieldly and hard to work with. We used 3/8" rebar drilled 10"into the bottom of the posts.
Cool holiday gift idea!
Ally House (Oregon), thanks for the info and details. I appreciate it!
"Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world."
ETTY HILLESUM
Rick Smith, I strongly agree. The more we reconcile within us, the more peace, the more love, we can put out into the world.
How about a Peace Year...? Let it be...
KD, Imagine.......
To be repeated annually!
M Tree,
As humans we really have a difficult time living out these concepts: peace, love, hope, forgiveness, honesty....etc
With purpose and with discipline, we must daily focus on these goals for the life of our planet. Of course it all begins within self ....and with the hope and possibility of influencing those close to us and then outward to our community.....country....world.
As many great and good choices for living with our fellow humans and creation itself goes against our selfish nature....it is NOT a small challenge for anyone!!!
Emily Pfaff, well said. It is a challenge to become aware of and understand our human selfish, anti-connectedness conditioning. This seems to be the biggest step.
I like the idea to include “all adults in [all] communities”
One would hope to believe each Sunday in churches et al this activity would be going on
John Sharkey, unfortunately, we haven't evolved to the point yet where our Sunday gatherings are all about peace, within and amongst.
Nice but under JFK, who was guided by Harvard's best and brightest went into Vietnam, Bush into Iraq on false information, and we tried to remake Afghanistan, the graveyard of civilizations.
George Baum, I see people who evolve over time and people who devolve over time. The former gives me hope and I believe in leaving space open for redemption for those who have erred, including myself.
Well done! How can we start it? Do you have influence over a group of young people who could take your points and get to work, then interest some in power?
Virginia Witmer, I don't, but I like your thinking of jumping in.
Jumping in is what gets things done. I’ve learned that, even in corrupt Chicago. That’s why at 89 I’m still writing postcards and walking 1k to and from Pilates classes carrying my new cane!
Virginia, as an 80 year old coming to terms with that, you are an inspiration for me . Thank you!
Virginia Witmer, you're a powerful force for good! ♡
No way I can thank you for such a recognition, but it’s the best I’ve ever had, except that Keith Wheelock (90) keeps encouraging me to write!
Virginia Witmer, Keith is a wise man. And the wisest people I know, are 87 and 89.
Joseph, I like that. Your examples of the sacred days for different religions, points to the idea of rebirth. As in peace is a rebirth of our spirit, our heart, of who we were meant to be. Thank you, Joseph.
Joseph, as a musician, I've created several programs on wars from DC to NYC and also here in Europe. Charles Ives set the poem "In Flanders Fields" to music.
I found Ives' setting on YouTube if you're interested. The singer is Dietrich Fischer Diskau.
".... let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.” A warrior, intent on waging peace. Striking in familiarity with the mission of former President Carter. Thanks for all that to contemplate Dr. Peace.~
'War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.'
__Jimmy Carter
If only greedy, war-mongering billionaires and their lieutenants would sign on to that. But it’s never their children these days
Jeri Chilcutt, the song, "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath says it all. Performed in Paris in 1970 is the best, non-commercialized version that hits the heart.
M Tree - "the song, "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath says it all."
.
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death's construction
.
In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord, yeah!
.
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor, yeah
.
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait till their judgement day comes, yeah!
.
Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where their bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
.
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan laughing, spreads his wings
Oh lord, yeah!
.
Songwriters: William Ward / Tony Iommi / Ozzy Osbourne / Michael Butler
(short version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZPC9FajctE
Ron Boyd (Denver), thanks for the lyrics.
Maybe, but why sully the name of such beautiful creatures? I vote for "War" by Edwin Starr, 1969. My view: War profiteers, oceans upon oceans of tears. Years pass, graveyards amass, and for what gain? Oh, that's right. Money was made, and the undertakers got paid. Their cold bodies down. Into the ground, while this fortunate old Veteran's still hanging around. Jim
Jim Duffey, I agree "War" is powerful for the heart also.
Will check it out. Black Sabbath was not my fav…. War pigs sounds about right, W out front…
Jeri Chilcutt, not mine either. But this version is from the heart, before the industry got a hold of them and de-hearted them to maximize profits.
“Maximize profits”. Kiss of death or “de-hearted.” Perfect
I never liked them much, although I used to dedicate "Crazy Train" to my ex-husband when we were still married. :D
I kind of liked "Iron Man", too.
But War Pigs sounds like a keeper
As does Dylan's "Masters of War", which I first heard in the 60s on a Judy Collins record, and Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In the Name", which I heard in the 90s when my youngest was a teenager.
I just watched that video on YouTube, and my ears had a "muffled" reaction, just like when I heard it live at the Filmore East in New York in 1971. Aural PTSD, I guess. I went there for the power in the music, and am only learning the lyrics now. A bit late.
The lyrics predict divine retribution to war mongers. We're still waiting 50 years later.
Jerry Helfand, I revisited the song, when Russia invaded Ukraine, and discovered I'd never really heard the lyrics before, either. (I think that has happened with several songs for me.) Regarding us waiting, to quote some more lyrics of another songwriter, "waiting for the sun".
Black Sabbath rules! Tony Iommi 4ever!
Alas, The League of Nations and President Woodrow Wilson are remembered for the failures of each. What followed 1918 was world wide depression, social collapse in Germany, failure of the German currency, hyperinflation with currency worth less and less in Europe and deflation and depression in the USA, with the dollar worth more and more, fascism led by Mussolini in Italy leading again to German aggression, to Adolf Hitler’s antisemitic Nazis and the destruction of the Holocaust and 12 million people slaughtered by Axis powers in the concentration camps and German crematoriums of Germany with a total 83 million deaths worldwide and formation of The United Nations, another international body aimed at peace that has largely failed.
The Korean War was fought under the UN flag, ending in an armistice, not in peace, with the Cold War and MAD threatening all life on this planet..
The UN General Assembly is powerless, the Security Council is a talk show, with a structure that allows veto by one of five over most anything that matters, with the threat of sanctions to replace wholesale slaughter, as man continues to threaten all life and the threat of nuclear war ever present in a world of eleven nuclear powers and racism that threatens world peace constantly.
In short, Lincoln’s War, our Civil War did not end the banality of racism with emancipation, the Great War led to the Great Depression, and the Great Depression led to the Axis Powers and to the Soviet Union and China, supposedly communist, with the United States and Great Britain leading Europe and the State of Israel hosting what’s left of the Jews - now fighting to survive a new fascism in the region and in the United States... as man demonstrates - Mankind once again shows the intolerance and aggression that knows no end.
Do we need a UN with real power to protect, or is the world dependent entirely upon the United States to maintain the peace with US isolationism threatening and borders overrun with the hoards fleeing warming... and Hamas, Hezbollah and the Jew hating powers committed by the destruction of all Jews and Russia fighting to destroy democracy and take over Europe.
We’ve met the enemy and it’s clear: man is the enemy of man, and the UN is not the answer.
Republicans are again isolationists and WW III threatens in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Lebanon and in Taiwan... to mention a few.
Do we need WWIII to destroy a billion people to learn who and what we are?
Will America allow Trump the fascist thug to rule the White House again?
My view: President Biden is the best we’ve had since Abraham Lincoln, our political parties are essentially dysfunctional, corruption rules with prejudice and dystopia threatens.
Let us pray.
We could incinerate a billion or more people and it still wouldn't change the fact that we won't think like a species. We have not evolved enough to employ the amazing brains we have - to find peace and understanding.
If we were to act like a species, we would have a UN with teeth. A UN that would be eliminating Hamas before they could build the tunnels - that would have eradicated Hezbollah as soon as it threatened its neighbor. A UN that would have stopped the "settlers" in the West Bank before they stole that first piece of property.
An intelligent species would have employed a UN that would have created a sectarian Israel - a place of safety for persecuted Jews, Muslims and Christians and "nones". Not a religious state. As soon as religion and government cross paths, people suffer and die.
Your comment was eloquent, S B. Except I vehemently disagree with the last line. We have been praying since we climbed out of the trees. It doesn't work. It is, in fact, one of the root causes of all this carnage. Two cousins in the Middle East. And they each think that the others god is false. "Christians" in the US pray for the destruction of their own fellow citizens and actively undermine democracy.
Of course, there are many fine people (like you) who pray. But I think that approach is hopeless. All that will ever matter is how we treat each other. Prayer may give us some solace. But it hasn't been very effective at finding peace. Sorry for the rant. Just call me disgusted with war being waged in the name of a "god". That's a cover for selfish behavior - evil. We haven't evolved much since the "Crusades" or the "Inquisition".
Other than that, thanks again for another fine post :)
Well said Bill. I couldn’t agree more. Over the course of history, more people have died on the alter of religion than for any other cause.
Let us pray, on our knees.
My thanks, Bill Alstrom. We agree, prayer is a private matter.. It’s an individual choice, prayer is private, we hope silent prayer is heard, prayer needn’t be audible. Prayer doesn’t hurt. Tolerance comes first.
You speak my heart.
Thank you Mr Lewis for a thoughtful survey of the true thread of war to assert beliefs…and greed.
The willful mutual destruction initiated in 1914 was also a cynical attempt to produce national interest benefits by the Empiric Europeans. Knowledge of the potential value of its oil ensured the Ottoman Empire was included.
You are correct that “Mankind once again shows the intolerance and aggression that knows no end…” but through that very carnage the hope for peaceful resolution ran its graceful thread.
The same 1930’s that spawned evil fascism and determined genocide also gave growth to Mahatma Ghandi who showed the world that social and political changes can be achieved not only through violence and terror, but also through love and compassion.
The tradition of nonviolence (ahimsa) in the Indian culture grew into world wide beliefs adopted in America by Martin Luther King.
The UN may not fulfill its potential but like the fragile Democracy of the United States it is for peaceful resolution by the collective body of humanity may well be the only hope for the future. Besides whatever would occur without it? Doctrinal Diplomacy?
Besides I remain hopeful that despite being constantly shelved Eleanor Roosevelt’s “Doctrine of Human Rights,” can become the central reference and guidance to ensure a peaceful future and better world.
Let us pray, on our knees. Sing her praises. Eleanor Roosevelt was our best. She was right, all the time.
M. K. Ghandi and M. L. King spoke for the Almighty.
M. K. Gandhi found passive resistance incredibly effective.
You speak from years of paying attention.
I remember. Do you?
Yep, old with memory intact, mostly
Yes. 84.
Not too far behind with lots of personal losses but still can smell Schitt as well as roses
I couldn’t agree with you more Sandy. I hope last Tuesday’s elections are a harbinger of next Fall’s elections. The results indicate that a large number of repugnantkins must have crossed over and voted with the democrats, just maybe, sanity is starting to seep into the minds of some of them. One can hope 🙏
Sandy: We ought to know by now that the problem cannot be solved in our lifetimes. When early men crept out of their caves and reached for a rock to throw at a neighbor, they recognized the problem. Prayer doesn't solve problems but does make those praying feel better.
Sometimes.
I think your numbers of people dying in the Nazi concentration camps is wildly inflated. It also glosses over the fact that they were kept active and expanded specifically to murder Jews.
6 MM Jews, 6 MM others… Nuremberg trials…
My view also.
“My view: President Biden is the best we’ve had since Abraham Lincoln… “
So Biden is not only like FDR, he’s better than FDR?
Now that, was funny.
Why quibble? I like the fact that Biden is doing good work now. No need for ratings of his presidency just yet.
Exactly. It's not a fucking contest.
I think Biden is a truly decent man, stuck between a rock and a hard place. He doesn't get the luxury of just doing what he may feel in his own heart, although that clearly guides him. He's got to represent ALL the people in his crazy, divided insane asylum to the best of his ability, and he's doing it to the best of his ability.
I loved Barack Obama, but I believe he was constrained by the fact that he felt the burden of being our first Black president and didn't want to be the "angry Black man" that the righties said he would be.
Being president is a thankless job if it's done correctly.
Yes, thankless, maybe until it’s history.
If he felt constrained by that, that’s as big an indictment of his presidency as his capitulations to Wall Street, his war on whistleblowers, and his extrajudicial lust for drone warfare.
My view: President Biden is the best we’ve had since Abraham Lincoln… “ FDR sent boats loaded with JEWS back to Europe…. Against his wife’s advice…
Yeah, that was a bad decision, as was the internment of the Japanese during WWII. But comparatively speaking, especially as pertains policy initiatives affecting the working class, and the effective use of the bully pulpit, Biden doesn’t come close.
A great reminder of the history behind this important anniversary. Thank you!
And a solemn finger pointing at the reality of the present time. Henry Cabot Lodge must be stroking his whiskers complacently, wherever he may be.
We thank you, Professor Richardson, for another history lesson that puts current events in perspective as much as the past. American isolationism is not new, nor is American support of autocratic dictators. Hitler had many enthusiastic supporters in the US in the 1930’s and we resolutely “stayed out of European affairs” as he put all of continental Europe under the Nazi boot. We got sucked in anyway, at the cost of many American lives. History is repeating itself with Vladimir Putin’s attempt to annex Ukraine. It should self-evident why we must do all we can to help Ukraine defeat Putin, yet we have many Americans who openly admire him and support Russia’s effort by seeking to cut off US aid to Ukraine.
Some of these same people seek to replace American democracy with a christian theocracy by putting forth the preposterous notion that that is what the framers of the US Constitution intended.
The question is; can we get to the 2024 election in time?
You bet we can, Ralph and the world, not just America will be a better place because of it. The way forward is not a dystopian one but one where more and more of us everywhere will be able to live our lives in peace. Our destiny as human beings is to renounce all war and instead cherish and protect all life. When we elect, and keep electing leaders, who we can help get us all there... yes, that will become our shared reality.
KD, I share your optimism, though mine is guarded. I believe that, in the end, decency and democracy will triumph. It's what we may have to slog through to get there that worries me.
Be well.
The same Republican gang that kept the United States out of the League of Nations after World War One, and instead settled for 'thanksgiving and prayer' in a nice-sounding 1926 Congressional resolution is still around. Today they call it 'thoughts and prayers,' a polite way of avoiding issues, for a variety of reasons. If the American public is smart enough, they can remedy this on Nov. 5, 2024,
Indeed. Vote D.
You got 'sucked in' because of Pearl Harbour!
Japan likely saved us from the Nazi lovers in the government and rich supporters who gave FDR hell every minute until Dec 7. Then they shut up…
Very interesting point about Pearl Harbor’s possibly saving us from Nazism. Grist for thought!
Thought this since I learned about the Coup of 1933, and the Nazi rally in Madison Square Gardens in 1939.
What a memorable history lesson! Thank you.
Indeed. There is a school of thought, to which I subscribe, that some people weren’t at all surprised on 12/7/41; that it wasn’t mere coincidence that Pearl Harbor was packed with obsolete battleships that day and not a single aircraft carrier.
I thought that was debunked, an effort to tar FDR
Not heard this.
Because it is not true ! Thousands of sailors serving on those ships in Hawaii, hundreds of airplanes at Hickman Field and airmen and a civilian population
. People were horrified on Dec 7, 1941 and we went on to fight a war on 2 fronts. Successfully and it ushered in the American Age which we might be able to keep going if we are very careful.
SNAFU..
Just stop with the Hitler/Putin appeasement absurdity.
We have wrecked Ukraine in a MIC/NATO proxy war as a result of ‘diplomatic’ stupidity, and a desire to bleed the Russian economy and force ‘regime change’. We scuttled any effort towards a negotiated settlement early on, and now when negotiations are finally on the horizon, Russia will wind up with more Ukrainian territory, a stronger economy, and military.
Great job, Joe!
I disagree with every single word.
What would an “early negotiated settlement” have looked like? If it ceded one square foot of Ukraine to Putin, it was appeasement.
I usually do.
Disagree all you want. The early settlement offer allowed Russia to keep Crimea, and Ukraine keep the eastern provinces while allowing for concessions, including limited autonomy for the Russian speaking residents, who had been under duress since the U.S.-backed coup of 2014.
If you think that was appeasement, go right ahead. But I ask you, would that have been better than Russia annexing the eastern provinces, in addition to Crimea, and having the country wrecked by an additional two years of war, which is what the result is going to be now? Add that to the fact that Russia will be coming out of the rejection by the U.S./NATO of the earlier settlement offer stronger, both economically and militarily.
If you think no, or that Ukraine is capable of ‘winning’ this proxy war, you’re sadly mistaken.
Not a proxy war. I call that apologizing for Putin. The Ukrainians are not being used to further our ends. They are passionately fighting to remain Ukrainian and run their own country.
Please. Call it whatever you want. It’s a shame that a ranting comedian, and a GOP presidential candidate, has more sense than the government of the U.S. … Watch the video linked below. You’ll hate it, because it will gore some of your sacred cows about this war, but at least you’ll know something about Ukrainian history you obviously don’t have at your disposal at present. You seem to be under the illusion that we don’t do propaganda; just the Russians and Chinese do that. That’s a stupid silo to reside in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7wkmFRh40Y
Of course we do propaganda. (Incidentally, propaganda is not necessarily false information.) We have lied, but have also told the truth on occasions, not often enough to suit me.
You seem think it’s useful to accuse people of harboring illusions and being ignorant of Ukrainian history. I was there visiting my Peace Corps daughter in 2005. Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Izmail (whose grain and transport facilities were recently bombed, adding to the world’s hunger crises.) Seeing video of women and children evacuating in nice cars, early in the war, I was surprised at the prosperity compared to 2005. Something was going right.
My daughter worked in a Russian-speaking area. Her friends there are not pro-Russian anymore, that’s for sure.
God, seriously; Vivek Ramaswamy???? That fast talking bullshit artist??
Yeah, I don't think so.
o_O
Neville Chamberlain stepping off the airplane waving a piece of paper after negotiations with Hitler.
Yawn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7wkmFRh40Y
Or, if you’d like a more reasonable tone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaJCUDOE6UA
Tom, no, no, NO! WE have not wrecked Ukraine. It was not our diplomatic stupidity (though I don’t deny it sometimes exists), it was Putin’s desire to reconstitute the former Soviet Union. He called its breakup the worst catastrophe of the twentieth century. Not WWII.
What did Joe have to do with it?
I read Timothy Snyder, actual Ukraine expert, who has made three visits since Putin’s invasion. By chance do you read Jeffrey Sachs?
Carol, no, no, NO! Putin wanted a neutral Ukraine, to make sure he didn’t have missiles on his border. Biden has had a Manichaean view of Russia his entire political career. Just Google Joe Biden interactions with Ukraine. You’ll be reading for a solid week.
Read some of both, prefer Sachs.
I don’t call at any point where Ukraine thought there was a good point for negotiations. I think they wanted, and want, to run Putin’s troops out of their territory. Putin has wrecked Ukraine. Who is this “we” you talk about?
Watch this, and learn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2451jFeZp0&t=7s
That’s as I remember it, too. And I don’t remember any examples of NATO attacking other countries. (Well, this country attacked Iraq in 2003, but we were not acting as members of NATO.)
NATO attacked the former Yugoslavia, Syria, and Libya. NATO is supposed to be a defensive alliance, which only comes to the aid, militarily, of member states. But anyone with any sense knows NATO, as well as the EU, have become vassal states. What the U.S. wants, the U.S. gets.
Indeed, NATO conducted “military interventions” in those countries. Not in an attempt to annex territory and subjugate local populations, though. But undoubtedly “air strikes” killed people and destroyed infrastructure. I will not weigh in on the appropriateness of those actions, though some were approved by the UN.
Putin refers to Ukrainians who do not want to be Russian as Nazis. He intends to de-Nazify Ukraine and will destroy as much infrastructure, agriculture, Ukrainian culture and people as he can get away with. Maybe destroy them to the extent he did with Chechnya and Syria, or more so.
I am not sure the EU sees itself as a vassal. Particularly after Brexit. The French and others tried to talk W Bush/Cheney out of our war on Iraq. I am sure you remember that.
I do remember that, especially since the progenitor of the faux-patriotic term Freedom Fries in response to the French position was a Congressman from my home state. To his credit, he did a 180 on the Iraq War when the body bags began regularly coming home to his district, which contains a large military base.
Not going to argue with you about the presence of Nazis in Ukraine; plenty of articles on the legacy of Nazi admirers and sympathizers in Ukrainian history, all the way up to the current conflict. Google Stephen Bandera, Azov Battalion, etc. As to the statements Putin may or may not have made regarding non-Russian speaking Ukrainians, it would not be the first time a politician used demeaning group stereotypes as a propaganda tactic.
I don’t know much about Chechnya, but I do know Russian involvement in Syria had nothing to do with destruction; that was the U.S. role, as we were trying to (we’ve heard this story before) do the regime change thing and topple Assad, a Russian ally, and stupidly thought we should enlist the aid of ISIS to do it. Had the Russians not stepped in, Syria would now be worse off, just like Iraq is now post-Saddam; just like practically every country is after our military and/or CIA meddling is done. See Ukraine.
Getting back to Ukraine, I think Putin’s top priority is a secure Russia/Moscow. He sees a Ukrainian alliance with the West (NATO) as a red line that is unacceptable to that end, and yes, would do practically anything in his power to prevent that, including destroying infrastructure such that he cripples the desire of the Ukrainians to be anything but neutral in the East/West political dance. I don’t think, at present, he has any desire to conquer all of Ukraine, as it would be a constant headache for him, as was Afghanistan for us. But he will not allow NATO missiles in Ukrainian territory, and the Russian people seem to be in lockstep with him on that.
More background here, and on Gaza as well: https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/11/13/biden-visits-hitlers-bunker-sends-for-a-decorator-israel-and-ukraine-edition/
Gee, what I remember is that one morning, Russia sent troops into Ukraine, invading a free and sovereign nation because Putin wanted more territory, the rich wheat fields and access to the good ports on the Black Sea. Ukrainian farmers started blocking roads and funneling tanks and troops into cul-de-sacs where the Russian troops, many of them poorly trained and ill-equipped, were picked off as they tried to run away, and the tanks got stuck, and were disabled. And the Ukrainians kept fighting. Putin bragged that he was going to take over the entire country in three days.
I remember someone offered their new and untested President, Zelenskyy, asylum in the US, and his reply was something like, “Why would I leave? The fight is here. I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.” And the Russian invasion rolled on, killing people and destroying property, and the Ukrainians kept fighting, with what they had, and embarrassed much of the free world, and the free world started supporting the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian aggression. And then some people started saying the Biden should negotiate with Putin, to stop the destruction and the killing. But the Ukrainians kept fighting for their land and their freedom, and made those people look like fools. remember that?
Gee, you sound just like the knuckleheads who think the Gaza War started on October 7 with the Hamas attack. After all the propagandized messaging you note, and after turning down a peace/settlement offer just after the war began, because puppet Zelensky, a celebrity politician just like Reagan/Trump, was told he could actually win a war with Russia by U.S. ‘intelligence’, Ukraine is wrecked. They have virtually no army left, much of their infrastructure destroyed, Russia has even more Ukrainian territory, and is stronger, both economically and militarily. Can you say, ‘own goal’. Sure you can, ‘remember that’.
As to wanting more territory, Putin probably looked at what the U.S. is doing in Syria, occupying the wheat fields and oil fields in the western part of a sovereign nation, and thought, I’ll just do what they are doing. American hypocrisy about freedom, liberty, and democracy strikes again! Remember that?
Joe: the best.
Joe: meh.
I am looking at a commemorative tableau, in pen and ink, drawn in 1921, memorializing 8 young Belgian soldiers: my husband's great uncle and different cousins who when between 19 and 25 years of age died in Flanders. Five of the eight were killed between the 18th of October and the third of November, 1918. We have a helmet and a belt. It is so, so sad.
The wound is deep and likely festering, still.
November 11 should still be called "Armistice Day". That fact that the end of "the Great War" came at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month was symbolic of how close warring countries had come to destroying the world. But, America learned nothing from it. In 1945 America and France reneged on a promise that had been made to Ho Chi Minh to free Vietnam from colonial occupation and exploitation if the Viet Minh would help the Allies defeat Japanese forces in Southeast Asia. The U.S. supported France's refusual to leave Vietnam by providing 80% of the money to perpetuate France's colonial occupation of Vietnam. After the 1954 defeat of France by the Viet Minh at Dien Binh Phu, the U.S. continued to resist Ho Chi Minh's attempts to make Vietnam a free nation until the fraudulent Gulf of Tonkin resolution signed by Pres. Lyndon Johnson in 1965, led to the U.S. Marines invading the country, landing at Danang, and escalating a conflict that killed almost 60,000 American service personnel and 3 million Vietnamese by the time the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong defeated the U.S. forces in 1975. World history since then shows that America and other countries learned nothing from the 1918 Armistice to end the "War to End all Wars" and bring lasting peace to the world.
PJ, I think some learned and I think that awareness has grown over recent generations . Unfortunately, those who did not or least learned are elected to power around the world. That's the problem. Deadly force is often necessary when under imminent threat. But if we want to avoid unnecessary and immoral conflicts and war, if we want peace, enough of us need to vote more peaceful people into power.
Yes, yes. Totally agree. Less politicians placed in power by Oligarchs. A few of us have learned.
"W" was a puppet. We as a nation learned NOTHING from Vietnam. The companies that became uber rich via trillions of American taxpayer dollars spent on two subsequent stupid totally destructive wars should have been tried and been convicted of grand theft and murder. And since the Supreme Court considers corporations to be "people" the CEOs of those companies should be wearing orange and smashing rocks today.
Imagine what trillions of dollars spent on the destruction of two countries could have done for poverty, healthcare, and education! We could have totally eliminated homelessness. We could have fed every hungry American. We could have cared for every Veteran with troubles from war - no questions asked!
What if we had set aside those 2-3 trillion dollars and bought the Palestinians a country? By funding the establishment of a two state solution - under the supervision of the UN.
We have tons of money. But no creative visualization. We are a dysfunctional species. It's not too late to change. Or is it?
Bill Alstrom (MA /ME/MA), dysfunctional species yes, but to different degrees. So that gives me hope, that it's not too late.
What could have happened didn’t happen. We are dysfunctional.
But, but, there's no profit in what you suggest in your third paragraph! How could Haliburton made its payroll without 20 years of unjustified war?
Don't get me wrong; going after Al Qaeda and Bin Laden was appropriate. Not the invasion of Iraq.
But, the military contractors wouldn’t have made billions of dollars! Isn’t that really what it’s all about?
too few people know about the route Ho Chi Minh took, and would be stunned to realize the US was eventually responding to a situation we created. This should be more widely taught. But as a HS social studies teacher, this is not happening due to many many curriculum demands. We are lucky this latest crop of HS students even studies Vietnam at all...
Yes, indeed.
WWI ended with an armistice largely because the soldiers, exhausted, furious for being betrayed by the generals and national leaders, repulsed by the slaughters, w ere mutinying, deserting and becoming revolutionaries - and not just in Russia. English, French and German generals and national leaders had to end the war to stave off revolutions at home. While Veterans Day may be a federal holiday, the way the governments has treated veterans, especially since Vietnam is so terrible; it makes the word disgraceful useless: Veterans Day is now another day to exalt war and US militarism. This country doesn’t honor veterans; but it does create physical and mental, impoverished human beings over and over.
Sad but true, if they survived the carnage, they were left to suffer alone. Wonder if that’s why Harry Patch, last surviving soldier of WW1, said this: “I felt then, as I feel now, that the politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves, instead of organizing nothing better than legalized mass murder.”
And that comment should be on all of our lips!
Thanks Jeri
Yes, indeed.
Veterans have been ill treated since the country's beginnings. George Washington argued with the Continental Congress about paying the wages they had agreed to pay. He fighting for his soldiers. Congress was trying to weasel out of its obligations.
What else is new Jenn, same old same old.
Thank you. One must hope for and work for peace. Our current administration is doing that and understands how solving root causes of war is the path to peace. You have highlighted those efforts and I appreciate that.
Really? So why has he not called for Pace or stopped the money flowing to Israel?
" but it is a concept that is currently under attack as autocrats increasingly reject the idea of a rules-based international order and claim the right to act however they wish."
Dr. Richardson, I think you mean like the United States did in 2003 when we, for no reason other than the lies of George W. Bush and the need of Dick Cheney's Haliburton for no bid contracts, invaded Iraq.
"claim the right to act however they wish".
Yep. That was US the USA.
"so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.”
Aye, but they were anyway were they not?
Around 200,000 innocent Iraqi citizens died in the "Iraq War".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
Indeed, we have to bare that knowledge, yet W is treated as an elder statesman instead of a war criminal. And we have worse on the horizon. I could barely survive the shame of that time, and my friends and family were cheering. Propaganda still is the most powerful tool of the rich.
The US of A is NOT a member of the ICC (International Criminal Court).
So, ICC cannot bring war crimes charges against Bush and Cheney and even if they did non-members are not bound to jail the convicted.
That's a damn shame.
Big oil.... trickle, trickle, bop bop.
As a boy growing up in the Washington, DC area I remember that on November 11, things just stopped at the 11th hour of the 11th day. Automobile traffic, the DC trolley system, shoppers, workers--all stopped for that sacred minute.
It was Kurt Vonnegut, I believe, who among others has pointed out that Armistice Day was sacred, but Veterans' Day was not. Now it is ads and sales, a prelude to Black Friday, just another US holiday.
I'm not sure the change in nomenclature was the villain, probably more of the change of our culture's trading of sacred memory for sacred dollar, but we have lost something.
You are so right
Dudley Didwrong, you did right by sharing your memory and your profound words, "...our culture's trading of sacred memory for sacred dollar..." Thank you.
Thank you Heather for writing until the wee hours to teach us the history of our country.
It is absolutely horrifying what is happening in Gaza ! The reality of that war on the civilian population is painful to witness and impossible to ignore.
Salaam, Shalom, Mir, Peace.
There’s always been a strong undercurrent of isolationism in this country. Even in the run up to WWII, people were resisting the US involvement in getting enmeshed in the war in Europe. It it took the US getting attacked for the forces of isolationism to agree to US involvement.
All of this is why it’s so important that we assist Ukraine as much as we can to stand up to Russian aggression despite these pitiful naysayers in Congress who claim the funds would be better spent here.
First, we can print more money, so that’s not it. Aren’t the ‘Pubbies always saying that deficits don’t matter when they’re the ones in charge? And second, the last thing the world needs is a third land war in Europe. As will surely happen, if Putin isn’t stopped. If he’s allowed to swallow Ukraine, Poland is next. A member of NATO.
I don't think most people in the US have any concept of how devastating modern warfare can be since we have never fought one in our own country. They don't realize how important US involvement is in the world. I went on a college agricultural tour of The EU, Russia and Poland in 1975. We spent a few days in Chateau-Thierry, France. My grandfather fought in a big battle there during WWI. I mentioned it the first evening since I felt a particular connection to the town, and was stunned at the huge reaction, particularly from our older hosts. I was treated almost as a long-lost relative, with many thanks given and drinks bought.
Indeed, repubs only worry about deficits when Dems are in charge. If they are, they guzzle at the trough from day one.
Jeri Chilcutt, "...guzzle at the trough from day one." I gotta remember that one, great imagery and truth!
How long did the big tax cut take after inauguration? They were chomping at the bit.
Putin has no interest in swallowing all of Ukraine, nor invading Poland; unless of course NATO attempts to put offensive missiles on the Russian border. Which I wouldn’t put past NATO doing; its MIC-influenced decision-making process since the Berlin Wall fell is beyond stupid.
Hi, Vlad. Nice to see you here.
Putin's oft-stated goal is the restoration of the former Russian Empire, of which Poland was a part. Suggest you pick up a history book and look at a map of the former Empire. For a long time, Poland didn't exist on maps, as it was part of the Empire, as was Ukraine and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania).
It's critical that Putin be stopped. Had TFG still been in office, he wouldn't have been. Putin would have rolled over Ukraine and then set his sights on Eastern Europe.
IOW, don't be naive.
Hi, Victoria. America’s goal is global hegemony, it just doesn’t state it, including over both Russia and China.
Suggest you start paying more attention to the history in the history books than the maps.
IOW, don’t be an idiot.
If Putin has no interest in taking over Ukraine’s ports and wheat fields, maybe he should pull his troops back to the border that existed before he invaded Ukraine, and stop all this death and destruction? What you say has so little to do with Putin’s actions, I don’t understand where you are getting your information from.
I get my information from lots of sources. Watch the whole interview in the link below, and you’ll be smarter than most Americans when it comes to Ukraine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2451jFeZp0&t=414s