Friends, the Newsmaker Show is reaching new levels of excellence this holiday season. This week, Brian and I tackle some scintillating topics, such as: the changing of the guard at Twitter and what it means for free speech, the CIA's recent broadside against the Trump presidency, the rumblings on the Left about replacing Kamala Harris as V.P. with Pete Buttigieg, the leftists' ongoing crusade again Kyle Rittenhouse, and more!
When we turn to "This Day in History", we cover the treaty that demilitarized Antarctica in 1959, Rosa Parks' instigation of the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, the completion of the "Chunnel" in 1990, and the murder of Sergei Kirov in 1934, which touched off Stalin's Purges in the Soviet Union and ultimately killed millions of innocents.
Boy, oh boy! You'd have to be crazy to miss a show like that! You're not crazy, are you???
Dr.Waddy from Jack: I don't know what Kyle Rittenhouse's academic and career thoughts may be and I don't know how important ASU might be to him.He may well have had more important matters to mull recently. Perhaps he may find what he wants at a place like Texas A and M, or say, Alabama, Ole Miss or Arkansas; these may be places where radicals are unwelcome. Kyle is obviously a very bright kid with a "wealth" of real world experience perhaps not common in undergrads. I could see him eventually in law school. Perhaps ASU has been compromised by political correctness into affording leftist totalitarians in their student body all inordinate deference. You are undoubtably right that the ineluctably vicious left will continue to harry him for his insolence in contradicting their intention to use him as a symbol of whatever "evil"they perceive. But that kid has guts and I hope it will be made obvious to him that he need not face calumny alone or without resort.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I think Hitler may have thought that if you kill the snake's head, the snake dies. The snake in the Night of the Long Knives was the S.A. and Ernst Roehm and he did for Roehm and his cadre alright. Hitler, unlike Stalin, had been popularly elected and retained great genuine public popularity well beyond 1934 perhaps p
ReplyDeletein part because of relative restraint and skillful PR on and after his purge. If Stalin used him as an example he may have been misguided. You are right in that Stalin was monstrously and insanely distrustful of all and everyone. Totalitarian that he was, he actually purposed the extermination of the totality of ALL perceived opposition: command, rank, file and latrine orderlies.His sociopathic evil enabled all measure of violence to back him. No snakeheads for him! Of course he also eliminated many of Russia's most able Generals and that caused problems, yes, in 1941 and beyond, mostly of course for the Russian people. He had his fortress after all.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Thank you for your observation that Stalin's purges were the first demonstration of a modern totalitarian state's capability and willingness to destroy lives on an unlimited scale. I'm not schooled in psychology but I would guess both Stalin and Saddam were diagnosable sadists. What horror it is that such inhuman "things" are able to achieve sway over vast populations!
ReplyDeleteJack, I don't know what Kyle Rittenhouse's future has in store, but one thing I am certain of is this: there isn't an institution of higher education in this country in which that young man would not be harassed and defamed by a significant percentage of the student body. The best he can hope for is that autograph seekers will roughly cancel out rotten tomato throwers... But I agree: a career in law or politics would be a good fit.
ReplyDeleteJack, it never ceases to amaze me that the Soviet state and military continued to function after the Purges -- and that the country didn't simply collapse in a heap under the pressure of a Nazi invasion. I still can't fathom it.
Hitler's "purge" was, of course, carried out with the blessing and encouragement of the army and the conservative establishment. It has the effect of making Hitler LESS threatening in their eyes. They really didn't know what they were getting into, clearly.
Hmm. Stalin and Saddam sadists? Perhaps, but if you mean the type of sadist who enjoys EXPERIENCING the suffering of his victims, then I must admit I don't know much about how "up close and personal" they got... Stalin was supposed to have abducted and raped women personally, no? I've never heard of him participating in torture or killing. Saddam -- no idea. Himmler, as you know, was extremely squeamish about such things. More of a "desk murderer". And that's probably the scariest thing about institutionalized violence: it's often ordered and administered by men without any inclination to violence themselves. All it takes is the stroke of pen, though.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: I have read accounts of Saddam and his fiendish sons personally enjoying videos and on site commission of very innovative actual tortures. I'll review Stalin: Breaker of Nations. I also celebrate the U.K.'s redemption of its precious sovereignty. I was in Parliament Square the day before a significant Brexit vote in Jan.2019 and was thrilled to see the crowd carrying "leave means leave" signs. Those Brits, I luv 'em!
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: I would attribute Russia' s victory against the Boche to these factors: The extreme ruggedness of Russians due to their punishing climate; also Stalin's disingenuous appeal to the great love Russians bear for Rossiya. And of course winter did its monstrous part. By the way, I think we must not tangle with them over Ukraine. According to an LA times column quoted in Nov. 30 Olean Times Herald, "Putin . . . has long warned that Nato membership for Ukraine is a 'red line' " Given their history, I think that very plausible and that it is not in our national interest to try them on this matter of terrible importance and perceived affront to them. We've tried their patience sorely by putting Nato in Poland and the Baltic States and so far. .. ok. But they have their limit and Ukraine is surely that. For what its worth to them I lament the threat to ethnic Ukraine but we cannot risk war with Russia to save them. I don't think Putin is posturing on that point and I think we must think very clearly here.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: That was a very perceptive point you made about the non militarization agreement on Antarctica in 1959 and its beneficial consequences, including agreements on the use of space. This may become a very current issue because of the possibility of China becoming the next to put humans on the moon. And your observation that the 1959 agreement may have opened a door to increasing guarded trust between the USSR and the U.S. and that that development, over time,might even have eased some Russian concerns about allowing the breakup of the USSR, is to my knowledge original and very well taken.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: The Vietnam era draft lottery, I lived thru it. Actually, we had, briefly in 1965 and '66 as I remember, the "Draft Test " for college students. It was like the SAT. If you scored high enough you got a deferment until you got your Bachelor's. Higher and you got one for Grad School too. This was probably in answer to, I think, justified objection to the college deferment as being unjust. This had the effect perhaps of adding lower scorers to the draft pool, I dropped out of college in Oct. 1967 and immediately enlisted in the Navy. Don't remember exactly when the lottery was adopted but I think it was shortly after I actually went in in Feb. 1968. My number, due to the number
ReplyDeleteassigned my birthday by the lottery, would have exposed me to the draft for sure. De nada, I was already in but one for which his high number, virtually guaranteeing not being drafted, was Slick Willy. Trouble was, he had promised his draft board, which was going to draft him, that if they allowed him to do his Fulbright Scholarship at Oxford, (so close, coincidentally,to the stews of Amsterdam and a Moscow which feted American dissenters, especially one close to a U.S.Senator very influential on foreign affairs - Fulbright - ), he would dutifully enlist after its completion, "yessiree!" . But AFTERWARDS came his high lottery number! "wha, they cain't draft me now cain they?! So, so long. Wha we all know we just bullyin up to them Commies. Anaway, Ah've got a real braght future, no sense wasting it servin mah countreh before mah tahm! That he might have been sent to Vietnam was not guaranteed; plenty of guys went Germany. Besides, he would have slicked his way into some skate setting. Any wonder out there why Vietnam vets despise him and were and still are devastated by his elevation by the American electorate?That is one major reason why some vets of that time are yet disenchanted.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: I thinkthe 1940 draft employed a lottery. I've seen films of FDR drawing the first number
ReplyDeletetest from Jack
ReplyDeleteI can't say I'm shocked about Saddam. He never seemed like the squeamish type. Quite the opposite.
ReplyDeleteI certainly understand Russia's position re: Ukraine and NATO, but Ukraine is hardly on the cusp of joining NATO, is it? Has something changed that I'm unaware of?
All the factors you cite explaining the USSR's strong performance in 1941-42 are valid, sure, but I could list a hundred reasons why Soviet soldiers should have eagerly submitted -- and millions of them did! Personally, I regard the myth of the stalwart, indefatigable Russian soldier as exactly that -- a myth, albeit one that occasionally was true.
The lottery question intrigues me. I see online many references to its commencement in 1969. I see a few references to a lottery conducted by FDR in 1940. I see more references to the system before 1969 being based mainly on the potential draftee's age (oldest fight first). It's hard to make sense of it all...but it seems like the draft wasn't a "big deal" until it was randomized and televized.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: Your assertion of many reasons for the Russian WWII soldier's fortitude is very plausible. It might well have come down to: "here they are and I don't want 'em here!" . Solzhenitsyn noted that one of the chief reasons to condemn Stalin is that so many Russians chose to fight for the Nazis and not necessarily without some knowledge of Nazi sociopathy. What a hellish conumdrum for all Russians then and Stalin dared to prolong it post war by sending many, many Soviet POWs of the inhuman Boche to the Gulag!!! What did motivate the millions of Soviet troops who did break the still terribly puissant Boche?
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: Back in those draft days we assumed if you made it beyond 20, you were probably going to skate. But I knew a guy who made it all the way to the limit of 26 without being drafted. Oh, the draft was a big deal,hung over all of us. It was very hard to get a good job if you were eligible.Yeah, the increasing attention to it, wrought mostly by those opposed to the American war effort against world communism, did bring changes. One can well imagine how these traitors would have fared in WWII!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I've always thought Russia will march as soon as it becomes convinced that Ukrainian membership in Nato is imminent. They don't want to tangle with Nato itself. This massing of troops on the border may show that the Russians have reason to believe its moving toward a done deal. It could also be preparation for another incursion into the part of Ukraine in which the majority is ethnic Great Russian.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: I meant to say: ". . . imminent but not yet formalized . . ."
ReplyDeleteJack, in the end, I have to admit defeat: I'll never understand the Russian/Soviet psyche. Perhaps we bourgeois Americans just can't fathom it?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I rate the chances of a Russian invasion of Ukraine as very, very low. Sabre-rattling is a Russian speciality. Like you say, if they thought Ukrainian membership in NATO was imminent, that would be a game changer. It isn't imminent. Not by a long shot.